Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess has come out in support of Deputy Premier Ewart Brown in the on-going pay-to-play allegations, declaring the Mid-Ocean News' coverage of the story stemmed from ongoing racial bias in the media.

Yesterday, however, the Mid-Ocean News said it continues to stand by the veracity of the story detailing the now-infamous 2002 Washington luncheon. "The story speaks for itself," Mid-Ocean News editor Tim Hodgson said yesterday. "There's no need to further elaborate."

The luncheon, arranged by Government's pension funds consultant Tina Poitevien and held in Dr. Brown's honour to raise funds for his personal election campaign, allegedly included guests who were current or potential money managers and stockbrokers of the Bermuda pension funds. That information led Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons to term it "a shocking example of pay-to-play" and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyer Edward Siedle to wonder if the companies represented had breached the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Dr. Brown has declined to comment on the issue but a spokeswoman for Ms Poitevien's firm said the majority of the attendees were close personal friends of Dr. Brown and his wife, Wanda Henton, and simply wanted to support the then-Transport Minister's vision for Bermuda.

The PLP has already said that individual candidates are encouraged to raise their own campaign funds, though the party will step in with financial assistance if necessary. Yesterday, Mr. Burgess said he did not believe it was improper for Dr. Brown to solicit funds from his friends, whether American, Caribbean or Bermudian.

"It is not unusual for businesses or individuals to contribute to our election campaigns. In fact, under the leadership of Mr. L.F. Wade both local and international businesses were persuaded to support the party financially, and in some instances this was done through fundraising dinners. The PLP has also solicited funds from individuals whom we felt were in a position to give us large donations."

Mr. Burgess, according to a Press statement sent out yesterday, was also "somewhat amused" that reporters had "neglected to point out that Bermuda's loyal Opposition had managed to have a virtual monopoly of financial support form Bermuda's major businesses from the very beginning of its existence" ? a view that some UBP insiders were sceptical about yesterday. was unable to contact Dr. Gibbons, who is currently off the Island, for comment yesterday.

For that reason alone, however, Mr. Burgess was confident that the United Bermuda Party shared his view that "Dr. Brown had done nothing different from what other political candidates have done in order to finance cost campaigns".

Accusing the media ? and the Mid-Ocean in particular ? of bias and prejudice against the PLP, he added: "It is quite evident that the reporters of the Mid-Ocean News will go to any lengths to discredit certain people and organisations in this country who are prepared to work for the initiation of positive social change ... The efforts of these negative reporters to stop or to reverse real social change with false accusations seems never to stop".

Deviating from the issue of the pay-to-play accusations into issues of race, Mr. Burgess declared the PLP has always had an open-door policy when it came to membership ? yet whenever whites have joined the party they have been "isolated in their own community", according to the Press statement.

Fair and honest reporting could do much to ease the racial divide, he added. "I would encourage the media to help those of us who are trying to create a Bermuda that rewards and respects those among us who have real ability and are using that ability to make a better Bermuda.

"Dr. Ewart Brown has shown time and time again by his performance in the Ministries of Tourism and Transport that he is deserving of such respect."