December 4, 2012Dear Sir,The topic of this “secret document” that involved the United Bermuda Party purposefully splitting and forming the Bermuda Democratic Alliance to then merge as the One Bermuda Alliance is now a growing topic leading up to the election. I was a member of the UBP Central Committee and was the only under-30 member there to represent the youth wing of the party. I would just like to say personally that was never ever shown to me or the smaller brainstorming meetings we members had. I saw documents from a consultancy firm that was hired. There is no question that one was hired. I saw the documentation. The document never ever stated anything about a purposeful split. It was outlining what the UBP needed to do to win over Bermuda voters in a three party election. It had data collected from surveys and such showing voting trends and demographics, and who the most likely swing voters would be. Single mothers were at the front of that most likely swing vote demographic.The document did say that the UBP and BDA could benefit from a merger, but that was obvious. That could have been said if the Progressive Labour Party had merged with the BDA too, no big scandal or rocket science there. The main purpose of these “secret meetings” was basically to find out what the UBP needed to do to rebrand and revitalise itself. The central committee that voted and decided to dissolve the UBP never was shown any such documents saying to fake a split only to merge. Could there have been one? Maybe, but the majority of those that held votes in the UBP dissolving decision, myself included, never was such documentation. I can also say that the process of a UBP and BDA merger dragged on for a long while and was by no means whatsoever easy business as usual. It failed actually and the UBP was dissolved as was the BDA as the two parties couldn’t really agree on things to merge.The OBA formed because those who could actually put Bermuda first and wanted to work together joined as one entity. This entity is not a merger of UBP and BDA people. It is a new entity filled with many news faces who were totally apolitical and did not identify with the UBP or BDA prior to joining the OBA. The OBA also has many former PLP supporters. So I suppose the naysayers of the OBA are right, the OBA is a merger. But it is a merger of formers UBP, BDA, PLP and Independent voters and isn’t what any group in any form of society, religion, social or political wants? A merger of many minds? I saw no trickery, I saw a group of Bermudians who wanted to form a group that could make a change. The OBA has its faults, but no group of human beings on earth doesn’t have faults, as having faults is part of being human. Only the divine are perfect and sorry but we do not have God in the flesh here to run our government, so we have to settle for fault prone humans for now until Judgement Day comes.Many heated debates and arguments sprang up in meetings and dealings. There was real tension and emotion in those meetings, so unless we have a bunch of Al Pacino and Halle Berry type of level of actors in politics here, what I saw was real and no such merger of BDA and UBP was successful. This is yet another tactic by the PLP to blow smoke in the voting public’s face to distract them from the glaring blunders that have taken place throughout their tenure in government. I will also say this, if if this document is true, it really isn’t that important. It is unfortunate and sad that such would take place, but even sadder that is the nature of politics or rather “politricks” that happens in every government the world over. I do not condone it especially on a small island. I wish politicians across the board here would stop keeping secrets and skeletons in their closets, because, believe me, many have them and I’ve seen them first time in my experiences in Bermuda politics. Having said that, I return to my earlier statement that in the grander scheme of things whilst this incident is true it would be disappointing, I think the PLP’s many scandals of their own far outweigh the possibility of this one.Remember “We had to deceive you” as Dr Brown said? Is this any different than that? No, it is the same thing. Politicians doing what they do best, trying to win. Again, very sad way to conduct one’s affairs, but my underlying point is that PLP should learn not to through stones in glass houses. All parties in that House need to learn a little more integrity as I have stated, but let’s try to focus on the main issues: Crime, debt, education, employment, better healthcare and boosting tourism. All parties have, currently are and sadly mostly likely will continue to play tricks. It is up to Bermudians to sift through the lies and find the truth of the matter of things and vote for those who have real plans to fix this island’s problems. I’ve been on the receiving and of “politricking,” trust me. I wish they could do it honestly, but let’s try to fix Bermuda first before tackling dishonest politicians as that is a feat I think God Himself even scratches His head on how to fix.ROBERT DAVIESDevonshire