Credit card policy

March 16, 2006

Dear Sir,

Your editorial on 'credit cards' in today's was a blatant and worrying misrepresentation of the facts about credit card charges by Ministers of Government. Your claim that the per diem "is supposed to cover room, board and transport costs" is inaccurate. Your statement that "it is not clear what the money has been spent on and whether it applies to legitimate travel expenses or other things" was most regrettable.

The parliamentary questions on credit cards are not new. In the same way that diligent reporters check background and archival information for their stories, one would expect writers of editorials to perform at least at the same level to make sure their opinions are factually based. Today's editorial was woefully lacking in that regard.

In July, 2001, the former and late Minister of Finance, the Hon. C. Eugene Cox, CBE, JP, MP answered questions in written form about the policy in place that controlled the use of credit cards by Government Ministers. I am reasonably certain that you will find it in your archives. However, if you searched and did not uncover it, one might have expected a query about such credit card controls. No such query was posed to the Ministry of Finance so far as I am aware. That being the case, we can each draw our own conclusions as to the motive behind the editorial.

The key facts about the policy controlling the use of Government credit cards by Ministers of Government are as follows:

The credit card may be used only for overseas travel on official government business.

Ministers are expected to use discretion in that expenses charged on credit cards must be for costs associated with accommodation, meals, laundry, dry-cleaning and other official travel expenses. Charges for alcohol are permitted for official entertainment.

Ministers are entitled to a $150 per diem prior to travel. The per diem is intended to be used for official out-of-pocket expenses such as bus/taxi/limousine services, parking charges, gratuities, etc. Receipts are not required for such items. Unexpended cash balances must be returned to the Accountant General.

Non-business expenses must not be charged to the Government credit card.

Supporting documentation is required for the charges on monthly statements and Ministers are requested to submit credit card receipts and hotel statements to the accounting officers in their respective Ministries immediately following the conclusion of travel.

I have attached a copy of the policy as submitted by the former Minister of Finance in reply to the parliamentary questions for your review. For the avoidance of any doubt I hereby confirm that the policy is still in place.

There is a requirement for a newspaper to report the facts in its stories and in its editorials. Your editorial was way off the mark today in respect of the facts about the use of credit cards by Ministers of Government and the nature of expenditures charged to government credit cards by Ministers of Government. It seems to me that a retraction and an apology to Ministers of Government in an equally prominent place in your newspaper is the decent and honourable thing to do.

As this matter is so important, I am copying the editor of the Bermuda Sun so that both newspapers have a copy of the policy that controls the use of government credit cards by Ministers of Government.

You will note that I have also copied the Secretary to the Cabinet so that he may ensure the matter is put before the Honourable Premier.

The March 16 editorial was based on the story published in on March 11, 2006 on the Parliamentary questions answered on March 10 by Finance Minister Paula Cox in relation to credit card expenditure and comments made subsequently by Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin. While it can be argued that the newspaper should have examined all archived stories for any previous reports on credit card expenditures before publishing either the original story or the subsequent editorial, it should be noted that no effort was made by Mr. Scott or anyone else in Government to correct the original story, which would have avoided a repetition of the error. In any event, we unreservedly apologise for any errors the story or editorial may have contained.

'Great contribution'

March 9, 2006

Dear Sir,

I noticed, with a dash of sadness that Divisional Leader Lindsay Rowe of the Salvation Army will be leaving our shores.

I want on behalf of our City to thank him and his charming wife for the great contribution they have made to the homeless and those less fortunate than ourselves.

I am sure I speak for the countless families who they have assisted during their tenure.

May the good Lord richly bless them as they share their gifts and skills in another part of God's Vineyard.

Now that's slow

March 10, 2006

Dear Sir,

I write to express my deep concern at the serious deterioration in the service rendered by the Bermuda Post Office ? especially in the city of Hamilton.

Local mail can ? and often does ? take a week to travel from the mailing slot to the adjacent Post Office boxes! Now, as this distance between the mail drop and the boxes can be no more than 75 feet, this must set a new record for sluggishness!

Then there is the matter of overseas air mail! This now seems to take AT LEAST two to three weeks to reach the addressee. As it only takes two to three hours for an aircraft to travel from here to the United States, one has to wonder exactly what they do with the letter for the remainder of the time?

If Bermuda is going to market itself as a prime offshore business centre, then we are going to have to seriously improve the Third World postal service which we now have. Perhaps we should start with a new Postmaster General as things have gone rapidly downhill ever since the present incumbent took office!

Poor example

March 16, 2006

Dear Sir,

My attention has been drawn to the letter dated March 13 (sub-headed "Teach by example") regarding vehicle GP2.

Around 6.20 p.m. on Sunday evening as I rounded the bend near the entrance to St. Mark's Church, travelling eastward on my motorcycle, GP2 appeared, travelling westward, over the yellow line and on my side of the road, causing me to brake suddenly, and guess what? The driver was using a cell phone.

I ditto the words of MI DeSilva? "Teach by example".

Tour de force

March 14, 2006

Dear Sir,

I think this would be hot for local artists whether they're reggae artists or dancehall artists or both, to try a mix featuring the beat from Beenie Mon's "Stamina", a mix featuring the beat from Wayne Wonder's 'She's My Kind of Girl' and another using 'Applause' beat. Also,that reggae song featuring Twanee sounds hot!

Power 95 Rocks!

N2SMOOTHTUNES

Pembroke

Outright hypocrisy

March 18, 2006

Dear Sir,

April 1 is traditionally referred to as April Fools Day. Well this April Fools Day we are by law going to do something very foolish. Stop smoking in all public places. Why, you may ask, would I say that is foolish. For the last couple of decades there has been an anti-smoking campaign worldwide. Some countries and cities went smoke free years ago. So Bermuda is quite late on this issue. But that is not my point.

My point is that not only are our laws on this issue but all laws worldwide on this issue are quite hypocritical. They say the reasons for the laws is to protect the general public's health. If these products are so bad for our health then ban the product itself. If any other product had the reputation and record of cigarettes they would have long been pulled from the shelves. Cigarettes and all tobacco products have probably killed more people through the years than most other illnesses put together. No country has put an outright ban on them. Why? Because they collect a lot of taxes on the sale of them. If they were not used and abused the general public would be a lot healthier, the smoker and the non-smoker alike. And the governments and the employers would have to pay out less for health care issues dealing with these products. So they would need to spend less tax dollars and company profits dealing with the aftermath.

But I do not see any country, including Bermuda, banning all tobacco products in my lifetime. Not only do the governments profit from them but some of those anti-smoking campaigners invest in the R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris stocks. The same people who make them. And, no, I do not smoke and never have. And I don't have any of their stock either.

I was watching a documentary over the weekend where in Brazil after the oil crisis of the 1970s they decided to do something about their reliance on foreign oil. Well for the last 30-odd years they have been developing a ethanol programme that now produces 40 percent of their energy needs. This ethanol comes mainly from sugarcane. Come next year they will not have to import any foreign oil. Countries like the US and others can take a page from their book and turn their tobacco fields into corn and sugar fields to produce a cheaper and cleaner burning fuel ethanol for their cars and trucks. Which would make them less dependent on the Middle East oil.

And we here in Bermuda should put ourselves on a timetable to import some of those ethanol burning vehicles and energy from Brazil and not Venezuela. So that not only is the air cleaner inside the buildings but also on the outside.

Ministers Ewart Brown and Patrice Minors, I hope you are listening.

LESLIE JAMES SMITH

Sandys

March 17, 2006

Dear Sir,

Mr. Charles H. Jeffers' remark that seniors give up their right to vote, especially on Independence, is a lot of nonsense, and I find it highly insulting. Next someone will suggest that all seniors be rounded up and put on a reservation on Paget Island.