September 3, 2007

SOME fine Opinion pieces on the Southlands fiasco in the Mid-Ocean News over the last few weeks, good sir.

Your logic is absolutely unassailable but, sadly, I doubt it will do anything to put the brakes on the group behind the Southlands Resort.

People like Brian Duperreault (pictured) don't rise to the positions they do by being nice guys (all of those fine but hollow words about "integrity", "courage", "leadership" and "being our brother's and sister's keeper" notwithstanding).

In most instances the people at Duperreault's level have had their consciences surgically removed. And they insulate themselves from unpleasant realities (like being told "No, that's actually the most profoundly stupid idea I've ever heard, Brian") by surrounding themselves with "Yes Men". These sycophantic lackeys will always applaud them, trained-seal style, no matter what absolute rubbish they happen to be coming out with at the time. I know: I've been at some of these types of meetings.

No, the only place where you can wound the Duperreaults of this world is in the pocketbook.

So I would recommend that opponents of the Southlands Resort find lists of ACE Ltd.'s biggest clients. These include some of the largest manufacturing firms in the world.

Then write to all of these companies, politely but firmly explaining you will be organising international commercial boycotts of their products if they continue to do business with a firm whose chairman is intent on entombing one of Bermuda's last greenbelt areas in what amounts to a concrete sarcophagus.

In this Internet-age, it won't take you long to recruit a worldwide army of supporters: just go to the bulletin boards at the Greenpeace website, Moveon.org or even the Huffington Post and express your concerns about what the chairman of this off-shore firm is doing to its host country.

Don't forget companies like ACE Ltd. already have their fair share of on-shore critics.

Good heavens, Eliot Spitzer was elected Governor of New York last year based, in large measure, on ACE Ltd's. reckless disregard for insurance rules and regulations and its involvement in a multi-million dollar bid-rigging scandal expressly designed to separate potential clients from large amounts of their money! Am I the only person in Bermuda who remembers that ACE Ltd. was accused of widespread fraudulent practices by the then New York attorney general, fraudulent pratices that occured on Mr. Duppereault's watch? That it had to pay tens of millions of dollars in restitution for its role in that extremely unsavoury episode? A lot of people in America remember this scandal. And Bermudians, you'd be surprised by the sort of response you will get if you appeal for help in the US and elsewhere - and ACE's clients will certainly be surprised by the magnitude of the letter-writing campaigns that will result. Maybe, just maybe this sort of campaign will have some impact on the money-man behind the Southlands Resort scheme.

Maybe when the only type of pressure Mr. Duperreault seems to understand starts to be exerted on him will he reconsider going ahead and breaking ground on this thoroughly misguided and misbegotten project.

TREE HUGGER