Lawyer Mark Pettingill last night said he had been somewhat "disappointed" by his experiences as a member of the Island's Senate, claiming sloppy legislation and poor debating as major flaws.

He said he had enjoyed his time as a Senator, but was looking forward to the future.

Asked if he had been disillusioned during his time in the Senate, after taking up his seat in April of 1999, he said: "I did not go into politics with any illusions, but I have, at times, been disappointed with the function of the Senate. I really did not see it as a grooming ground for future politicians. I saw it as a place to cross the t's and dot the i's." But he said there were occasions where errors in legislation, or sloppiness, were allowed to go through, with promises that they would be remedied later, or simply immediately agreed.

He said: "Too often, they were prepared to slam legislation through. I believed the Senate had a valid function, to ensure that all legislation was exactly as it should be and to correct any errors. But I did not always see that valid function being filled."

And he said the legislation on Capital punishment was one of those cases, where a second piece of legislation had to be drawn up to correct the initial errors. He said the fact that a second act had to be passed to correct a new piece of legislation that was obviously flawed was beyond belief. And he said even the amended act was rushed through. At the time Mr. Pettingill had slammed Senators for passing the bill in 1999 when they knew it meant a Police officer could be jailed for life for turning a blind eye to a crime.

He said last night. "Things like that I found abominable."

He said the last piece of legislation that was blocked by the Senate was the voter registration amendment bill in May of 1999.

He added: "That was the last piece of legislation that got blocked. But it was also up the Government to recognise the errors. They never should have passed the things.".

But he also said there were other disappointing aspects, `the level of debate, to my mind, was disappointing because of the depths one Government Senator was prepared to go to'.

"The race card was constantly played - everything became a race issue. I found it very offensive." But Mr. Pettingill refused to name which Senator he was referring to.