Next Thursday the voters of Southampton West Central go to the polls to pick a new MP after the resignation of the United Bermuda Party's Jon Brunson. The Royal Gazette is running interviews with all three candidates this week. Here the Progressive Labour Party's Marc Bean says why he isn't afraid to consort with prostitutes and drug dealers and why a new generation of leaders is needed to bring the races together.

He might have said some of the more controversial remarks in last year's highly-charged election campaign but Marc Bean doesn't see himself as a divisive figure.

Senator Bean, who fought Southampton West Central at that election too, trailing John Brunson by 142 votes, said the Island needs to look forwards, not backwards.

He said: "At 34-years-old I am extremely cognisant of Bermuda's history and world history and I am aware of the difficulties we had to surmount to progress as a society."

He feels his responsibility is to find solutions that will allow Bermuda to move forward to peace and happiness.

"This is addressing all who are stuck in the past, it is certainly not specific to my party because there is an issue where you have people on the extremes on either side. My approach is straight down the centre."

Sen. Bean said he was more interested in right and wrong rather than left and right.

"In order to move into that common ground you have to have forgiveness but with forgiveness you have to have penance.

"Both sides need to merge more to the centre. Those who have held on to the entitlement mindset need to be willing to give up that thinking.

"And those who are seeking equality need to be willing to work towards earning and gaining that equality."

They might seem surprising words from a man perhaps best known for inflammatory remarks during the election.

In a speech at the Port Royal Primary School last December he said the Opposition United Bermuda Party had a "neo-fascist agenda" and then, "If they have the opportunity they will lock all of us up. It's true".

Sen. Bean agreed he had uttered the words neo-fascist agenda, but says he then quickly corrected it to "neocolonialist".

However in response to that claim The Royal Gazette's reporter at that meeting said he had not heard that.

And while Sen. Bean agreed he had said "If they have the opportunity they will lock all of us up. It's true," he claimed that remark was said to laughter. "It wasn't given in a serious note."

Asked if he had taken any steps to correct the perception of that statement he said: "No, I knew what I said and what I meant."

Despite this he said his style was to be non-controversial both inside and outside the Senate.

"I don't get caught up in emotion, I deal with reason, facts and truth. I am not one to judge or shoot down the messenger. I deal with the message."

Sen. Bean had also tackled crime in his Port Royal speech and claimed that the PLP was choosing preventative measures and giving people more chances while the UBP was punitive by locking people up with a 'three strikes and you are out' policy.

Asked if the PLP's machete law with a mandatory minimum three-year sentence for those caught with a blade in public could also be described as punitive Mr. Bean said that law had come after the Wellington Oval riot.

"I was there front and centre – I was on the bench with my team it happened right in front of me. For those who were there it was one of the most traumatic incidences we have witnessed in Bermuda's sporting history.

"It was traumatic to the women and children who were there our Government had to take measures.

"Not only to guarantee safety and security for the public coming out to a football match, but also to arrest this mindset within the youth that their life is not of value to the point they will start to chop up one another for the most petty of reasons.

"You can see it is punitive but the over-arching theme of it is prevention."

Sen. Bean is involved in the sharp end of prevention in the Mirrors programme which aims to get wayward youngsters back on track.

And he said he has no problem mixing with those who others might shun.

"I recognise the supremacy of the human soul, the spiritual being as well as the physical being. I have no hesitation of going amongst the drug dealers, the drug addicts, the prostitutes and the bums.

"Those who are considered to be the most vile in society I treat the same way as the multi-billionaire dressed in the suit.

"And even if I become Premier I will not stop going amongst the people. The only way you can effect positive change and uplift people is to engage them.

"You can't run to an ivory tower and act aloof as if the people are there to serve you when you are there to serve the people.

"My job is to help people and if I can't help you I am not going to hurt you. Sometimes a person in these vile activities needs encouragement and a living example."

But while he harbours ambitions of being Premier, Sen. Bean must first win a parliamentary seat.

A 142-vote majority might look fairly safe for the incumbent UBP in ordinary circumstances but that party has been in open warfare with itself.

And a third independent candidate, Raymond Davis, could split the Opposition vote.

Sen. Bean won't be drawn on whether his task is made easier by the divisions in the UBP – former Opposition leader Wayne Furbert has publicly criticised the selection of Charlie Swan as candidate or even be drawn on who is the main threat in this three-horse race.

But he said his reception on the doorstep had been encouraging. "It has reiterated my deep feeling that there is a desire for politics to evolve to the next level in Bermuda where emotions and pettiness is put aside for the sake of purpose."

He said constituents were clamouring for speed bumps and traffic lights while there's a concern over break-ins.

"One of the key concerns is the cost of health care for seniors," he said, pointing out that Government planned to tackle this with the FutureCare programme which is due to begin in April 2009.

Sen. Bean is confident of his election chances and says he is getting a better response this time around.

"I wouldn't say it was negative last time, but I didn't get the chance to canvass the entire constituency because I was in the midst of delivering the Mirrors programme.

"Now my focus is seeing everyone that I haven't seen previously."

Canvassing has destroyed some of the stereotypes.

"What I have realised is you have constituents who have been perceived to be UBP voters, maybe because of their race.

"But the reality is not all persons of the Euro-descended race in Bermuda were born with a silver spoon.

"Not all Euro-Bermudians came out of old money many of them struggled and worked just like everyone else.

"What they are saying is 'We don't identify with the UBP, never have, but we feel we are between a rock and a hard place because we feel we can't be a part of the PLP because of perceptions'."

He said those voters were unable to explain what their reservations about the PLP were, although they weren't necessarily based on their own experiences.

But like many PLP politicians before him he won't be going out with a specific pitch to pull in white voters

"Why do we need to? If a person wants to be part of an institution it is according to their free will. I don't feel we need to go out all we need to say is the door is open. If you desire to walk through the door then walk through."

The PLP has race consciousness admits Sen. Bean.

"But at the same time there's a class consciousness too, for the working man, the sufferer, the person who struggles and even the person who might not struggle but doesn't identify with a traditionally elitist and oligarchical party.

"I have found I can bridge that gap and make people feel confident that in the PLP they have a place, and we as a party are not just seeking to help one segment of this country. Good governance is non-partial. It has to serve everyone.

"I feel my purpose is to bridge that gap where we don't have 'haves' and 'have-nots', we just have 'haves' and we can peacefully co-exist."

He said the PLP had the core ingredients to realise that goal.

"But it will take the next generation to bridge that gap. When I say that it is not to be ignorant and discard what happened in the past. Only the fool does that, but you don't hold a grudge.

"There is such a thing as forgiveness which has to be put into practical reality.

"I feel that our party, regardless of whatever perception comes out of the media, is on the right path of bringing that equality and justice into this country which ultimately will bring peace and happiness. That is what everyone is seeking."

Sen. Bean has done his own seeking in preparing for politics.

"In my 20s I wasn't out at the bar drinking and womanising. I spent most of my time in meditation, prayer and study.

"I even travelled 8,000 to 9,000 miles away to sit in monasteries and learn with very learned and wise men on the ways of self-discipline, conduct and character.

"Because I felt governance is part of my life purpose. And if it is part of my life's purpose one has to prepare."

He won't say who he studied with, but said he had been to the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and America.

"Wisdom doesn't have a nationality. I learned about the supremacy of the human soul, it's the basis of human equality.

"If one can recognise that within their own consciousness then nationalistic thoughts racial inequality and gender inequality and class inequalities get destroyed."

Tomorrow: Raymond Davis