It’s hard to know exactly what to make of Premier Dr. Ewart Brown’s speech on Friday night in reaction to allegations contained within the Mid-Ocean News, this newspaper’s sister paper. Dr. Brown denied any wrongdoing in connections with the allegations contained within the stories, and claimed he had been “exonerated” by the Police investigation into the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

He did not answer the specific allegations contained within the report, which do raise serious questions to which, no doubt, many of the public would like answers. Nor is it entirely accurate to state that any of the people investigated by the Police in the BHC scandal were “exonerated”, if Dr. Brown defines that as meaning that absolutely no wrongdoing was found.

What Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser said was that none of Bermuda’s existing laws had been broken. But he also said Bermuda’s existing laws were antiquated and needed to be changed. To date, that has not happened.

Nonetheless, Dr. Brown has every right to vent his opinion over the removal of these documents from the Police and their subsequent publication. He can pursue whatever legal avenues he wishes as a citizen of Bermuda.

What is curious about Dr. Brown’s speech is his decision to turn a dispute with a newspaper into a full-blown constitutional crisis by declaring Governor Sir John Vereker, and thereby the British Government, responsible for failing to prevent the removal of the documents.

It is true that the Governor has responsibility for the Police. The Police launched an investigation when ZBM News ran a short story almost two weeks ago that made it clear that documents relating to the BHC investigation had been leaked, and that investigation is ongoing and should be allowed to follow its course.

It is not at all clear what the Governor could have done beyond that, and on that basis, Dr. Brown’s decision to threaten to suspend business with the Governor seems to be a complete overreaction. Given that, it is possible that Dr. Brown is using this as an opportunity to force a rift with Government House and thus drive the Island to Independence. The second possibility is that this constitutional crisis is being used to distract attention from the allegations contained in the BHC stories.

Just what “suspension of business” means is open to question. Taken to an extreme, it could be a unilateral declaration of Independence in which Government takes over the Governor’s statutory powers, including the appointment of certain officials, the swearing in of Ministers and judges and, most importantly, the enactment of laws.

The lesser alternative, thought not by much, is that these kinds of positions go unfilled and laws passed by Parliament do not come into effect. On that basis, the Government could continue to do business, at least until next April, when it will lose the ability to raise or spend money because the legislation connected to the Budget would not be signed. Neither prospect is a good one, and it is extraordinary and dangerous that Dr. Brown and his government have embarked on such a course.

The bottom line is this: If Dr. Brown feels he has been wronged, there are avenues that he can pursue that do not involve the kind of brinksmanship upon which he has now embarked. He should reverse course now.