Alden quick off the mark to fill political post

| 02/03/2015 | 45 Comments
Cayman News Service

Frank Cornwall Jr, Political Assistant to Premier Alden McLaughlin

(CNS): The premier has wasted no time in filling the now vacant post of political assistant in his office just days after he gave Kenneth Bryan the boot. A press release from the premier’s office Monday said that the job has gone to Frank Cornwall Jr, who is a member of the PPM. McLaughlin sacked his former assistant on Friday after placing him on required leave last December.

Announcing the speedy turnaround in a short release, Alden McLaughlin welcomed the new political appointee, who is on contract to his office, and reiterated his position that constituency matters were being neglected

“I have been without a political assistant since December,” he said. “I need someone to do the job. My constituency work is being neglected and the needs of the people I was elected to represent are not being met.”

Cornwall was a last-minute nomination during the PPM’s candidate selection process in the district of George Town ahead of the 2013 election. However, despite making it on to the ballot sheet he was unable to secure enough support from the PPM membership vote.

Cornwall was formerly an Environmental Health Assistant in the Cayman Islands Government Department of Health but has been in the construction business for more than a decade officials from the premier’s office stated.

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Comments (45)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    If the real role that this person fills is to look after Alden’s GT constituents, why didn’t Alden give the post a title of “GT Liaison Officer” or something similar? Why did he call it “Political Assistant” in the first case? That gave the impression that the person was assisting with political matters generally.
    We now know that the Premier’s grand plan was to hire someone who could ‘deal wid dem people’ so he could deal with what he likes to deal with. Ayh Alden, the rope soon come tight, trust me.

  2. Anonymous says:

    This government is nothing but pretenders, they speak the right language but act the complete opposite. So thankful I had enough sense to see through the PPM garbage they were feeding in 2013, no X from this caymanian bobo!!

    PPM = Pretenders Predators Misleaders

  3. Anonymous says:

    Is this person even caymanian

  4. Julie Range says:

    Welcome Cornwall! You will surprise them and do more than lip service to your community.

  5. PPM Distress Signal says:

    Just another PPM cronie and stool pigeon for the Great pretender and his “Gowerment”! Poor old Kenneth replacement reflects disrespect and contempt all around.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Boy there is a lot of hatred on this island. I just came across Rooster and am now wondering if indeed I have made the right choice in moving to Cayman

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, with the island being so small it is a rather easy drive to Owen Roberts.

      • Anonymous says:

        What a wonderful welcome to Cayman. I fully expected someone to say ” do not listen to Rooster as the people on there do not represent the way the general Caymanian public feel”. Instead I am reminded of where the airport is. Wow!

        • Anonymous says:

          There are many flights leaving daily from that airport too.

        • Caymans List says:

          Get used to it, this is the national response given to anyone considered an outsider..

          Here’s a few examples;

          Mind your own business, your not even a real Caymanian.
          You have nothing to do with this, go back to where you came from.
          If you don’t like it go back to your own country.
          And the best is, You nothing but a piece of driftwood.

          Simply offer an opinion or ask any question that requires a common sense answer, touches on the actual truth or anything that can’t be answered truthfully and that is what you will get.

          Do not expect to get welcomed with open arms by the Caymanian community, I have found that it’s not really their nature. There is a deep set resentment towards outsiders that is ingrained deeply into the Caymanian Culture.

  7. Naya Boy says:

    Alden is obviously singing Paul Simon’s song “why don’t you be my body Guard” my long lost friend. Aaaaah boy a party run by little children some from Cayman the others from Cayman Brac! What a friggin mess we in.

  8. Anonymous says:

    But sadly OUR business such as Customs & Fire is neglected and without a Chief whilst Alden has an Assistant to do the work he was elected to do? And he vehemently cries down the last Premier? Boy he sure got nerve……2017 hurry come….please

    • Anonymous says:

      Why does Alden need a political assistant in the first place? He is only the “Premier” of a very small rock in the Caribbean seas with a 60k population?? It’s not like he has Barack Obama status. Do the damn work yourself Alden…god knows you are being paid more than enough.

    • Sharkey says:

      This new appointee, Alden tells him what to say and do , that’s why he Frank don’t need experience in the job . Then Alden think that he would be able to put the blame on Frank, called the escape goat. Alden is tearing every page out of the Obama play book faster than Obama can write .

  9. Anonymous says:

    Alden has to pick someone from a certain voter category in town because he’s so week. He is NOT able to secure the votes from people in the East like Kurt Tibbetts did – poor leadership and his inability to relate to people who did not come from upper middle class upbringings. Sad day for the Cayman Islands. Frank may be a nice guy that was unemployed but he’s no where near ready for to advise anyone on anything political. Alden hasn’t even gotten the number of children the man has correct in his press release … wonder what else he is missing?

    • Anonymous says:

      The names of all of Frank’s four children were included in the press release…

    • Anonymous says:

      Please do us all a favour and not continue to attempt to create division based on ‘class’. The UDP people were the first to bring up class during the last election campaign when they tried to paint PPM as elitist in an attempt to divide us.Alden,Kenneth and Frank are all Caymanians,let’s leave it at that.

  10. Anonymous says:

    ” . . the needs of the people I was elected to represent are not being met”.
    I’m glad you admitted it Alden; we knew it. But we won’t make the mistake of electing you ever again bobo.
    But we should have known better. Anyone who works so hard to try to keep looking like they’re 33 instead of 53 is really only 13 in maturity!
    You need to start acting your age boyyyyy!!

    • Anonymous says:

      Anyone who makes such a childish comment as you do in your last paragraph,has not even reached the maturity of a 13 year old.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Poor choice if I ever saw one.

  12. Anonymous says:

    WOW…….what a connondrum! What a mess

  13. Anonymous says:

    Alden trying secure his spot for next election well i know this one gt voter he better dont come speak to. This guy is the weakest leader and his party is clueless

  14. Anonymous says:

    correct me if I am wrong, did we George Town people not elect you ALDEN to represent US. who is this person anyway. Well I guess you will have one less VOTE in 2 years time.

  15. Anonymous says:

    What a joke this guy has no skills to fill this position. This appointment will be just as effective as the ppm action and policies.

    Alden next election you not even gonna get a seat the gt voters not gonna sweep you out they gonna throw you out the la.

    This move is to only try and get the poorer darker population of gt vote which alden has always struggled to get much of

    Poor ppl mistake
    Poor ppl misery

    • Anonymous says:

      So your argument is that Alden got rid of a poorer,darker Caymanian in an effort to get the support of poorer,darker Caymanians? Really? Your argument smacks of racism ,which has no place in our society.

      • Anonymous says:

        Yes racism shouldn’t have a place here but sadly it does!! Deny it all you want; sweep it under the carpet but it’s tentacles will creep out…..guaranteed. Caymanians always have known that racism is here; it comes from colonialism and slavery. And as Marley says mental slavery is the worst cause “only you can change your mind” And yes it is hard to admit and sometimes harder to one’s self but we can’t change the fact. It is why there is such disreapect to our “colored” including many trying for years to be called to the Bar to practice; it is why some politicians were always viewed with disdain because of “who dey fah and way dey from” and why we do nothing about the minimum wage…..Wounds heals better when give treatment and some times you’re blessed to not have a scar but it must be treated and this is one wound that needs treatment!! UDP not perfect; but like it or not PPM is not perfect either regardless of what you say! Cause the truth is in the pudding

  16. Anonymous says:

    So there was an advertisement placed in the paper and all the required employment protocols followed? Where is the transparency Alden?

    • Anonymous says:

      This is indeed a very strange occurrence. If innocent until proven guilty, why was Kenneth sacked? I thought that Alden was running a fair, transparent government here. Also, it seems strange also that the position was filled very quickly after Kenneth’s departure with apparently no advert in the paper or online, no interview, no shortlist – correct me if I am wrong for I don’t know but I can’t imagine all this happening in such a short period of time. I would even go as far as to say that it almost seems as if they were looking for any old excuse to bring a new man in. Alden beware! You can’t afford to run a party that can’t do things right! I wouldn’t be surprised if Kenneth comes off innocent and sues you.

      • Anonymous says:

        You are obviously very, very confused about local jobs for hire and jobs that require work permit application protocol. Must definitely mean you are not a voting local. But then you could be one of McKeeva’s POLITICAL appointees trolling each and every PPM story that comes up so you can post your jealous negativity.

        • Anonymous says:

          Too funny…..McKeeva troll?? Just like the Alden troll? LOL…..A Political Asst job is assigned to a devout follower of party and so no job adverts needed. As far a I know Cornwall wanted to be on the slate in 2013 so now that Kenneth is gone he’s filling the position. Guess it helping one unemployed Caymanian albeit a PPM supporter

        • Time For Change says:

          What about Government Protocol and following procedure to ensure the right candidate is chosen for all other government jobs it is advertised

          • Anonymous says:

            But, “time for a change”, it is NOT a government job covered by the Public Service Management Law Personnel Regulations.

          • Anonymous says:

            God you are naive! If procedure actually mattered then Ozzie would have been out on his ear following the driftwood scandal.

          • Anonymous says:

            This is NOT a government job. It’s a political job and the person and a contract and doesn’t adhere to the personnel directives that civil servants would. They simply have access to the glass house.

            Having said that I think Alden made a poor choice here.

        • Anonymous says:

          I am by no means against a Caymanian filling the position, what I was saying was that the position should have been filled after a regular, run-on-the mill recruitment process. And to take it one step further, it’s obvious I’m on Kenneth’s side as a born and bred Caymanian and the fact that he was sacked just after getting a mortgage, having two kids to feed, etc. And for the record, I am a Caymanian that has lived in the Cayman Islands for all of my life, I am registered to vote in the Cayman Islands and I am NOT a POLITICAL appointee of McKeeva Bush. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

      • Anonymous says:

        exactly….innocent until proven guilty. I do not know why he was released from his job in the first place. I don’t even know why Kenneth is going to court???? He was protecting a woman….what is wrong with that? This whole thing seemed fishy from the beginning. Sorry Kenneth but guess what better is to come for you. Keep the faith!!

        • Anonymous says:

          I don’t know why he was even hired in the first place. It always seemed a very risky choice.

  17. thomas rivers says:

    Alden, to say that you require someone to handle your constituency work is not a worthy excuse for a political assistant. In case you forgot, you were elected by the people to represent them, and if you can’t take the time to deal with their concerns, then you’re not fit for the job.

    Please don’t come with that “but look at all these ministries I’m responsible for” rubbish because at the end of the day, it was you who delegated them to yourself. That’s all on you, buddy.

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