No repeal on newspaper ad boycott, says Alden
David Legge in his Jaguar with security detail (Photo from Facebook)
(CNS): The premier has said that until the editor of Cayman’s only daily newspaper apologizes, not just for his editorial insulting the whole country but for his histrionics after the fact and his international media rounds in which he implied his life was in danger at the hands of the Caymanian people, the advertising boycott by CIG against The Cayman Compass would remain.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly Friday morning, Alden McLaughlin said ‘no’ to a request from the Chamber of Commerce to repeal the government advertising ban. In a statement released last week following the drama generated by the flight of David Legge and his wife, Vicki, allegedly in fear for their lives, the Chamber asked government to reconsider the ban and the impact the situation was having in the international press.
Read CNS Viewpoint: The Man Who Ran
McLaughlin said that, despite what was being said, the issue had nothing to do with free speech or a free press, which he wholeheartedly supported, and the editor of the Compass was free to write what he likes within the boundaries of defamation. But he said the government also had a right to criticise what he wrote when it was a direct insult to the entire country and spend its advertising dollars elsewhere.
The premier said he was disappointed that the Chamber had not condemned the offending editorial which had triggered Legge’s departure and the “histrionics and fabrications that have directly caused the international media stories that give the Chamber Council and me concern”.
Following McLaughlin’s original critical statement and the subsequent decision by Finance Committee to stop spending public cash for adverts in the Compass, the actions of the editor appeared to have angered the premier further.
David and Vicki Legge (courtesy The Epoch Times)
“Not content with the damage he had done by publishing the editorial in the first place, Mr Legge, that fearless defender of freedom of the press, falsely claimed to have been given police protection by the governor, and departed these shores with his wife in tow because of ‘fears for their personal safety’. He then spent the following week doing the international media circuit seeking to damage the reputation of Cayman further by giving interviews to anyone who would listen to him suggesting that not only was Cayman a place that was corrupt to its core, but that it was also inhabited by a violent people who would have done him real harm had he not fled,” he said.
Pointing to what he said were the paper’s daily attacks on Cayman and the financial services industry, the premier said the Chamber must be concerned by the inferences regarding FIFA and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority that have no real basis in fact.
McLaughlin committed to protect the freedom of the press. He said, “I will fight for a free media, but any media house that will fight against my country unjustly to sell newspapers or to swell the ego and the coffers of a publisher while harming Cayman’s reputation is not one that in my view should be subsidised in part by public funds.”
The premier justified the ban on advertising as he said the Finance Committee had called for a ban “on advertising with a publication that is systematically seeking to inflict serious, if not fatal, damage to the reputation of these islands”.
Legge’s message was that “Cayman is a corrupt and violent place inhabited by incompetent and immoral people”, McLaughlin said, adding that he had continued to criticize so it was clear the paper was not being prevented from writing what it wanted, illustrating that this is not a freedom of the press matter.
He said the decision not to advertise with the paper was a “vote not to continue to subsidise a campaign aimed at destroying the economy of the Cayman Islands and the livelihood of its people” The premier continued, “The Compass is free to continue to print whatever it wishes. It just will not be subsidised by the taxpayers of this country, who Mr Legge claims are all corrupt.”
The advertising dollar that government previously spent with the Compass, estimated to be worth over $1 million a year, will now “be fairly distributed to other media houses”, he said, though it is understood the bulk is likely to go to The Cayman Reporter after the publisher agreed to turn his weekly free paper into a daily.
As the premier delivered his speech in the LA, it is understood that Legge returned to Grand Cayman around lunchtime after more than 11 days in the US. His wife, Vicki Legge, returned to Cayman just a few days after their dramatic departure on 8 June and has been seen around the island with a private security detail. It is not clear if David Legge will be given further police protection or whether he will be footing the bill for his own security or taking his chances on the streets of Grand Cayman.
Premier’s Response to Chamber of Commerce re Compass advertising boycott 19/06/15
Category: Government Finance, Local News, Media, Politics
I was disappointed but not surprised that the leader of the country Premier Alden McLaughlin continues to make news of an editorial and now castigates the Chamber of Commerce for not falling into line with him against the Compass publisher.
Alden please do your job and solve some of the country’s pressing problems. Your obsession with this editorial is getting tiresome. If the country’s problems are too much for you just admit it and step aside so someone else can lead the country.
If not move on and get to solving some problems.
The chamber of commerce mmm lets see defendants of business but not of the people that their membership employs. The chamber of members who violate cayman immigration laws by creating adds for employment in the compass that ingeniously deny caymanians a chance at a job because of the over amplified qualifications they portray. Hmm the Chamber whose membership keeps the highest percentage of foreign workers in our second pillar of industry, and only pays lip service to the hiring of our people. Yes that Chamber is now the champion advocacy group for Legge. Well here is my response to the chamber (or is it chimi pot) pluck the yampi out of ya own eye, before you try to clean the Premiers. That’s all Folks!.
I see from the picture now added with Legge in his jaguar that Legge has done quite well on the dollar he has been feeding on these past decades. I hope he is paying for his security detail and not claiming it as business expense.
I agree with Anonymous 20/06/2015 8:37 pm. Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin is quite right in his statement on Friday. The Council of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce offered a lukewarm exhortation that they support the right to freedom of the Cayman media and an appeal to “encourage both parties to act responsibly to resolve this matter urgently”. They said nothing to contradict the statements and actions of the Cayman Compass “Editorial Board.” Has the Chamber Council somehow got its wheels stuck in the mud of insipid “political correctness”?
If the international reputation of the Cayman Islands and confidence in its governance were to be badly damaged or destroyed, wouldn’t it adversely affect the vast majority of Chamber members? In the face of such a threat wouldn’t it be myopic for the Chamber Council to defend one of their members at the expense of the vast majority of their other members?
I hope we can all agree that journalistic privilege does not mean a journalist should expect to not be called out if they unjustly insult a whole people group or ride roughshod over the public trust inherent in fulfilling the role of a free press. Let’s not forget some of the wording the Cayman Compass or its publisher chose to use:
– in the editorial of Wednesday June 3 claiming corruption is “COMMON in the Cayman Islands”, that “LURKING BEHIND THE SCENES are shadows of impropriety, influence and inscrutability”, that “such behavior is SO COMMONPLACE, [people in Cayman] tend to normalize it, refusing even to recognize it, or neglecting to see how aberrant it really is”, that in Cayman we routinely excuse corruption as “CULTURAL DIFFERENCES”, that “people in Cayman have been CULTURALLY STEEPED IN [corruption]”;
– in demanding 24-hour protection and fleeing the country
– in the dramatized front page and follow-up articles in the Cayman Compass on Monday June 8;
– and in the statements propagated in various different international media in the days before and after the Premier’s statement on Friday June 5 and the subsequent vote in Finance Committee.
If some of the members of the Chamber Council privately say that highly irresponsible journalism has taken place, why aren’t they publicly calling the Cayman Compass out on it?
First the Chamber Council needs to recognize and acknowledge that it was not the local politicians who threw the first punch in this recent bust-up. It was the Cayman Compass “Editorial Board.”
Second the Chamber Council needs to realize that it was not local politicians propagating these stories to news media around the world. The first sideswipe against Cayman and those in leadership positions here, appeared in New York Times about a week or more before the Premier’s statement in Finance Committee: http://l.ly/uh
In that article the Cayman Compass publisher is quoted as saying among other things “Because Mr. Webb was so popular and successful, THE COUNTRY hasn’t looked deeper into what else he might have been associated with.”
Then came the torrent. Examples of how far and wide that torrent has flowed to many corners of the world are:
USA — New York Times (sportswriter Jeré Longman): http://l.ly/io
USA — Washington Post (Adam Taylor): http://l.ly/YP
Canada — The Globe and Mail: http://l.ly/0C
Trinidad & Tobago — Guardian: http://l.ly/JN
Italy — La Gazzetta dello Sport: http://l.ly/d9
Poland — RP.pl: http://l.ly/lC
Various Spanish-language — HolaCiudad/Telemundo: http://l.ly/C7
International Financial Services Community — Offshore Alert: http://l.ly/tX
Despite all that, in the “Statement from the Council” the full text of which is at
http://l.ly/dX
there are three paragraphs of which one focuses solely on criticizing the actions of only one side of the two in this fight: the Government. Why didn’t the Chamber Council write another paragraph focusing on criticizing the actions of the other side in this brawl, the Cayman Compass?
Come on Chamber Council. This latest statement from the Premier gives you another opportunity to say what you really should say. So now you get a do-over. Use this one wisely.
The premier’s overreaction is what has given this story legs and you sir are simply adding fuel to the fire with your copious contribution to the discussion. It looks like a progressive plant to me.
I like Pat Steadman’s “copious” commentary, as you put it. You might do well to read it and digest it. Some good points — and it does not read like a “progressive era plant” to me, but a genuine expression of concern .
Rereading Mr Steadman’s contribution I stand by the copious reference to his contribution and the fact that the exact contribution was found in today’s compass furthers my speculation that a spin was involved.
What Mr Steadman and 9:07am ignore is that without the Premier’s blowing this out of proportion this would have been another editorial soon forgotten. Mr Steadman seems to want to keep it alive in the public’s and world’s attention.
The country’s ignoring the conflict of interest relationship alone brings the editorial concerns to mind.
If Mr Steadman wants this issue to remain in the public’s mind then keep writing.
Da-wa-yu-get at 9:37 am: if you know enough to say with such authority that “corruption is systemic” in Cayman, you need to be speaking with the Commissioner of Police. Or perhaps you are part of the problem?
There is little point telling the COP, as many of the types of corruption are not illegal in Cayman, unlike most other places, which is what Legge was driving at. examples for you that you already know about.
The Speakers paving of private drive ways n the Brac, to ensure reelection
The exPremier using tax payer money to gamale with and not repaying until 3 years later, when it is investigated.
The Gasboy cards, free fuel for all, which to this date has still not been sorted out.
Changing of government contratcs to parties not even part of the tendering process, think Cohen and the Chinese with the dock. Even the dump contract.
Open letter to our Premier, Alden McLaughlin.
Dear Alden,
Mr. Legge, possibly by his editorial, but surely by his actions afterwards in dramatically fleeing the island and giving press interviews claiming to be in fear of his life caused harm to our international reputation. I see a disturbed person, looking for attention.
Yet this is nothing compared to that done by former Governments: status hand-outing, Govt. credit card gambling, affordable metal housing, drunk driving, criminal cuckold assaulting, illegal land rezoning, private driveway paving, Cohen dealing, Chinese porting, “dynamite” importing, 1st class world touring, Brac hotel room abusing, gas gating, Nation Fund abusing, FCO insulting, ……..The list could go on for days! This seems to me like the real treason to Cayman.
I was not offended by what Mr. Legge said in his editorial. I see little difference to his generalizations and the never-ending admonition from the preachers that “We are all sinners”. I saw a lot of truth in his observations about day-to-day signs of corruption. I try not to take offence where none was personally intended, and rely on my own moral compass. I suggest you do the same.
If you are correct in assessing how Caymanians feel about the Compass, they will vote with their buying and advertising dollars. It is an abuse of power for you to sway the Government’s (people’s) money from the Compass and towards a competitor based on your personal sensibilities.
Alden, please stay on the side of the “good guys” by not bullying Cayman’s oldest newspaper out of business out of bravado or misplaced nationalistic pride. You think you have the support of the majority of Caymanians? Did you hold a referendum? Just remember, “empty vessels make the most noise”.
You didn’t propose the motion to withdraw Govt. ads in the Compass, but, by God, you walked straight into Arden’s trap!
Truthseeker
Truthseeker, well said sir.
Another one of Legges pranksters . Don’t worry you soon hurry or maybe it is hasten or maybe it is ah well time will tell on you.
Thank you for that; one of the most reasoned responses I’ve read on the matter.
10:47 pm, 21/06: you are quite the comic — no difference between the preachers’ saying you are all sinners and the Compass saying you are all corrupt!
Wow! poor CNS had been invaded by the David Legge Keyboard Army over the weekend in an attempt to slay Alden and his supporters with their thumbs-down arrows.
I hope it gives CNS more revenue, because their generally unbiased opinions are a welcome relief. Some may disagree as to whether they are unbiased or not, but they seem to regularly draw the ire from all ranges of the spectrum frequently enough to satisfy me.
Aldon has been binging on the Coco Puffs and it’s starting to show.
Are you using the phrase in the they turn the milk chocolatey sense or the Whitney Houston sense?
I hope this will stop soon and die a natural death. I only hope it does not reach Jamaica and hit the Gleaner and the Observer.
Dear Worried: a very simple-minded response — let it die down and go away and we can all pretend that we have a half decent, professional print media organisation, that, for instance does not operate a PR company that gets mileage for its clients through the newspaper. Do you know that professional editors look at that practice with the greatest of disdain? Do you know that is a form of corruption? And let us all turn a blind eye to that. Let it all go back to the way it was before — simmering anger among the population waiting to explode. And in case anyone gets the wrong idea — the Caymanian people have always supported a free press — and especially one that is brave in standing up to government when it must. But we want a fair, honest, professional media! Let the Gleaner publish that .
Just a reminder to everyone that freedom of speech is not an absolute right and there are a number of areas in which it can be curtailed and legally sanctioned:
In the United States that includes speech “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless actions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes compared such speech to shouting fire in a crowded theatre, creating a “clear and present danger.”
“(F)ighting words” are also illegal. This ruling speaks to speech “that injured or tended to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” Such speech, the ruling said, has “no social value and can be curtailed.”
Hmmm — do we have a case here that could have “injured” to the point of inciting public breach of the peace? I am sure we will have the Legge cohorts saying otherwise, but I do recall the Premier, on reflecting on the editorial, saying that the Cayman populace is very long-suffering.
No one should under estimate the depth of the anger felt by the Cayman people.
Hmm, I thought that you were going to conclude that Alden was the party guilty of inciting public breach of the peace!
Anonymous 22/06/2015 at 4:33AM I pity the fools that continue to bury their head in the sand. To deny that corruption does not exist on this bit of sand is to allow it to continue. All your angry Cayman people should pull your head out and brush the sand off. Otherwise I’d say that you are part of the problem, getting your share of that pie called corruption and you don’t want the status quo interrupted. eh!
I AM Caymanian!!
9:56 am, 22/06 — for the last time, no one would be so stupid to make the generalization that there is no corruption here — most generalizations, including that corruption is in our DNA and that we ate ultralight steeped in it, are simply by their very nature untrue! And generalizations are the stuff of racism.
Who sent the memo to Legge to tell him that it was now safe to RETURN?? Legge, please do us a favour and leave these islands permanently. You are no longer welcome here. You really messed this up for yourself since you had a really good thing going. Security detail?? Please give us a break!!
7:16 got it right!
Legge just said what many know to be true. Local business in Cayman is riddled with corruption and patronage. Fear stops most from being able to say anything. Alden should be taking on the challenge of responding to that corruption not bullying those that dare talk about it. The speed with which Ossie tried to squash down investigations into CIFA gives a flavour as to how bad the situation is.
What a child. Grow up Mr. Premier.
Boo Hoo Alden your feeling are hurt…for goodness sake you are a grown man the premier and demanding an apology for “FREE SPEECH/FREE PRESS” come on!!!!
Alden I wish you would spend as much time worrying about our economy, the crime and corruption in this island then about someone who hurt your itty bitty feelings!Pathetic
A triumph of ego over class. Sums up Alden since he won the election.
Mr Premier , Mr Legge is exercising his right of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. I think that your histrionic behavior in the LA is what caused this mess. I really thought better of you as the leader of the country .
Next up.. A government funded newspaper that won’t print the truth if it pisses the premier and his tribe off. And as usual it will cost lots of money to run and generate no income as only a few will read it. Many of the other third world countries have already gone this way. This is the path Cayman will follow. Listen to what we say and don’t comment on what we do. Or else. Its treason.
So Radio Cayman in print?
Hopefully with less religious crap.
Dont worry. The premier and his tribe wont crucify you for your ignorance.
All this freedom of the press argument would make sense if the Compass were a legitimate newspaper, rather than a propaganda machine with not wit of affection, understanding or respect for the Cayman population.
There is a great deal of understanding and with that understanding often comes less respect.
1:03 am — well said — exactly what the Compass would like to believe — the bunch of Johnny come latelys on the editorial board has been sitting on their arrogant, egotistical pinnacle looking down on Cayman, so overwhelmed by their sense of superiority that they do not even know that they don’t know. But what we do know about is their lack of respect. (by the way, the classic racist position — condemning a whole class based on their belonging only).
So the press can be free if it doesn’t come from a political position you don’t like?
So when is the Chamber going to call out Legge for his despicable, totally cringe-worthy, unpatriotic, unjustified international media interviews? If I had any money to spend on ads, Compass would not get a cent. I am shocked that business would continue to be associated with a medium that is so damaging to the perceptions of Cayman.
THAT was the gowerment we had before the PPM. Matter of fact it probably was the gowerment we had before the PPM that started this whole thing.
Is that you Miss Cleo, back at your old practice of foretelling the future? Good luck with that.
Hang on, isn’t that the present set up? You are seriously delusional if you are being honest in your post. Seek professional help asap. (Should be “Or else it’s treason”.)
I just read a Reuters story claiming that to the organizers of the UCCI anti corruption conference in March last year “it did not seem to matter that one of its contributors CONCACAF) was mired in scandal.”
Of course, Reuters did not bother to call for a comment from the organizers who would have said that had they known they would not have approached or accepted the contribution!
Such is the state of journalism! Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story!
And as soon as you challenge the media, they hide behind “freedom of the press”! If the media have abandoned the ethics on which the profession was founded and built, don’t expect me to fight any freedom of the press battles for them. If they are just another conniving competitive deceitful hypocritical business, fine, but let us not get all blue in the face about freedom of the press.
As an advertiser, here’s the deal: I am going to advertise with the publication that reaches my targets. Right now, the Compass has lost its local audience, so that makes it an easy decision for me. In any case, I had been evaluating that prior to this whole blow up: most people were accessing the publication through CaymanCompass.com, which does not carry ads. The publication was already having trouble even giving away the print version. I understand there is an online full version to which people can subscribe — but given that most people find that an easy decision as well….
So I am afraid, Compass, that I will be finding a better way to spend scarse advertising dollars i these lean economic times!
This is not just about one editorial. This is about the low standards of journalism at the Compass generally. And I do think that that emanates from the head — the publisher: the directives he gives, his own professional standards, the people he hires, etc. and then we saw Legge himself in the interviews themselves: this guy has totally lost it, if he ever had it.
Usually, when a company goes through a crisi like this, especially one so badly handled, heads roll. I hope that the investor/s behind the Compass will axe him and hire a replacement who can be relied upon to operate an ethically sound newspaper. The investor should immediately disband the PR arm — it is too much a temptation to the news arm to be dispassionate in the way it treats clients of the PR arm. It simply does not pass the sniff test, and has the appearances of corruption.
I noticed a very impassioned posting referring to Legge as a “reganite jerk” while, at the same time feeling equally passionate about freedom of the press. I am equally passionate about freedom of the press. I have no problem with anyone wishing to publish whatever he or she wishes, short of indecency and defamation. However, the dilemma for me is the destructive influence of a sole daily with no other print media to bring balance — and some honesty — in a small population such as ours. I really have a lot of problems with this.
The Compass had no credibility over the last two years and that is why it was people were abandoning it in their droves. Compare the Legge article with the one on corruption in The Reporter.
My view: if the Cayman Islands so “culturally steeped in corruption” that we would not “recognise corruption” if we saw it, and corruption is so “normalized” , then Compass should not be accepting money from the government, which one would expect to be tainted with corruption.
Has anyone ever heard of the term, “RED HERRING”?
This is exactly what Alden McLaughin has created with his ‘treasonous” misdirection campaign. The editorial is straight forward opinion and the Premiere’s overreaction is simply misdirection.
As a leader Alden’s skills are limited and his difficulty to lead the country through such difficult issues like the GT dump relocation, destruction of reef for the cruise ship pier, and teaching and training Caymanians to enter and maintain a position within the workforce are all so much more important than this non issue.
The rest of the LA who have mindlessly followed his misdirection campaign so they too can pretend that they are actually doing something useful.
There is another message contained within Alden’s bullying campaign. Confront or disagree with me and you will receive payback, it takes one back to the days of black balling people as troublemakers.
If any of the MLAs in the LA had awareness or courage they would have called him on this foolishness instead of following his lead to nowhere like sheep. They are there to solve the problems that I previously listed not invent red herrings to pretend to get all patriotic about nothing.
Anonymous at 12:12 pm: did you even read the editorial? A “straightforward opinion” that Caymanians are so “steeped in corruption” that they couldn’t ” recognise it if they saw it”! Do you recognise yourself in that statement? Well, I sure don’t!
And what is this about “confront or disagree with me and you will receive payback”? Eh? Rubbish! That is simply not relevant here — the Premier did not speak to any disagreement in any editorial with any policy, plan, or law.
Seems David Legge and his cohorts are stacking these comments — but your wishy washy, unfounded opinions will not work here either!
Corruption via conflict of interest in response to your first point and the necessity to post via the anonymous tag for self protection for your second point.
In the US, a hate crime is generally defined as “motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation”.
Many – but not all – US states have their own hate crime statutes that apply to charges prosecuted under state laws.
Interesting comment 8:04, 20/06: you might be on to something here!
@12:12pm You accuse MLAs of blindly following Alden,while you are busy blindly following Legge and throwing out a “red herring ” in an attempt to deflect the story away from him. .For too long Legge has insulted and degraded Caymanians and Alden did the right thing in standing up to the bully. Maybe you are cut from the same cloth as Legge ,if so please free to do as he did.
If Alden is too much for following proper process is too slow for you, there is always someone willing to take shortcuts.Just look around. However some of us like slow and steady .
A “straightforward opinion”? Are you nuts? Have you actually read it? It calls you and me (assuming you actually live here) endemically corrupt individuals incapable of recognizing the same. Come on, man.
For crying out loud, the Nazis had “an opinion” about all manner of things. Are you suggesting that having “an opinion” is and end in itself?
For crying out loud, are you suggesting Legge’s editorial was in any way comparable to the Holocaust? Have all you people gone stark raving mad?
Frank Frankly at 9:58 pm — no, no, the poster is not implying a comparison to the holocaust — you are missing the point. The poster is just saying that the fact you have an opinion in and of itself does not make it fly. It needs to be an evidence/data-based opinion to stand up to scrutiny. Get it?
You make a lot of good points with which I agree, but you might also agree that Legee has an arrogant, condescending and derisive attitude towards people who welcomed him and made him one of us (in the 2003 status grants – the most egregious example of corruption in our recent history). The hypocrisy was rich and the man showed his true colours by the way he responded. On the whole, I consider the episode a good step forward in understanding his agenda and personality, even if Alden got a bit shrill.
If the status grants were an act of corruption, why has nothing been done about it? Could it be because we are corrupt?
alden…wrong again….. alden cannot go 5 mins without making himself look a fool
He’s got to try a lot harder to beat you.
Well done Alden!
What Mr. Legge wrote about corruption here is the prevailing view of those hypocrites who govern this place make no mistake but it is also an indictment of those very same
rulers whom when it suits them or stands to benefit or threaten their economic & political “interest” will willfully turn a bling eye or ignore it. Caymanians should be comforted to know this corruption disease isn’t solely ours and were infected and now sickened by those contagious bast@%#! who brought here.
One chooses to be corrupt. Don’t blame others.
Stick to your guns Alden! The majority of Caymanians are behind you.
But one thing I would like to know is, what is Legge’s game?
Should their Status be taken away? If Cayman is so terrible why don’t they give up their status? Go back where they came from.
How did they get their status?
I think the majority if Caymanians are actually driftwood!
At least now we know where the support for Legge is coming from. Expatriates are hell bent on taking over this country. Obviously they never had it so good. Stand firm Alden.
Life is pretty simple for you, isn’t it.
Perhaps everyone needs to read todays article in the Cayman Reporter “The parallel fina cial universe of the Cayman Islands” .
The Cayman Reporter looks like the perfect little CIG ran news paper..They clearly have the direct support of the CIG. Let’s see how that effects their integrity..
OMG – that is one of the scariest things I have ever read here.
Talk about treasonous! It’s basically calling for the abolishment of Cayman financial services industry and independence from England. And this is the newspaper that the PPM is going to prop up with advertising now????
I did. “The indigenous people of these Islands are ‘entitled’ to their freedom, their right of self-determination to choose an honorable socioeconomic system that brings laurels and social-justice to Caymanians and not the colonial puppet master who now hides behind the title of the British Common Wealth” sets the tone.
We are in big, big trouble if that’s the prevailing attitude around here. Time to start moving assets off island, I think.
Another childish reaction from a leader who is playing to the gallery because his government fails to offer real solutions to the real issues facing these islands. Corruption and abuse of power occurs at every level. It is systemic in the Cayman Islands but that doesn’t mean all Caymanians are corrupt. PPM are in denial and no different than the last lot to mismanage the country.
Scary thought but Alden has managed to out Mackeeva even McKeeva Bush on this issue and is proving himself to be as stubborn over a what amounts to nothing more than a school yard argument with an old red neck republican news paper editor who does not understand Caymanians or demonstrate real love and respect for the Cayman Islands.
Kids, please be nice, shake hands please and carry on playing.
The Compass has been accused of treason, the crime of betraying one’s country, when all they really did was talk about things that hit a bit too close to home for some people’s liking.
At the same time the LA is discussing trashing acres of reef while trying to duck issues like Mt Trashmore, recycling and alternative sources of power – they even tried to block the importation of electric cars!
What greater treason is there than condemning these islands to a future where the levels of pollution present due to a failure to adopt basic solid waste management, sustainable energy and recycling programmes exceed anything permitted anywhere in the First World?
This isn’t even the pot calling the kettle black, it’s just blatant hypocrisy.
Clearly you concur with what Mr.Legge contends, namely that all the people who inhabit the Cayman islands (less himself and his wife ; and not forgetting – perish the thought – the “Cayman Compass Editorial Board”) are all so steeped in corruption to the extent that they are incapable of discerning it.
Well, it’s nice to read a rational viewpoint for a change. Thanks for your input. Keep reading as wide a range of subjects as possible is my best advice.
Well, I too think that the editorial was, more or less, accurate, having been here long enough to witness some of the corruption that goes on first hand. It’s funny, because when McKeeva was in power, all you heard on this board was corruption this, corruption that. People openly talked about a “tax” named for a certain politician who you all said demanded a cut of every deal government approved. The very same year we had Joey Ebanks go to prison for corruption. Two high-ranking Immigration officials get suspended for corruption. Then there’s the FIFA thing. And when Legge points it out, everyone gets self-righteously offended and wants to tar and feather him. And people like you respond to opinions like the one above with mocking derision instead of reasoned debate. I suppose that since the Premier is doing the same thing, you’re just following in his footsteps. In the end, I thing this whole episode is reflecting very poorly on the Cayman Islands and that the Premier is making an embarrassing fool of himself, all for political points.
@9:08 The only reason none of the measures you mention have been adopted is the ‘what’s in it for me?’ mentality that pervades society here. If you could show that those solid waste management, sustainable energy and recycling programmes would directly benefit the decision makers or their friends and families they’d be falling over backwards to change things.
It’s exactly the same with tourism. The reason the Cayman Islands has lost the UK/Europe market to our neighbours is because all negotiations with major tour operators hit this entitlement attitude problem.
If a US newspaper were to editorialize that Americans were so steeped in corruption that “no one can recognise it” the publication would likely be ignored/hounded to the point of going out of business. And I would think that were the government of the US to comtinue to subsidize such laughable, false and damaging rhetoric, they would hear a lot from the people about how their tax dollars are being spent. (And yes the US and the Cayman Islands both have their share of problems).
I wonder what would happen if the United States or Britain had one daily newspaper and that newspaper began to spout, respectively, anti-American or anti-British rhetoric? To characterize the populace of each of those countries as corrupt to the core? (And they do have their corruption — check out the US place on the global corruption perceptions index).
Corruption may or may not be worse in the U.S. It’s just that they are MUCH better than we are when it comes to hiding it. But at least they take action when it becomes public!
The thing that is most upsetting is that the Johnny come latelys at the Compass know nothing about who the people of Cayman really are. Take the comment by the publisher on his truly cringe-worthy media circuit in the US that Caymanians hero worship Webb (and the implications of his messages that we resented the Compass’s related coverage). Entirely untrue — for the benefit of the Compass: Yes, we were proud of Jeffrey Webb, but if he done wrong, he will have to face the consequences.
And, by the way, you don’t know how fast Caymanians jump ship when you get in trouble. Lol.
What is an insult? An abstract concepts that exists only in one’s mind. It is not real, you can’t touch or smell or see or lick it. It is imagination of one’s mind based on one’s perception, which in turn based on one’s believes and conditioning. So one has a choice, be offended or not. Others have nothing to do with it.
Read the editorial first before commenting:
There is nothing wrong with it. Just stating the facts and warning for the effect of corruption.
7:42am, 20/6: I suggest YOU read the editorial before you comment. First of all, there were no “facts” — it is an opinion piece. And what made it objectionable as an opinion piece was that it was full of generalizations which it did not, in the editorial or in news articles, support with facts.
First you tell the world that David Legge was wrong with your words, Then you prove him right with your actions.
Very well said
Dear CNS please confirm if CIG will continue to purchase the Compass’ daily print which is supplied to a great many government employees each morning.
And for those who don’t believe this is having international coverage look at the following links from the past week. The Premier needs to act like a Premier and not like a backbencher with a vengeance mission:
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/jun/14/fifa-editorial-lands-daily-in-hot-water/?latest
http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/jun/15/cayman-islands-publisher-flees-after-row-over-fifa-editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/sports/soccer/critical-of-fifa-publishers-flee.html?ref=topics&_r=0
http://www.turkmenistannews.net/index.php/sid/233835627
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/fifa-soccer-scandal-exposes-caribbeans-corrupt-underbelly-110000967–sow.html
http://www.bvibeacon.com/1/index.php/news-articles-2/1948-june-18-2015/business-june-18-2015/6961-caymanian-gov-t-pulls-newspaper-s-advertising
6:24 am at 20/6, I read the first of the articles listed above and I was too sick to read the others: the editorial was “in response to the FIFA scandal”? Are we speaking about the same editorial? There were two brief sentences obliquely mentioning FIFA. And why should the FIFA scandal be a reflection on the ordinary Caymanian? This is just plain nasty journalism — if you can give it such respectability. And we should spend money on this rubbish that bears absolutely no resemblance to the noble profession of journalism?
And this nasty stirring up of international media is a reflection of the affection and patriotism this little worm of a man holds for Cayman and its people?
This has only confirmed what we have already deduced from his editorials. How sad that the Islands and its people must endure this yellow rag and the propaganda it is passing for journalism.
To 6:24 am: who triggered these articles? Our dear daily publisher who ran like a dog with his tail between his legs at the first sign of trouble. And how can we reconcile what we read here with the report that he had expressed contrition to the Governor? Or was that just the usual “souseing down” of the governor — the same hypocrisy that got him where he is?
Legge my friend you will not survive as a publisher if you don’t toughen up! And for God’s sake, try to practise some proper crisis management. Crisis management 101 : 1. Never run and hide.
2. Face the music and do what is necessary to correct what triggered the crisis.
3. Try to move on as quickly as you can.
What a mess you have made and continue to make. I hope your clients are watching and learning.
I agree with you Hon. Premier Alden McLaughlin, “Not with my tax dollars”. Amen, to that when you talk bad about my country, you on the fighting side of me and all real Caymanians, born ya or not.
All the venom is about loss of Govt. $$. is it not?
Seriously!?! Alden had the opportunity to let this die down and he re-ignited it? It’s childish in the extreme. It’s like watching a little boy tell another child that he won’t let him play with his toys because he won’t agree with his point of view. Alden is in a position of power and he is abusing that power. If this had happened anywhere else in the free world the rest of that countries press would have skewered the politician with negative news about trying to muzzle them. Alden grow up! The world is watching (ever heard of this thing called the Internet?) and you are only playing to the Cayman voters. We need you to be the leader and statesman that your position as Premier expects, not some vindictive banana republic style politician.
When will the government apologise to the people for using public funds for paving private land, buying watches on credit cards, gambling on government credit cards etc. All morally wrong too.
Surely you are referring to the ex government?
That is not the point. Do we tolerate it, ignore it, or prosecute it?
We prosecute it of course. Please proceed.
You forgot many other things he must apologize, such as, gasboy scheme and island wide poisoning by the dump, and deaths and injuries on West Bay road, and driftwood insults, and blood shedding comments, etc.
Well that dispels the myth that this was a petty ego filled triumph of little islanderism.
David Marchant? Who the hell is he? And I take it from your little rant that you class yourself among “the more intelligent”?
Yes, I certainly do class myself among the “more intelligent” 12:10. Do you?
12:10, the “little rant” you refer to seems to many of us thinking/reflective of Cayman’s image abroad Caymanians as an impassioned statement of truth. If you do not know who David Marchant is, you have not been reading CNS posts on this matter recently and you are certainly not aware of the continuing battle we have to persuade overseas observers that we are not a corrupt money laundering banana republic. Add to that now, courtesy of a Premier with a law degree (you cannot make this up), banning advertisements to try to adversely affect commercially a local newspaper. You pose the question as to whether the poster classes himself/herself as one of “the more intelligent”. The answer to me and many like me is “yes, very obviously”. Why do you not really think about the issue carefully and then come and join us?
Dea 5:34 pm at 20/06: if you were so smart you would realise that I was being ironic in posing the question as to who David Marchant is. I know who David Marchant is and the intelligent among the population here (yes, quite a few of us! — btw being ironic again — and abroad know how to evaluate his writings.
As for joining the “intelligentsia” such as you and others, I care too much about this country! Some of us are just waking up to what the Compass has been doing since Legge took over, and are now asking “what happened?” This is how countries fall apart — people like you pay no attention and then get on some bandwagon.
What I see at the Compass is a newspaper with very little allegiance to professional standards of integrity — for example, varnishing the image of the clientele of its PR branch and unfairly attacking others or ignoring news from those areas. I simply cannot trust them to act professionally, for example, did you notice that not a word was said about the RCIPS’ paying for Legge’s security detail? Did you notice that not a word was said about his disappearance and his despicable, unpatriotic overseas media circus? That is our daily newspaper at its best!
Don’t get me wrong — I am for freedom of the Press as much anyone else — and in a larger clountry market forces and public opinion would take care of the Compass. But we have no choice here in Cayman. This is it — the Compass is all we got, basically, in print media!
Join you and your ilk that thinks this is about Alden, as you put it, versus MCKeeva, etc.? I hardly care about the government in power, per se — they are hardly any different — but I care about this country!
You are just waking up to the impact that this is having overseas — where were you when the Compass was ragging this country — they have not only been tarnishing us internationally but also demoralizing us locally. And no one has done a better job of that recently that that weak-kneed Legge who ran with his tail between his legs and gave those appalling, truly cringe-worthy interviews.
I would not join you for anything — I leave you to consider: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
So thanks for the invite, but no thanks.
Our world class leader ( and his predecessor) both prima donnas without reason. Corruption? Rampant in CIG, trouble is that they are so used to it that they don’t even see it as wrong anymore. Legge, another prima donna, but one who can do much more damage and is worthy of an Oscar
How much did Alden say about the violent crimes of the last week? Nothing, because he was too busy pandering for votes by showing his pathetically insecure followers that he is standing up for them. I wonder if the families of the victims of the two stabbings and three shootings give a carp about his chest pounding speeches about how insulting and treasonous David Legge and the Compass are? Who really has an agenda here, Alden? You sound like a small-minded bully and you’re supposed to be a statesman. You may have some of the sheep in your flock fooled, but there are many of us who know better and see you exactly for what you are.
If this was boxing… The geriatric blowhard manages to ruffle the feathers of the much younger boxer with his constant taunts. Instead of just laughing it off and telling the old man to go play with his diapers the young man pummels the old man into oblivion. Nice work Alden. What’s next? Old ladies and children?
Ad interim, the newly approved budget of $730,000,000 is a real kick to the groin of the Cayman import-duty/tax payer; with no fair or reasonable ROI (Return on Investment), id est enormously high cost of living, Mt. Trashmore failure, schools and education disgrace, the mess that is public transport, high unemployment for Caymanians, high crime, no health insurance reform, no election reform, et cetera.
“We have consistently delivered consistent results.”- Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin.
Yeah, bad results!
KYD $730 Million Dollars. Pucker-up folks, this one’s going to hurt.
Hang on, so Mrs.Legge is out and about in about the safest place on earth accompanied by a security detail? Okay. Goodness, this gets weirder and weirder by the minute. I’m finding there are fewer and fewer differences between this farce and the more zanier soap operas broadcast from Mr.and Mrs.Legge’s native country. It’s no wonder the Compass has become little more than a daily exercise in creative writing. What I want to know is, will aliens figure at all in any of this? Or have they already?
Nice gig for those security guards!
The Legges should be embarrassed and have security detail just so they can have someone to hide behind when walking about town. I think they need only fear the finger pointing, smirks and laughter they will encounter. Good grief this just needs to go away. Way too much drama from both sides.
People who monogram their initials on shirt cuffs do not suffer from embarrassment. But they are certainly embarrassing to the rest of us.
Or as Jeeves said to Wooster “It was my understanding that they were only for those people who were in danger of forgetting their names, sir.”
I certainly didn’t see any security detail when Mrs. Legge had a front row seat on the podium at the Flowers Sea Swim. They fled the country “in fear” but immediately returned when they realized they were to receive an award in front of a thousand people. Which begs the question, which one of those two would miss an opportunity to garner some recognition?
Alden – grow-up and stop behaving like a stroppy pre-teen. The rest of the world is watching and you are behaving like a 5th former upset with the school magazine. Pathetic. And, more importantly, genuinely damaging to Cayman.
Actually i reckon it is you who needs to grow up, or at least come to your senses. What Mr.Legge has done is not playground stuff, my friend. He has painted Cayman as an endemically corrupt country inhabited by a corrupt and violent people. Now if you’re okay with that then I suppose you are entitled to your opinion. But at some point you really should stop and think in realistic terms.
Actually the editorial said nothing about violence. Although this is certainly a major problem on these islands.
It talked about cars passing inspection when they should not have.
It talked about planning permission going to those who play the game.
All certainly true. But nothing is done about it.
It IS just accepted.
STAND UP for your country and your people Alden. That’s why you are where you are. Congratulations to you.
I don’t know about a 5th former – more like a spoilt five-year-old after his Mom caught him in the cookie jar.
I stand with the Premier. From a previous report we heard he had expressed contrition to the Governor. The ban should not be lifted until he apologizes to the people of the Cayman Islands. In the meantime, he is free to publish what he wants (short of libel) — just not on my tax dollar!
By the looks of today’s classifieds it seems some agencies didn’t get the memo
…or it’s all just a poppy show and more BS.
Remember that some Ads.were paid for,before the fall out,so you may see them for weeks,but no new ones will be allowed.
Ooh that hurts.
No, you’re wrong! It’s lack of enforcement. The Cayman Islands Compass Advertising Enforcement Board is yet to be established.
It will be staffed by high-salaried PPM cronies, but hey, there’s no corruption here.
The editorial was probably fairer than we would like to admit. The histrionics afterwards however are something there should be an apology for.
“fairer”? I beg to differ. There was nothing “fair” about it. Of course there is corruption here, along with the rest of the world, including the US/UK, we all know that. But it is Mr.Legge’s claim about the extent of it here (along with some cloud nine claim about it being so rampant that its inhabitants have lost the ability to recognize it) that makes his comments anything but fair and balanced.
Did a politician buy a piece of land from a family member at almost 10 times its value?
Did a group of politicians hand out citizenship to their friends?
Are persons appointed to Boards and operate on them with overt conflicts of interest?
Is everyone treated fairly in accordance with the Law without regard to who they know?
Why did Stan Thomas pay a commission for re-zoning?
Has any of it been prosecuted? Is that because it is/was all legal?
Think!
You left out Gasboy, paving of private driveways, …
It is treason to spread such vicious rumours… unless it’s election time, then you can call anyone you want corrupt.
Spin it any way you want but the intent is to destroy the paper because of what it prints
I will be sure to spend more $ at the compass to ensure freedom
at the end of the day your country is run by tyrants set on destruction and control of all people in cayman
where is the queen?
Interesting how you reference “your country”. The rest of your post is the stuff of fantasy, much like that idiotic editorial.
and you are in this country for what reason? you and Mr. Legge and family should be given a one way ticket out of “our country”
You are clearly not a Caymanian our you would understand what this issue is here, for your info, Caymanians are a very proud people and calling them corrupt is insulting to their very core
so you can go back to wherever you came from if you don’t like “our country”
I really, really don’t know about the statement “Caymanians are a very proud people”. Not anymore, with the way so many who have the means to pay, are taking instead (GASBOY, HSA bills, etc, etc.). I think maybe you’re confusing narcissism with pride.
Bazinga!
Where is the Queen? She’s in London living in a rather large house. But we’ve already got enough drama queens over here as it is, so leave her out of it, OK?
Exactly how are you going to spend more $ at the Compass? Buy three copies or what? The paper’s imploding due to being run by persons more interested in sensationalism than responsible reporting.
Ah yes, you mean like dart with the help of mckeeva.
By what is yours run? Why are you all here in this corruption? I guess for the comfort/benefits thereof, the $$$$, the celebrity facade – Hollywood Cayman!
But Ayllllllllden! Y’all know full well that a fella ain’t hit tha big time until he’s got armed security to protect hisself on trips to the coffee shop!
Maybe we should give him security in case someone hits him with a teddy bear!
Oh dear Jesus, Alden. You are pathetic. And it pains me to think you are actually an educated man. So happy to know you are fighting away valiantly to protect free speech while following the disgraceful “old time Caymanian” practices of Jim and Haig Bodden versus the Norwester and the National Team versus Desmond Seales by trying to put the Compass out of business. I can’t wait to see what David Marchant and the foreign press have to say about your Premier thumb in the mouth little village sulk. And now I’m left wondering, who the Christ do I vote for next election. It cannot be Mckeeva and now you have shown yourself and the PPM to be just as stupid so it can’t be you. And just for the record, Legge is a silly little Reaganite jerk who wrote an insensitive editorial that could have given you a wonderful opportunity to take the high ground and declare that we in Cayman stand firmly against corruption and reject Mr Legge’s apparent insinuations that blah blah blah. But no, you had to go for the knee jerk crowd pleasing response that would get the less intelligent talk show callers and CNS bloggers salivating with delight and you disgraced yourself as a lawyer by accusing Legge of “treason”. Treason? For Christ’s sake, Alden, treason?.
So well said 7:16. Bang On. I share your views 100% and could not have said it better.
Mebbe so, mister Garfield, but 7:16 should have said. ” We in Cayman just look the other way when corruption rears its ugly head”. If Caymanians stood together against corruption there wouldn’t be any.
Boss Hog, you are, of course, including the practices at the Compass which shine up the public image of the clientele of its PR sister company in its pages — and ignores others it does not like? Does that not smack of corruption? It spells corruption for me — or do you recommend we “look the other way”?
To 7:16 pm 19/06, ok, so The Premier went over the top with ONE word but taken as a whole he was expressing a concern about the anti-Cayman rhetoric of the CompAss — and if you were closely following CompAss editorials, you would have seen it as a trend. If this were a one off incident I am sure the public would not have reacted like this — and thevPremier was speaking on behalf of the population.
What you are referring to re the Nor’wester was, if I recall correctly, criticisms of the government — that is what newspapers do. But don’t shred and destroy Cayman — I don’t want my tax dollar to be spent on that type of incompetence.
And incompetence is the only word to describe a crew that seems to sit up on a pinnacle and look down on the people and make these sanctimonious pronouncements. That is not journalism – that is crap.
It seems that you are joining the CompAss on the pinnacle — your act of labeling those who object as unintelligent is exactly how the CompAss and their ilk think.
Enough!
Legge would not know real journalism or the ethics of integrity even if it somehow materialized and jumped up and bit both him and his wife in their collective posteriors. Regardless of the well known existence of an institutionalized corruption, XXXXX, the compost publication is and has been little more than a poorly disguised propaganda machine. The Cayman Islands would be better off without said pooplication as it stands in it’s present incarnation as a divisive, special interest fueled propaganda machine which has been hijacked to serve the manipulative needs of “we all know who”.
Well said ICU! It is a propaganda machine — but it just seems so idiotic — I am not sure they know what they are doing? The CompAss is obviously the moutiece of its business clientele, but if you destroy the place?
Divide and conquer, that ancient tactic of subversive warfare, is often used to weaken a people and/or a place for the explicit purpose of inserting oneself into a position of wholly undeserved dictatorial and monopolistic power within the smoky shroud of warfare and the blinded combatants involved. Who do we see at the side of elected representatives when they have gone to the “mother country” (and when representatives of the Crown have come here, posting their banner in the background) as if they have as much omnipotence as said elected representatives. Is not the “rumoured” financial backer of a certain “media house” one and the same. Is it not said entity and their “rumoured” representatives and narrators of propaganda who seem to enjoy an unholy alliance with the “representatives of the Crown” which now apparently extends to the extreme of personal security services at the expense of the taxpaying public? Who was the supposedly “rumoured” major funder of the previous government administration’s coffers in order to “facilitate” success at the polls? Is the result of such not self evident? There is no shadow of doubt that institutionalized corruption is at the top of the list of the ills which plague the Cayman Islands. There is also, and correlatively so, no shadow of doubt that said institutionalized corruption is most deeply rooted at the very core of power and influence, deserved or otherwise, of these three islands. The people of the Cayman Islands (some of whom are as guilty as sin itself) have been used and abused as pawns in a subversive chess match of epic proportions. The end result is the ugly reality which we are forced to live with daily, the purposeful promulgation of ignorance, the daily dissemination of misinformation and the destruction of a community and it’s social harmony all for the benefit of an unworthy few.
mister icu is “we all know who” mister dart?
‘Mr. Premier. I support you and the LA for taking a stand. Do not even think about spending another dollar of our money with that newspaper. We do not need to give him any business, his is not the only printed media on the island. the Reporter might not be a large as The Compass but at least their style is more authentic and not a bunch of “cutting and pasting” anyone who thinks so little of us should not expect to do it on our dime. WAY TO GO ALDEN!!
Very weel said!
To Miss Histrionics in 7:16 pm, 19/06: when since has it become a choice between a person in West Bay and one in George Town? When your hysteria is over, just do like the rest of us, vote on an individual basis. News flash: it is simply not possible to vote strictly party line and I suspect that is ignored in voting to a degree. So calm down and put the thumb back. You will be ok.