CDP party chair to run for GT North seat
Tessa Bodden
(CNS Election): Theresa “Tessa” Bodden has been confirmed as the Cayman Democratic Party (CDP) candidate for George Town North. With less than a week to go until Nomination Day, she was among a flurry of candidates that emerged Thursday to confirm their intentions to run. This is Bodden’s first run for office and she is only the second of the party’s candidates to declare in the capital. Bodden became chair of the CDP in 2013 after the party changed its name following the United Democratic Party’s poor results in the last elections and its worst showing since it was created in 2001.
McKeeva Bush, the party leader, has persistently blamed the UK and former governor Duncan Taylor for that poor result, as he was forced to fight an election with a split party and while under investigation for corruption after he was charged with misconduct for misusing his government credit card. He has described the misconduct charges against him as “trumped up” by the British to illegally oust him from office.
Bush was acquitted in 2014 when it emerged that there was no rule in place to prevent public officers, including politicians, from using their government credit cards for their own purchases provided the money was paid back. But the trial was still very damaging for Bush when it was revealed he was spending and losing thousands of dollars gambling when travelling on business as premierPremier of the Cayman Islands More of the Cayman Islands.
The CDP is hoping to reverse the misfortunes of 2013 with a new slate of candidates. However, the party is not expected to field a full team, as Bush has already said he will be endorsing a number of independents and will not be competing against them. The hope is that if they get elected they will support his bid to return as premierPremier of the Cayman Islands More for a second term.
The rest of the CDP team is expected to be confirmed at a closed-door meeting this weekend.
Meanwhile, the party chair is the first candidate to declare for the GTN constituency, which has 1,159 registered voters and stretches from the Ritz-Carlton at its northern most boundary down to Godfrey Nixon Way at its southern end. Bodden is expected to face Joey Hew from the Progressives, though he has not yet confirmed that he will be running in the constituency.
With just six days to go, no independent candidate has yet declared their intention to contest the seat.
Category: Uncategorized
Are there any good candidates running?
What is your position on anything other than wine?
Running in the same district as your commercial properties? Is that why you chose that district?
So you have to pass a sobriety test?
I wish Tessa the very best. She is a woman of class and has what it takes to represent us well. After all, she is the daughter of Sir Vassel and he certainly did not buy his knighthood. Good luck, Tessa. I can hardly wait to hear your plans to help the Cayman Islands. Please don’t forget Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. With your connections we wish that you were running against Mose who only wins up here because he keeps us all from starving to death instead of creating work so we can support ourselves and help our country
She is Sir Vassel’s daughter and comes from an excellent pedigree.
Sir Vassel would not have been caught dead affiliating himself with the likes of McKeeva Bush. Shame on her if she is going to use his good name for McKeeva’s purposes.
Tessa is a bush puppet. We need strong individuals in this election.
You should live in Bodden Town East 4:22 where the only choice is Dwayne “sacred wessel” Seymour and Somebody Bodden. No one I know is going to vote for either of them.
Who?
Tessa has shown her true colours by joining up with Mac. Birds of a feather …
She has always been very active with UDP. Wasn’t she the chairman of the committee?
Exactly my point.
Everybody seems to be looking for a retirement plan….Cayman is in a real mess.
Six days remain and the average number of candidates per constituency is hardly 4…
My biggest fear is that a low variety of (substandard) candidates in each electoral district will potentially discourage voters from exercising their democratic right, thus leading to a low voter turnout under the new system.
I sure do hope on Nomination Day I am proven wrong.
I agree with you totally. I hear the same argument every day.
Your failure with not voting would not help the country. Instead evaluate your choices and try to fully understand why a person is standing for election and what ideas they have for the country as a whole! Think wisely for you may not have the same opportunity next time. It may very well be another kind but not Cayman kind to choose from!m take heed and act sensibly.