Lack of referendum financing rules creates free-for-all
(CNS): Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell has confirmed there are no rules in the Referendum Law to prevent anyone from anywhere spending unlimited money to promote any side of the three questions that will be put to voters on 30 April. Deputy Premier Kenneth Bryan successfully steered the bill through the House on Wednesday, which means that voters will be asked if they support the concept of cruise berthing facilities, a national lottery and the decriminalisation of an unspecified amount of ganja. However, the law says nothing about how the campaigns are to be funded.
The government will be spending money from the public purse to promote the ‘yes’ vote but there will be no corresponding access to public cash for campaigners to promote the ‘no’ vote for any of the questions. In addition, the law does not address the issue of unknown special interest, which could include cruise lines, spending as much money as they want to back a ‘yes’ vote.
Local environmental activists and grassroot movements are desperately concerned about the cruise berthing vote in particular since it will have a direct impact on local people and the environment, but a ‘no’ vote is unlikely to attract funding from any overseas organisations or major businesses with deep pockets.
Howell said the issue of campaign financing for the referendum is not a matter for his office. “Enforcing limits on the spending in support of or against any of the referendum questions in the referendum bill falls outside the remit of the Elections office, as the Referendum Legislation provides no legal authority to do so,” Howell stated in response to a CNS question.
Following the vote on Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for CPR, the group leading the campaign against the prospect of cruise berthing, told CNS that the lack of rules governing the financing of the referendum is of significant concern.
“The implication is that not only can government spend promoting a ‘yes’ vote without restriction, big local and international companies with deep pockets with a vested interest in one outcome can finance massive campaigns to influence the voters without a fair and equal campaign for the other view,” the local member of the group stated.
While the concerns raised by CPR relate to the possibility of cruise lines throwing money at the referendum campaign, the issue could impact both the ganja and gambling questions as well.
“It means that the illegal international lottery syndicates can also pour tens of thousands of dollars into a ‘no’ vote on the National Lottery question, and ditto for cannabis companies to promote a ‘yes’ vote on decriminalising small amounts of marijuana,” the CPR spokesperson told CNS. “This is a dangerous set of circumstances that will be exploited by parties that are desperate to secure ‘yes’ votes during the referendum.”
Because of the lack of restrictions in the law, criminals controlling illegal numbers in the Cayman Islands, disguised under a seemingly legitimate non-profit organisation, could decide to fund a ‘no’ to gambling campaign to protect their profits. Conversely, overseas lottery companies hoping to secure any contract to run a future lottery here could ‘flood the zone’ with cash to promote a ‘yes’ vote.
Those involved in the legal and illegal ganja supply around the region could also choose to fund either side of the campaign, thereby distorting the result, simply because the bill ignores the money question, which is always at the heart of political elections and referendums — opening up the potential to distort the real feelings of a community.
The law enables any outside influence, big business or any organisation that has their own profit in mind rather that what’s best for Cayman could effectively hijack what should be a purely local decisions, calling into question the legitimacy of any result.
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Category: Referendum
“A new report from Seatrade Cruise News says that Disney’s next class of ships will be smaller than the recent Wish-class and even smaller than the Dream-class of ships already in the fleet. The three ships will be about 20% larger than the Magic-class ships, the Magic and Wonder. Disney will be making the smaller ships to allow for the new ships to run on a variety of fuels, and to further Disney Cruise Line’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact.”
https://thepointsguy.com/news/new-disney-cruise-ships-smaller/
Maybe we should aim for quality, rather than quantity; maybe we should renegotiate contracts with the cruise lines so that we increase our local operators’ profit margins. Maybe the souvenir shops should consider getting Caymanian-made inventory, not the mass-produced stuff they carry. If you go into one store in George Town, you’ve been to all and very few items (if any) are ‘made in Cayman’. We must support the stores, but are the stores supporting our local entrepreneurs enough?
This is such an illogical argument put forward by CPR et all – “The government will be spending money from the public purse to promote the ‘yes’ vote but there will be no corresponding access to public cash for campaigners to promote the ‘no’ vote for any of the questions.”
Of course the government will be spending money promoting Yes to all questions – that is what they are standing for ! Why would they allocate money to a vote they are not recommending (ie No) – I mean really – a better argument is needed – for those of us on the No side we will need our own campaign and to put our money where our mouths are along with supporters of the CCP and any other parties wanting to vote for no progress on anything ever
There is nothing “illogical” about the argument. It makes perfect sense. Your argument, on the other hand, reeks of special interest.
Sad to see so much ignorance and miss information. Crab mentality, Caymanians pulling their own people down from progress. If a pier is not built, cruise industry will decline to an unstainable level, Those in the industry now are already feeling the impact. God bless the Cayman and its people.
After saying they wouldn’t support contentious legislation, Fancy Pants Joey and the PPM change course. You wonder which special interest group helped convince them. The duplicitous and developer-backed PPM regime is a poison that has been running through the roots of Cayman society for far too long. Every single one of them needs to be voted out. Cayman needs to correct course with new blood. A vote for the PPM is a vote for same-old-same-old, which means among other things that the expansion of Cayman’s concrete jungle will continue unabated at the behest of the developers lobby. Cayman is not for Caymanians in their world.
Sheer madness
Banana meet Republic.
🚨 Stand Up, Speak Out – VOTE NO! 🚨
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1️⃣ Copy and paste the link ➡ http://bit.ly/3Q5jmn1
2️⃣ Click “Use Template” (you may need a free Canva account).
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This is one of Kenneth’s and Joey’s dumbest moves ever.
It is a major reason why neither can be trusted because Kenny is emotionally unstable plus none of them care or understand the consequences of their many reckless and selfish actions.
My mama always said, dumb is as dumb does.
Vote NO
More evidence that the PPM & UPM cannot ever be trusted to lead the Cayman Islands ever again!
Cayman’s Political Circus Presents: “The Great Referendum Vanishing Act!” 🎪
🎭 Starring:
• The Premier of Smoke and Mirrors 🎩✨
• The Minister of Endless Excuses 🛑💰
• The Committee for Delays, Obstructions, and Shenanigans 📜💨
🔮 ACT I: “The Promise of a Fair Referendum”
• “We’re committed to democracy!” they chant while setting up the game board with no rules.
• “Every voice matters!” they declare, while allowing unlimited outside funding to drown out local concerns.
• “Transparency is our priority!” they promise, while conveniently forgetting to regulate campaign financing.
🎭 ACT II: The “Sudden” Realization
• “Oh dear! We just discovered that without financial rules, this referendum is completely unfair!” (Who could have guessed?!)
• “How could we, the architects of this disaster, possibly hold a vote under such conditions?”
• “We must delay to ensure a fair process!” (Translation: “We must delay until we can rig it properly.”)
🔥 ACT III: The Vanishing Trick!
• The referendum is delayed.
• Then delayed again.
• Then postponed indefinitely.
• Then quietly buried under a pile of “future considerations” and government reports no one reads.
🎪 GRAND FINALE: The Great Excuse Explosion! 💥
• “We ran out of money!”
• “We need more public consultations!”
• “It’s not the right time for such a divisive vote!”
• “We must protect democracy by… not letting people vote!”
🎤 MIC DROP: The referendum will not happen. The clowns are in charge. And the circus never leaves town. 🤡🔥
NO to cruise expansion. We need smaller, and/or luxury craft and not massive megaships carrying economic passengers who will wander a dead, gridlocked GT or get shipped to 7MB by the taxi cartel to rent a beach chair and further prevent access for locals. Here we are, worrying about plastic bags while supporting the most environmentally damaging form of tourism.
YES to cannabis reform. It’s a failed war against a plant that is medically prescribed while we allow 18 year olds the right to purchase unlimited amounts of alcohol to go overdose or die behind a wheel. Stop the hypocrisy and let me drink my medical tea in my home without being a criminal.
YES to national lottery. Like cannabis, keeping it illegal doesn’t stop numbers or smoking from happening – you just make it VERY lucrative for the black market to run it instead of regulating it and pocketing the revenue.
Dear under 30 voter
Respectfully I suggest you are drinking the koolaid and parroting what you have heard elsewhere without truly understanding the facts – 45% reduction in cruise tourism and counting – decimating businesses – imagine if this was financial services or your own business ? I urge you to listen to the facts (the real ones)
The “real” (as opposed to what – your alternative facts) is that Cayman should focus on stayover tourism so that hoards of cruise tourists don’t degrade the tourism experience of those who spend way more than they do. The added bonuses include not being beholden to the cruise lines (which definitely don’t care about Cayman’s best interest), not being straddled with the debt of a major infrastructure project when so many other projects can be done with that money, and we avoid the environmental damage that the pier will undoubtedly cause.