'We're not buying votes'

'We're not buying votes'
Campaign managers rev up strategies as Aug 27 polls near
Thursday, August 16, 2007

From the alleged shelling out of millions of dollars to round-the-clock pavement pounding, campaign managers in western Jamaica have intensified their efforts to woo the electorate even as they move into the last lap of the election period, which climaxes on August 27 when the country goes to the national polls.
According to the managers of the candidates representing Jamaica's two major parties - the ruling People's National Party (PNP) and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) - the job entails a wave of creative strategies.
However, they swear that none of those strategies include what is arguably the most corrupt and effective of all, namely, vote-buying.
"A lot of people say to us that they need money for their votes but we are not for that, we have sufficient voters to pull a victory, so we don't need to buy votes," said Byron Carter, campaign manager for Donovan Hamilton, the JLP's candidate for western Hanover.
Carter, who has been in the political arena since 1991, said he is confident that Hamilton and the JLP will pull off a resounding victory through the message of a better life under the JLP.
"It's a clear victory for Donovan and the JLP," said the businessman. "It's the first I have ever seen the party this organised," he said.
Garth Grant, campaign manager for Ian Hayles, the PNP's candidate for western Hanover, also disassociated his campaign from the practice.
"I have never done that. Once you (an elector) mentions money then I know you will vote for the highest bidder," he added. "It would be foolish for any candidate to do that since you cannot ensure who anybody will vote for."
Grant, an insurance executive and party stalwart who has worked with former Member of Parliament Ben Clare who took the seat with a comfortable win over the JLP's Travis Spence in 1997 said there is a certain level of comfort in his camp. "Western Hanover is a very predictable constituency. if you look at the pattern over the last three to four elections you can almost predict the outcome," he said.
As such, Grant said, the campaigning in the constituency at this point is focused on readiness for the election. "What we are doing now basically is planning for the election day. Ensuring that all election day workers are in place and people know what they supposed to do."
Among his duties, he said, are organising house to house campaigning by the candidate, which is presently going on now in the area, as well as nightly community meetings.
He said his candidate, although a newcomer, has displayed a youthful enthusiasm and sincerity that has allowed him to connect with the people.
Patsy Kerr, who has been the campaign manager for the JLP's Barrington Gray since he was elected Councillor for the Hopewell Division in 1998, told the Observer West that her campaign strategy remains the tried, tested and proven method she has used to secure her candidate's victory in the past.
Having played a pivotal role in Gray's win at the polls in 2002 when he edged out the PNP's Lloyd Hill to win by 736 votes, she boasted that her candidate, who will go up against the PNP's DK Duncan for the Eastern Hanover seat, didn't need bought votes. "We get support without offering a dollar because we live with the people, eat with the people, play with the people and mourn with the people," she said.
Describing Duncan as "no threat", Kerr said:

"I am not afraid of DK, he has never won an election (recently) and he never will...tell him Patsy Kerr seh suh."
Mentored by the late Arnold Scott Jackson - who served as MP for both the JLP and the PNP - Kerr said she grew up in a JLP household and has served her party faithfully over the years. Her roots in the community she said make it unnecessary for her to seek support through financial means.
"We take the same message to all the people," she said. "The truth about PNP neglect and the difference that the JLP will bring."
Robert Hendricks, campaign manager for DK Duncan, the PNP's candidate for eastern Hanover, also said he was now focusing on election-day readiness. "The focus right now is ensuring that election-day activities run smoothly," he told the Observer West. "You want to know all the targets are met, all the workers are ready and all the logistics are in place."
Admitting to working backwards - assuming that the election is won and then taking the necessary steps to achieve this - Hendricks says he believes that Duncan's 'superior' organising skills will give him the edge.
He admitted that money passes hands in an election campaign as a natural part of the process, but is in no way connected with vote-buying. "It happens everyday...people will ask for something. They are with you all day and they might want a lunch or something to drink," he said. "It's a normal, natural part of the process."
However Homer Davis, campaign manager for the JLP's candidate for South St James, Noel Donaldson who will challenge the PNP's incumbent Derrick Kellier for the seat, says he knows that payments ranging from $15,000 to $30,000 are being issued to incite voters.
"We, however, have no need to buy votes. we are trying to show the voters a better way," said Davis, pointing to his programme which includes house-to-house stops and nightly spot meetings.
Dennis Wanliss, the head of Kellier's machinery told the Observer West that although he had been hearing about such cheques since 1989, he had never laid eyes on one.
"It is a principle of the PNP not to buy votes," he said.

Junior Taylor, campaign manager for the PNP's Henry McCurdy who will go up against the JLP's incumbent, Horace Chang for North West St James, said his team was "shoring up plans and making sure that all was in place for election day." As far as vote-buying was concerned, it was a no-no, he said.
Chang's campaign machinery declined to comment saying they'd prefer to keep the focus on their candidate.
Don Smith who is guiding the JLP's Edmund Bartlett's bid to retain the East Central St James seat also denied vote-buying. "we are not in anything like that," he said.

Marilyn McIntosh-Nash, campaign manager for the PNP's Donald Colomathi, who is seeking to unseat Bartlett, laughed when the question was posed to her, saying "we are not into that, my candidate is too poor and paying for votes is not sustainable anyways."

Mrs McIntosh-Nash who was on a walk in the Salt Spring area when she spoke to the Observer West said they were intensifying their campaign and trying to interact with as many voters in as many ways they could before the elections.

Gordon Baldie, campaign manger for the PNP's Francis Tulloch who is seeking to beat the incumbent Clive Mullings in West Central St James said his candidate has a proven track record of behaving above board.

"No one in our campaign team would dare offer anyone bribes for their votes and certainly given Mr Tulloch's status among political leaders no one would even think about asking us to pay them to vote," he said.
Businessman Robert Russell who has taken over Mullings' campaign from Mark Hall said he too would prefer to keep the focus on his candidate.
Semi-retired businessman, Oliver Nembhard, the campaign manager for the JLP's Christopher Tufton who will contest North West St Elizabeth against Stanley Redwood said his team had done its home work in terms of taking constituents to get enumerated. A newcomer to the business of campaign management, Nembhard, an old school mate of opposition leader Bruce Golding said that he had initially been roped in to sort a few organisational matters out. "Before I knew it I found myself in it full time," he said.
On the issue of vote-buying he said: "We have done our homework while they were squabbling over who is to be the candidate so all we are doing right now is keeping the people motivated through meetings - I have three per night - and ground contacts," he said.
Efforts to identify and interview Redwood's campaign machinery proved futile.
Lenvas Cole, vice-principal of the Balaclava High School in St Elizabeth and a maths teacher with over thirty years experience said that as campaign manager for the PNP's Kern Spencer who will go up against Coris Samuels for North East St Elizabeth vote-buying was a no-no.
Elrick 'Busha' Clarke, campaign manager for the PNP's Roger Clarke who will go up against the JLP's Russell Hammond for Central Westmoreland told the Observer West that his candidate had successfully uprooted the the "buying of votes" culture which characterised the constituency in previous elections.
"They are not asking for money no more. We have been able to change that mentality with them. We don't intend to buy votes people understand that. It is not something we support. Once you start doing that you can't stop doing it," Clarke told the Observer West. "The issue now is t-shirts and arm bands that is what they are requesting largely now".
Clarke's campaign manager, Roger Allen, said he's concentrating on preparing transportation to get voters to polling stations on Election Day and actively highlighting his candidate's achievements via local media outlets.
"We haven't bought any votes, we are not buying any, we don't need to. You can't have the whole of the coconuts in the basket and still be buying. It is the man who does not have any who needs to buy. We are coming in the final stretch now and we are pulling away so why would we need to buy votes"?
Fiona Rerrie, campaign manager for Dr Wykeham McNeil, the PNP's candidate for Western Westmoreland said that her candidate has always steered clear of vote-buying.
"I would think that Jamaica is far more advanced...we have never done it, but for those who have practiced it, I hope we (Jamaicans) have passed this stage. They are saying the Carter people (observers) won't have to come to Jamaica. We should be proud of our performance and that is a practice we leave to other people that is not our practice," Rerrie noted.
"His candidacy has been based solely on performance. For the last 10 years he has been serving Western Westmoreland in that capacity. Right now he is just staying close to the people and walking the constituency. I am sure on Election Day they will make the right choice," she said.
Huntley Gracie, campaign manager for the JLP's Dennis Meadows who will challenge the PNP's Dr Patrick Harris for North Trelawny said that over the next 11 days the constituency executive will continue to focus on house to house campaigns, targeting strategic communities.
"Our strategy is not to buy votes; our strategy is to spread the labour party message so that the people can see the party as a viable alternative," he said.
Reverend Owen Watson, campaign manager for Harris said he'd rather lose the seat than buy votes.
"We are really going to mobolise and re-energise the comrades while at the same time we will try to get those who are on the fence to give us the support that we need to ensure victory," he said.
He said so far, he has not been approached by anyone who is desirous of being paid for their vote.

Dorothy Miller, campaign manager for the PNP's candidate for South Trelawny, Donneth Brown Reid said over the next few days her team will continue to do house to house campaign in specified areas as well as a few spot meetings. She too, said she wasn't interested in buying of votes.
"One's vote is too precious to be bought," she said.
Hugh Gentles, campaign manager for the JLP's Marisa Dalrymple Philibert, who will go up against Reid for the seat, said vote buying was unnecessary and unethical. "The people are willing to vote for a change; they want change so you don't have to pay then to want change; they see the need for the change," he explained.
- Reporting by Keril Wright, Paul Reid, Mark Cummings and Horace Hines.

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