Does ex-BELCO man deserve a shock at the polls?

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12: Have you ever noticed that former smokers can be a bit of a nuisance?

For years they were blowing smoke in your face while you were trying to eat or have a conversation.  But later, after they’ve quit, after they’ve finally given up their filthy habit, they’re absolutely fanatical in their disgust any time someone else tries to light up. It’s always a big drama that there’s too much smoke in the room.  Remind you of somebody?  I’m thinking of Vince Ingham. 

“Corporate Man, C.E.O. Man, BELCO Man” has suddenly developed an allergy to business. He’s “Candidate Man” now and wants to distance himself as much as he can from the big corner office and fat pay cheque that he must have received during all those years as BELCO’s President and C.E.O. 

Vince Ingham is angry.  He’s mad that he didn’t have an adequate answer for why a woman is having a hard time feeding her extended family. He doesn’t have a solution for the mess we’re in so he’d rather blame the business community which, he claims, lacks a “social conscience”.   At least that’s what he told constituents at a recent PLP gathering for Pembroke West. 

When he was at BELCO he probably didn’t mind too much that everyone’s monthly bill could choke a horse or that over 1,000 people had their power turned off when they couldn’t pay their bills. I’m guessing he didn’t mind his compensation benefits from his former employer.   He probably has a nice home and takes nice vacations. I don’t recall reading that this was the BELCO man who wanted to start an electricity co-op for disadvantaged Bermudians.  Maybe he was too busy.

Good people aren’t able to turn the lights on in their homes. Their power has been shut off and they’re in the ridiculous position of having to decide between cold food and light. Why?  Well, it’s hard to pay your bills when you don’t have a job. I bet the woman who’s having trouble feeding her family is probably having difficulty keeping up with her electricity bills too.

Vince Ingham would rather point fingers at everyone else, including the business community which, he asserts, only does things for “business reasons,” than look at the failings of his own party.

I’m sure that Vince Ingham didn’t want to bring attention to the fact that he, too, once had to think about profitability and the bottom line. How do you keep Bermudians employed when costs are skyrocketing, international businesses have left in droves and the rest of the private sector is barely alive?  He couldn’t or didn’t want to answer the real question. Faced with a room of frustrated voters, he probably didn’t want to bring attention to the fact that he use to have a j-o-b with benefits. Vince Ingham has a pension — will you?  

The dirty little secret in the big, bad world is that you need big, bad business so that you can have a job, a job that compensates you with a salary and health insurance, a salary that enables you to keep the lights on. 

Perhaps Vince Ingham isn’t a detail guy and he forgot about that. 

He probably forgot about all the contributions local and international businesses have made to Bermuda over the years.  He forgot that international business employed thousands of Bermudians before they decided to ditch Bermuda for more cooperative business jurisdictions.

He wants your vote but is he willing to take the right step and acknowledge that there have been government policies that are fundamentally anti-business and need to be reversed? Without the existence of business, Bermuda is just another fishing town.

Vince Ingham wants things on his terms. After a long, successful career at BELCO, he has his pension plan and health insurance.   He now wants to supplement that with another j-o-b but this time it will be on your nickel.

Take a look at your bills and ask yourself if this is the guy who can attract business to Bermuda and create jobs so that you won’t have to stay up late at night wondering how you’re going to pay your bills. Ask yourself if this is someone who won’t be pointing fingers at you if things don’t go his way.