As we told you last night, the House Staff Committee voted "five to two" on Friday against firing Mace-bearer Brian Yellowman Audinett. The vote was brought by the House Speaker, Laura Longsworth - who was one of the two who voted for his dismissal. Today she explained why she pushed for him to go, and how she feels now that he won't be going anywhere:..
Hon. Laura Longsworth - Speaker of The House
"There is no one that said anything other than dismay and we had great disturbance with what occurred. However, you have to come to some conclusion of the issue, so we went to a vote on different things whether we reprimand or whether we go for dismissal and I am a mom and a grandma, so when I look at the violence it bothers me deeply and so that was it. The motion to dismiss him failed and that's it. That's how I feel about. It was a matter of the majority vote. We are going to take certain actions. He's been reprimanded in front of the committee and also in writing with the warning that if it occurs again there will be no need for a meeting, it will be dismissed."
Jules Vasquez
"Will you have a hard time working in peace and respect with this individual who you feel has brought embarrassment upon the house that you lead?"
Hon. Laura Longsworth - Speaker of The House
"Yes, I think that's a fair question. I will do what I do. I'm the speaker of the house and it's either that we work together or we don't. And I don't see that happening, so I have every confidence and I think that the committee and I have signal to everybody that the behavior in the house has to be of a certain standard and also Jules, I need to mention and to remind everyone that if the media had press charges against Mr. Audinette I would not have had to deal with that, because that would have been an automatic removal from the house. So I think we need to understand our roles but we also have to understand the dynamics in which we work. I am not in any way questioning the reason why. I think I have a good idea why that decision was taken but it's not for me to get into. My thing was it came to the committee, I do what I was supposed to do and I'm moving forward as I have signal to the staff committee that our security of the national assembly has to be improved."
Jules Vasquez
"Is it unfortunate that the Prime Minister as the leader of the majority of the house kind of threw his weight around and said that from a party perspective and the party comes first, Yellow put in work for the party and the Prime Minister feel for the country during trying times in 2005 and in 2006 and that for that it is unthinkable that he should be fired."
Hon. Laura Longsworth - Speaker of The House
"That's a political comment that I can't comment on. I can only say that there is a structure that they had to use and I used it to the best of my ability."
Jules Vasquez
"Are they the party before the country?"
Hon. Laura Longsworth - Speaker of The House
"That's for the community to decide."
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