And while Longsworth voted in favor of a dismissal, Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber was one of five who voted against it, but in favor of a reprimand. Today Faber explained that it doesn't mean they let Yellowman off that easy.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister
"They could argue as they did in that house staff committee meeting, that there is a lot to be desired in terms of a lot of things including the sergeant of arms general conduct, but we believe that that should be addressed as a separate issue of the issue of him dealing with the journalist or interacting with the journalist in the manner in which he did and it is for that reason that we decided that the offence which we all agreed reflected poorly on the national assembly. As you've heard me say and we spoke to him very sternly, in fact he was called in in front of the committee where it was mostly the members of the government side who spoke very sternly to him to say 'listen, this cannot be repeated.' We thought that a reprimand and the instruction for him to make good his relationship with the people who he offended was sufficient and there was a stern warning to him as well that if it continued, if in fact repeated like that, we would then not hesitate to move for his dismissal."
Voting along with Faber were UDP parliamentarians John Saldivar, Michael Peyrefitte, and Senate President Lee Mark Chang. Faber says that in the staff committee they discussed other issues such as conduct in the house and overall security issues.
Email
Print