Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07NASSAU551
2007-04-30 21:38:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nassau
Cable title:  

WATERING THE GRASS ROOTS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER

Tags:  PGOV PREL KCOR KDEM BF 
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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBH #0551/01 1202138
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 302138Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY NASSAU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4171
INFO RUEHBE/AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN 0070
RUEHWN/AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN 5584
RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 3648
RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON 8516
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 3525
RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN 4686
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO 2805
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0428
C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000551 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR RCBUDDEN, INR/B

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KDEM BF
SUBJECT: WATERING THE GRASS ROOTS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
MITCHELL

REF: A. NASSAU 516


B. NASSAU 435

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. D. Brent Hardt for reasons 1.4(b
) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000551

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR RCBUDDEN, INR/B

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCOR KDEM BF
SUBJECT: WATERING THE GRASS ROOTS WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
MITCHELL

REF: A. NASSAU 516


B. NASSAU 435

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. D. Brent Hardt for reasons 1.4(b
) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Poloff observed last-minute campaigning by
Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell in his hotly-contested Fox
Hill constituency. With small constituencies of only about
4000 people, candidates know voters by name, and are expected
to visit with each voter personally. The result is a
democratic system that affords everyday Bahamians incredible
access to Government, and gives representatives intimate
knowledge of the concerns and needs of the people they
represent. In one sense, it is the classic model of Athenian
democracy. However, the system creates sometimes
irresistible temptations for corruption as needy residents
base their votes not on national policy or constituency
leadership, but who can put the most in their pockets. It
also focuses politicians away from larger policy issues
towards local minutia, which helps explain the sometimes
frustrating lack of action within the Bahamian Cabinet on
issues of concern to the U.S. and often to foreign investors.
Mitchell is ill at ease with the personal interaction of
grass-roots politics, but he balances this with cunning
strategic planning, making his reelection uncertain and, as
confirmed by his own maps, too close to call. END SUMMARY.

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL
--------------


2. (U) In the final push to May 2 elections, Foreign
Minister Fred Mitchell invited Poloff to walk his
constituency with him April 29. With 41 constituencies
dividing only 150,000 voters nationally, each candidate has
only about 4,000 voters in his or her district. While it
varies, Minister Mitchell's staff estimates that only about
2,000 voters are in play in each constituency, with many
candidates ultimately separated by only a couple of hundred
votes. With elections turning on hundreds of votes,
candidates walk the neighborhoods, seeking support one living
room at a time. COMMENT: Poloff was clear to register U.S.
neutrality in the contest, as was Minister Mitchell with his

constituents. Pol Chief has also toured with an FNM
candidate in the neighboring constituency to avoid any
suggestion of favoritism. END COMMENT.


3. (C) With so few votes in play, Mitchell knew each voter
by name, and his campaign staff of three had detailed maps
showing each home, shaded red or yellow depending on their
anticipated vote. As we moved house to house, each voter
invited us into their formal living rooms, often offering
refreshments. The voters clearly had the upper hand and knew
it. Mitchell, not warm and sympathetic by nature, was
obviously uncomfortable with deeply personal interactions
with the voters. Outside their homes, however, he shined,
engaging in detailed strategy discussions, planning
neighborhood events and deftly directing campaign activities
with staff.

POLITICIAN AS SAVIOR, PSYCHOLOGIST AND SUGAR DADDY
-------------- --------------


4. (C) As we entered each voter's formal salon, they
proceeded to regale Mitchell with their problems. A few
wanted to talk issues, but most were eager to petition
Mitchell for help as a serf may have done when granted access
to his feudal lord. "How are you Mavis," asked Mitchell from
the plastic-covered couch, tea in hand. "My mother is still
dead, Fred, but God bless you for coming to the funeral. I
just hope we can pay for it, maybe with PLP help." Mitchell,
who says he attends between two and five constituent funerals
every Saturday throughout the year, shifted uneasily as he
asked his campaign worker to take a note. "I'll get back to
you. Hang in there. You still with us?" Another voter,
whose daughter was stricken with cancer, invited us in for
more tea. "I can't pay for medical bills and the power. God
help me." Mitchell responded with discussion of the PLP
National Health Insurance Plan, avoiding the implied request
for financial help. Another voter, again with more tea, went
straight to the heart of the matter: "In 1997, I voted FNM,
but I got nothin'. When I voted PLP in 2002, it paid my

phone bills. It got my brother a job. The PLP - they care
about the real people."


5. (C) A frustrated Mitchell privately explained: "This is
Bahamian politics. You want to talk about issues and they
want to take whatever they can get. You want to help, you
want to ease pain, and you must show that you care to get
elected. But there is a line they want you to cross." A
campaign worker acknowledged that the line is sometimes
crossed: "People get bills paid, appliances are bought, cash
changes hands. It happens, but we don't do it." Asked about
the woman whose bills were apparently paid by Mitchell in
2002, the worker said that helping people in need was
different than buying votes, "Her son was killed, she has no
husband, she needed help." Mitchell openly complained that
his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service
put him in a particularly bad position during the campaign.
"Everyone wants a government job. I wish I didn't have the
public service portfolio and I could tell them nothing could
be done." Mitchell also acknowledged, however, that his
public service portfolio was busiest during the campaign --
taking him away from the road for hours a day as he signs for
new perks and jobs.

LOCAL DOMINATES THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
-------------- -


6. (C) The focus on the individual in campaigning carries
over to broader Bahamian politics. "Now you know why we
can't get to international agreements in Cabinet. We are too
busy working on benches," said Minister Mitchell after a
voter complained about the state of repair of public benches
on her street. Indeed, the Bahamian Cabinet is notoriously
overburdened, unable to ratify important international
agreements or national policy items as it considers road
paving, speed bumps (a voter favorite),stop lights and other
issues important to the local population and vital for
reelection. (Comment: The opposition FNM has promised to
create a local government for Nassau to ease the burden of
these local issues on national government. End Comment.)

GRASS ROOTS SHOWS STRONG DEMOCRACY, STRONG POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE
-------------- --------------


7. (C) COMMENT: Mitchell claimed to have the race in Fox
Hill locked up, but Poloff's glance at Mitchell's shaded maps
counting support home by home told the story of a very close
race. Mitchell's unease with personal politics cannot be
helpful to him in The Bahamian system, but it is likely
balanced by his strategic planning and the assistance of a
dedicated campaign staff. In such a close race - common in
The Bahamas because of the small constituencies and important
role of swing voters - every vote counts. A well-meaning
politician could easily be confused between legal attempts to
assist those in need and illegal vote buying. A dishonest
politician, of which there are more than a few in The
Bahamas, has ample opportunity for corruption. Mitchell sits
somewhere in between, and along with the rest of the
candidates, would benefit in future elections from national
anti-corruption and good governance legislation.
HARDT