Mac calls for porn probe

| 27/06/2014

(CNS): The opposition leader argued hard on Thursday for a parliamentary enquiry into the reinstatement of the airport’s IT manager over allegations that he was using his government- issued computer to view porn and download sexually explicit images and how the former acting CEO came to leave the airport. McKeeva Bush was given leave to move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling for a privileges committee to be formed to get to the bottom of what he said was direct interference by the board in the two related human resource matters. Bush also said the board chair had lied to Finance Committee when he insisted the board was staying out of personnel issues when there was significant evidence to the contrary.

The opposition leader argued that Finance Committee had been misled and members needed to enquire into all of the circumstances surrounding the series of events. He warned that if they didn’t, the matter would never be heard of again. He pointed out a number of issues that were being kept under wraps and said the public ought to be told the truth. Bush also laid a letter on the table of the LA from the airport’s lawyers to the board chairman, which he said the airport staff had denied knowledge of until the chair admitted its existence and brought the letter to the House.

Following revelations in Finance Committee and from evidence which Bush had following an FOI request, he expressed significant concerns about the catalogue of issues and events at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA).

This included an employee who on the face of the evidence had been merely reprimanded for behaviour which constituted gross misconduct in relation to the pornographic material, and a second employee who had nothing to do with the porn scandal being wrongly besmirched as well. Then, after Kerith McCoy had said the IT manager should be sacked and raised concerns over board interference and while he was on leave, the board had maneuvered him out of his job. The board was then later forced to settle with McCoy, who was paid an undisclosed sum to take early retirement.

Bush also said it was very clear that the current board chaired by Kirkland Nixon was directly involved in many other staffing and operational issues, despite his direct denials to Finance Committee and the authority law, which does not allow such interference.

Although he pressed his point home hard to get the probe, making it clear that if the members did not deal with it, the issue would be swept under the carpet, Bush still lost the day. He had argued that a privileges committee could call all the witnesses and the full details would come out and it was not just about castigating people in public but to get at the truth.

Demanding once again that the current board be sacked, as he compared the situation to the previous board under his administration, Bush said what was good for the goose was good for the gander.

During his response to Bush, the premier made it clear that there would be no privileges committee established. He claimed that no one had lied to the committee and Bush’s motion didn’t establish a reason why a parliamentary privileges committee was the right way to deal with the issue.

Alden McLaughlin defended the present board and said that when they took over, Owen Roberts was in such shambles and facing such a crisis from the previous board’s tenure that the airport was in danger of having to close. Defending the current board as upstanding people, McLaughlin accused Bush of wanting revenge because all of the scandal and allegations of corruption surrounding the previous board that he had appointed.

The premier insisted that the airport staff had not lied about the letter as they had said it could very well exist but they had not seen it. McLaughlin said that while there may have been wrongdoing, and he could not say either way, regarding the IT manager or personnel interference and an enquiry may be required, the privileges committee was not the way to handle the matter.

He also claimed that the exposure of the letter between the airport lawyers, Ritch and Connolly, and Nixon to members, despite being in-camera, was unlawful as the correspondence was protected by client-attorney privilege. He said that Nixon was intimidated into given up the correspondence.

Nevertheless, Bushlaid the letter on the LA table making it a public document as he said the people needed to see it. (CNS will publish the letter as soon as it has a copy.) Bush, also said it was absurd to suggest the chair had been intimidated as he said no one could easily intimidate Kirkland Nixon. He pointed out that the former fire chief also knew all about Finance Committee having appeared many times to defend the fire service budget.

Despite his pressure on the government benches and pointing out the message they would all send if they voted against his motion when they claimed to be the purveyors of good governance, the opposition leader was defeated when government members voted it down.
Cabinet member Tara Rivers, however, abstained as she said she was not present during the questioning of the airport staff and board as she was at a school graduation. Anthony Eden also declined as he had been acting as speaker when Bush had first attempted to file the motion.

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  1. noname says:

    Ill bring the tissues.

  2. Mitzie Tomlinson says:

    Is this the same Mac That made my other Half  Brian Tomlinson So SICK, I am going tp Pray for you. Only God can help YOU. Mitzie Tomlinson

    • Anonymous says:

      Ms Tomlinson, save your prayers for someone who wants to confess their sins and repent. You are wasting your energy on this one.

    • Anonymous says:

      WOW Mac's got FOUR computers. Maybe he only uses them to do thumbs down on CNS and send out bills for consultancy fees…

  3. Anonymous says:

    Can’t think of a better person than McKeeva to call for a porn probe.

  4. Anonymous says:

    why was this not referred to the police for investigation in case criminal acts were involved – was it adult or child porn?

  5. Anonymous says:

    Anonymous 27/06/14 -11:00. "McCoy disgruntled" ??!! Haha! I would bet that McCoy has never been happier – getting out of a snake pit, enjoying the lucrative fruits of his long career and away from a situation which will surely get worse as long as the snakes remain.  

  6. Anonymous says:

    Mac calls for what? Who really cares? Only he cannot see how little weight his words hold. Makes me want to call God on the great white telephone!

  7. Gut Check says:

    "Mac calls for Porn Probe."
      

    Love it.   I'm just savoring that article title.    

    Dare we hope he gets his wish?   

  8. Anonymous says:

    Why does Mac keep pressing this porn issue? 

    Who is the appropriate person to mete out punishment if applicable, the MLAs?

    Stop the foolishness and time wasting on a matter that is to be dealt with by the HR Manager and CEO of CIAA.

    How much money has McKeeva cost this country, from Boatswain's Beach (70million and counting, 10million per year since 2006), Mike Ryan (6million outstanding duties), GLF (3millon lawsuit), Nation Building Fund (approx 6million with only blocks to show, check BT "church"), Luxury Travel (8million between him and Julianna). That's about 90million wasted by you alone, with nothing but more bills to show for your "genius".

    Mac, when you start paying us back what you wasted, then I might a bit more receptive to what you waffle on about.

    Rabble-Rouser

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh but if this were a board appointed by Bush then of course there would be all h*** to pay and calls of corruption.  That is the problem withi this government they are too hypocritical and have not kept their wor on anything!  Shame on all you!

  9. Anonymous says:

    Can we do an FOI as to how many Government Computers have been used to access porn?

    • Move on says:

      Anyone in the world can, no need to rely on journalists to do that for you.

    • anonymous says:

      Yep… go right ahead.

    • Anonymous says:

      Central core government has pretty good blocking on porn, social media, shopping and some other stuff. Occasionally you get some porn by accident, although it's pretty much soft stuff.When I say by accident I mean a mistype of a website or a blog that is sponsered by another site. Generally the protection though is pretty good.

      The main point is that I wanted to surf porn I wouldn't be stupid enough to do it at work.

      obviously some people are stupid.

    • Anonymous says:

      All the ones with sticky keyboards?

  10. Cornholio says:

    “…calls for porn probe” I see what you did there. 😉

  11. Anonymous says:

    So in all of this debate you mean to tell me that the PPM is such political lightweights that they wouldn't remind Mac and the public that Mac's first act when he was elected to power in 2009 was to remove 3 very senior civil servants from office. That was unlawful and ultimately cost the country several million dollars………oh how short our memories are ! Oh and that's just one example of the unlawful acts of the "prosecutor" in this case.

    • Anonymous says:

      Mac operates in the belief that the voting public has a 3 second memory…his West Bay voters certainly seem to, but the rest of us cannot afford any more of this buffoon.

  12. Anonymous says:

    What is the customs import code for a porn probe?

    • Anonymous says:

      It varies depending on colour, material of manufacture, country of origin and intended destination. Mechanisation and source of power (where relevant) also change the coding. Sub categories arise depending on lighting and attachments, as well as naming (reference to fluffy animals in name requires separate Department of Agriculture inspection).  There are 7,356 potential codes identified to date but the possibilities are infinite.

    • Anonymous says:

      That's easy, XXXFUQU666

  13. Anonymous says:



    Let me get this straight….the Board instructed the Acting CEO to get on with the HR/porn investigation and to wrap up the case. What's wrong with that? Am I missing something? An employee's reputation was at stake and guilty or innocent, the longer you drag it out the more the damage to all concerned.  Is it corrupt for a Board to prompt a CEO to get on with the job?

    This issue is a relatively minor internal HR issue. It sounds like the case for dismissal could not be proven based on the actual evidence (vs. Mac's BS).

  14. Anonymous says:

    Vegas, Macau,  centres of porn in the world……………….wait…………isn't that where You Know Who frequents?

  15. Anonymous says:

    LLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL

  16. Anonymous says:

    That is one of the IT advantages of Ipads over Pc's.  They are easier to wipe clean.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Mccoy was the acting CEO at the time. McCoy was hired by the previous board who were supporters of Mac. As Alden said the airport was in complete shambles prior to the new board's appointement and under Mccoy's watch. It is the board's job to hire/fire CEOs as such McCoy was replaced by someone who was more competent because he obviously wasn't based on the airport's condition while he was running it. Its that simple. These guys are making progress and hiring the right people theright way. There's still no proof that the board actually interfered. Mccoy is disgruntled and Mac is furious because the airport is finally making progress under someone else's watch, meanwhile the allegations of real fraud keep mounting on him and the people he appointed .

    • Jonas Dwyer says:

      Complete shambles the Premier says of the previous Board,but he forgets I believe that at  least several perpetual members sat  on the same Board during his PPM mal administration? Ratted those members must have been glued on to their seats for a long time ey.

  18. Anonymous says:

    why look at porn at work, when you can go to bananas and see it live

  19. Anonymous says:

    Haha PPM, transparency and good governance yeah right!!  You all are pure talk!!

  20. Knot S Smart says:

    I agree with Mac…

    No porn and no gambling…

  21. Anonymous says:
    The airport and its vital function to our Tourism Product and livelihood, require and deserve so much better than this; especiialy while there are so many qualified and deservering Caymanians out there in need of a job. Just look what THESE Caymanians, these DONKEYS, are doing, to earn such a high salary every month! 
     
    This is not the way to help your fellow country man. This makes us all look like a bunch of corrupt, idiotic, buffoons. As a Caymanian, I hope the whole bunch involved in this CIAA fiasco goes down in shame and flames. 
     
  22. Just Askin' says:

    How does one sign up to be on the committee to review the materials viewed by the culprit?

  23. Anonymous says:

    Shame on you Alden.  Listen man, we voted PPM because we wanted good, fair, unbiased government and your stance and actions are really pissing me off.  UDP was a disgrace and now you are leading PPM down the same road.  A spade is a spade and your Boards actions do not appear to be above board and you know it.  Do not cover it up.  If they are wrong, deal with it.  I don't care how upstanding you think they are!  Your credibility and theirs is diminishing greatly by blocking an enquiry into their actions. 

  24. Anonymous says:

    This guy has obviously done something in the past to p*ss of Mckeeva. He just won't let this go! 

  25. Move on says:

    McKeeva claims direct interference by the board in the two related Human Resource matters. Hasn't he interfered with board decisions in the past? Didn't he interfere with the port procurement process and cost the country millions?

    The IT manager has gotten enough press coverage about his private habit. This is not a matter that a country's elected represenative needs to focus on. In fact, it should not have moved passed an internal HR review's classification of gross misconduct resulting in suspension or dismissal.

    Let's move on.

  26. Anonymous says:

    How about a privileges committee to look into the question of travel expenses by Bush and his deputy when they were in power?

  27. Anonymous says:

    How about a probe in to all of Mac's misdeeds?

  28. Anonymous says:

    Hey Mac, will you be a part of this enquiry team? Will you have to travel first class and stay in the finest hotels to compare this wih other such incidents overseas?