Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
Paul Burke (right), Team Portia deputy campaign manager, and Colin Campbell (left) go over documents before the start of the Team Portia press briefing at the Knutsford Court hotel in St. Andrew yesterday. Also in photograph is Easton Douglas. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
OUTGOING PEOPLE'S National Party (PNP) president, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has summoned the four candidates vying to succeed him to a last-minute meeting at the party's Old Hope Road headquarters in St. Andrew today.
The candidates are Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies; Local Government Minister, Portia Simpson Miller; National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips and Dr. Karl Blythe, PNP vice-president.
FIERCE AD CAMPAIGN
Today's meeting is being held ahead of tomorrow's special conference to elect a new party president, and amid a fierce advertising campaign by front runners Dr. Phillips and Mrs. Simpson Miller.
Yesterday the Simpson Miller campaign said they were peeved that Dr. Phillips' Solid as a Rock campaign team had disobeyed instructions by the party's secretariat to withdraw a radio commercial. The commercial claims that Dr. Phillips has the support of four regional PNP chairmen.
But addressing a press conference yesterday at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Paul Burke, deputy campaign director for Team Portia claimed that the radio advertisement was a misrepresentation of the truth.
" ... We don't want to be guilty like our colleague campaign Solid as Rock, who is still running a campaign on radio despite the party asking them to withdraw it," he pointed out.
Mr. Burke explained that Region one chairman, Mark Campbell was backing Mrs. Simpson Miller; Region two chairman, Dr. Fenton Ferguson was supporting Dr. Philips; Region three is led by Dr. Omar Davies, a leadership contender and Region four, which is led by Horace Dalley, is supporting Dr. Phillips.
Meanwhile, Region five, which is headed by Michael Peart is supporting Dr. Davies and Region six chairman, Derrick Kellier has remained neutral.
"So you see the problem we have with counting at our level. There is a political propaganda war going on because a particular campaign (team) is trying to create the environment that they are ahead," said Mr. Burke.
Both the Phillips and Simpson Miller campaign teams, claiming significant levels of support among delegates, are engaged in an aggressive advertising campaign.
"This is 2006 not 1992; Peter Phillips is not P.J. Patterson," screamed a newspaper advertisement from Simpson Miller's campaign. They were reacting to a Phillips advertisement warning, "Don't take a chance with our future." The add pointed out that although Simpson Miller was the popular choice in opinion polls, she was defeated by P.J. Patterson during their 1992 contest to succeed Michael Manley as PNP president.
