Strong against Miller’s PLP nomination

The candidacy of Golden Isles MP Vaughn Miller, who joined the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) last September, is completely up in the air as many PLPs in the constituency once represented by Michael Halkitis are strongly opposed to Miller receiving the nomination currently under consideration by the party’s candidates committee, PLP insiders close to the process have said.

After Miller, who won the seat in 2017 as an FNM, became a PLP, Halkitis, who ran on the PLP’s ticket and lost to Miller, and who had been eyeing another run in Golden Isles, was forced to look at another constituency.

Miller got 56 percent of the votes (3,374) in Golden Isles and Halkitis got 34 percent (2,058).

The party recently announced that Halkitis is the candidate for St. Barnabas, currently held by the FNM’s Shanendon Cartwright.

Miller remains in a “tough” position as he seeks to secure a political lifeline, insiders disclosed.

The PLP’s Golden Isles Branch Chairman Henry Culmer said yesterday that roughly 35 percent of constituents in Golden Isles are against Miller being the party’s candidate.

“There still are some people who would prefer that Miller was not the candidate for the PLP,” Culmer told The Nassau Guardian.

“You have to remember now, that Mr. [Michael] Halkitis was here from 2000. People, for many of them, especially the young people, he would be the only candidate that they knew.

“Then, it was Mr. Miller who beat Mr. Halkitis in the last election. So, they still hold on to that and a lot of them still had hopes that Mr. Halkitis will return and run in Golden Isles.

“So, I think it’s more of that than it’s Mr. Miller. And then, of course, he was an FNM and then he crossed the floor, so people don’t think, some people still question his loyalty and whether he is ‘a PLP’ and so forth.” 

Joe Johnson, an area businessman who is eyeing the PLP’s Golden Isles nomination, told The Nassau Guardian that he has a petition with 1,500 signatures of people who support him getting the party’s nod.

The Guardian viewed the petition, but did not confirm the number of signatures on it.

Johnson said he has already been before the party’s candidates committee and will accept the committee’s determination on who will run on the PLP’s ticket in Golden Isles.

“The process will take its course and the leadership will decide in which direction we need to go,” he said.

“I’m a supporter of the leadership. I’m a supporter of the process.”

Johnson said no one was coerced into signing the petition.

“Everyone has their own mind to make up in the direction that they want to go,” he said. 

Party insiders said the difficulty many PLPs in the area have is that Miller campaigned against their candidate in 2017 and won. The FNM’s campaign at the time was focused on demonizing PLPs as corrupt.

Many reportedly now find it difficult to get excited about Miller as a PLP.

Asked about this, Johnson said, “Facts are facts. You were launched into the political arena under the banner of the FNM and through that banner you got a seat in the hallowed House of Assembly, through the FNM.

“Now, through whatever you would have gone through with the FNM, you decided to make a move.

“The point of the matter is, the people will still have to speak. And so, that is where we are. The people are speaking and decide if they will continue with Vaughn Miller or not. Vaughn Miller is no longer campaigning for the FNM. As a matter of fact, his (former) campaign manager (Brian Brown) is the candidate for the FNM.”

On February 2, the FNM announced that Brown is its candidate for Golden Isles.

Johnson said this has created an interesting dynamic.

“And so, it makes the water even more muddy,” he said. “But, as I said, I stand with the party, whether it’s me or whether it’s someone else…We all are under the banner of the Progressive Liberal Party.”

He added, “At the end of the day, the party will go with the best possible candidate to secure the victory.”

Culmer said he heard about the petition, but none was presented to him.

Miller, who did not want to comment on the matter when reached yesterday, previously said the party leadership did not guarantee him the nomination for him to join the party, but expressed confidence that he will get the nomination.

PLP Leader Philip Brave Davis previously noted the nomination was not a guarantee.

The tensions among some Golden Isles PLPs over Miller’s nomination were captured in a video of a recent PLP meeting that was shared on social media.

Some of the PLPs in the room, dressed in PLP shirts, said the people in the area do not want Miller.

“We ain’t want Vaughn Miller,” a woman said in the video.

A man noted that he didn’t like Miller.

“But, at the end of the day, I’m still going to vote PLP,” he said. 

A woman added, “We ain’t going to win with Vaughn Miller.”

Culmer said he does not believe Miller will be replaced as the PLP’s candidate for Golden Isles.

“From what I’m seeing when I’m going out with Mr. Miller, when I’m talking to people, I’m hearing it’s more positive than negative,” he said.

“You’re going to have that negative. You’re going to have some people who are negative. You’re going to have some PLPs who have not warmed up to him and then you have some people who are just fed up with all political parties.”

Culmer claimed “well over 60 percent of people you meet” in Golden Isles are supportive of Miller.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/strong-against-millers-plp-nomination/