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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) 
 
¶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