Vanterpool says new ROI Act should not apply to current legislators
The new Register of Interests (ROI) Act should not be binding for current elected officials, especially since this is not what they signed up for when they campaigned for office.
This was the view espoused by Fourth District Representative Mark Vanterpool in the House of Assembly (HOA) yesterday, Thursday June 30.
Vanterpool’s contention comes in the wake of now debunked allegations that he was set to resign from his seat in the HOA once again; after a government proposal to the United Kingdom included a June 30 deadline to amend the Act.
The Act in essence is a record kept of the financial interests of legislators. Its purpose is to give them the mechanism to publicly declare any private interests which may conflict or may be perceived to conflict with their public duties.
The new legislation however, calls for more categories of public officials to declare their assets and makes the declarations more publicly accessible on demand for persons who wish to do so.
Vanterpool, during his appeal to “slow it down a little bit”, said the new regulations appeared to be very encompassing and even more binding than those in the previous ROI Act.
“It is only fair to members of the House who have been elected to agree or not agree or even to agree to the new bill. It should not be binding on this Honourable House. It cannot be binding on this Honourable House, as a matter of fact, because it is not what this Honourable House’s members agreed to when they were elected,” Vanterpool argued.
He said while he was not against the bill in principle, legislators cannot make changes midstream that are binding on House members that are currently elected.
We did not sign up for this
Vanterpool further argued that the current batch of legislators did not sign up to allow their assets to be inspected at the Registrar by any person who requests to do so, as the new bill stipulates.
“If you’re passing it, make sure it’s not binding on these thirteen [House members], but binding on the new elected officials that we are putting out there,” he added.
Vanterpool repeatedly emphasised that he did not want to make it appear as though he was against the new stipulations in the bill. He said he only believes the details of the bill need to be publicly aired so that everyone encompassed in the bill has a chance to determine how it affects them.
“Let’s make sure that persons who this can affect in a very binding way, in a very encompassing way, in a very intrusive way – if that’s what you signed on to – that those persons understand what this is all about,” Vanterpool argued.
He further argued that while it was “the right thing” for members of the public to know what the interests and likely conflicts of House members were, it was important to fully understand how far-reaching the bill was and for whom it was binding.
“Is it this House, is it the next House? In the middle of a House, a bill like this cannot be binding on the present members,” he stated.
“This is not what members signed on to when they ran for office. That is not the norm and that’s not how things operate,” he added.
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Markie fraid what might creep out of his closet if someone look at him
Don’t want to hear nothing from this dude. Since he took over the restaurant, the food getting less, but the prices remain the same, also the menu claim the hamburgers come with coleslaw…most of the time, you get no coleslaw, but the price isn’t reduced LOL
lucky the prices haven’t gone up – it is in the rest of the real world
Well damn, that must have been some good coleslaw. I missed out. Go somewhere else, that’s all.
When is the Governor taking over. The locals have missed each and every time frame they themselves set up and agreed to. Enough of this nonsense. Governor take over and let’s move on!!
The Guv had a few action points also. Did he miss any deadlines? He has some due the end of this month. Tell me how well he is doing.
Governor they are already trying to go back to their old ways. Has the “Idiot Government” met any of the deadlines it agreed to with the UK? BVI News why aren’t you reporting this? The agreement is public and there were many deadlines this past week. We all know that Slow Andy isn’t going to get it done. Enough is enough. Governor please take over, remove the clown show and let’s get the BVI moving in the right direction.
Jaspert would have done it by now. But Rankin is weak, an appeaser and avoider of confrontation.
Wow, typical. These people need to go now.
So true. He likely does not want to disclose his local and offshore corporate structures. Solution – Mark just unbind yourself from us now and carry-on. Statesman? Smdh.
Well that didn’t take long…
Our legislators never complied with the old laws on registering their interests.
Now they say they should be exempt from the new laws.
Some things never change…
is a good word to describe this politician’s repetitive argument. Doesn’t matter though since the temporary HOA failed to pass this ROI act by the 30 June deadline. Welcome UK direct rule, suspend the constitution and send these dinosaurs home for good.
This dude is trying to buy time
He probably does not plan to run next election;and as such does not want ALL his current assets known publicly.
well for him they are and others who have gotten government contrcts for their companies while holding high positions within the government who make the decisions for the contracts. Get it done or the UK will take over and probaly for the best.
Someone is getting nervous..
Follow the money!
This position – to try to have a more robust Interests Disclosure Act not apply to sitting members of the House – is incompatible with the need to find ways and means to mitigate against the risk of public corruption. The robust public disclosure of private interests by members of the House of Assembly is a basic tool to help to manage corruption risks in a democracy.The argument made that it is unfair to sitting members of the House to change the rules of disclosure in the middle of a term in office, is not a mark of a selfless political leader who embraces change and transparency. This is regrettable.
Bahahah
This is my reaction to every story out of the BVI
Trying to renegotiate a done deal .
This is weak as h**l, Mark
i would be interested to know the extent to which he has complied with the previous/existing legislation
I guess you didn’t catch the Hon V during the COI hearings….
let’s just say we asked for transparency: this is pretty transparent.
Ministers and their families shouldn’t be allowed to bid on government contracts
Fiqured he’d be the first one crying. He and all the others have nothing to gain $$$
You didn’t have your new pension/benefits deals but I guess you will want those to apply to you. What you hiding????
I don’t know about you, but Mr. V is the poster child for this kind of stuff.
Sorry. The deal is the deal. If you want to steal from the government…you should not be a politician.
UK!? I think it is time to come in and knock some heads.
So when the government makes a new law can we the public be like… well that’s not what I signed up for and disregard. NOOOOO, either step down or comply !!!
No surprise here when it comes to Mark’s response to such a bill of transparency
NEEDS TO BE THOROUGHLY CHECKED OUT AND INVESTIGATED ( IF ) TRANSPARENCY IS GOING TO OUR FIRST PRIORITY , WITHOUT THAT BEING DONE THEN THERE WILL NEVER BE ANY INTEGRITY AMONGST THOSE WHO WE PUT TO RUN THE COUNTRY PROPERLY ( TOO MUCH HYPOCRITES & PARASITES ,SO THERE’S NO HONOR THERE ?
I can’t believe it. With this type of bull, UK must take over!
Fill the form out correct or resign. Lie and you go to Jail..Hanky Panky been going on for too long..Time to fix it without delay.
Rules are for the little people, downislanders and expats, isn’t that right, Mr. Vanterpool? Or, is it that you and others are too worried that people will find out how you and others allegedly took advantage of your privileged position for personal gain?
When you were supposed to help the Opposition leader push back on what was going on in the 3year government you were busy as “Stateman” if you had supported the opposition perhaps as a senior experience politician to lend balance we would not have reached this point … A set of greedy politicians… you just rise up from the ashes
In other words he did not sign up to being open and honest
Mr.V just surrender to the police now and avoid any more embarrassment.
When has any law applied to any big name belonger ?
He’s a local don.One of them.