And one man we didn't see there today was area rep Shyne Barrow. And while he may not have been invited, he was busy figuring off letters. The first was to the AG who go a 500-word appeal to point out a few of his disputes with the draft legislation for the latest constitutional amendment.
In his letter, Barrow says, quote, "In terms of disqualification from the House of Representatives, the only time the Constitution references past convictions is in relation to being "convicted of an offense related to elections"…
In my view, the framers of the Constitution were deliberate in their wording thus your argument to the Reporter newspaper that the 11th Amendment merely expands the place of conviction is inaccurate and misleading.
Again, in the Constitution, the only automatic disqualification based on a previous conviction is in relation to an election crime.
On the matter of the 11th Amendment's proposal to include jurisdictions outside of the Commonwealth that is also ill-advised and contrary to the wisdom of the framers of our Constitution who deliberately excluded jurisdictions outside of the Commonwealth due to conflicting laws and different judiciary strengths and weaknesses." End quote.
Barrow then closes his letter by citing the call from the Social Partners for the Government to stop tinkering with the constitution in a piecemeal fashion. He is also joining them in a call for a bipartisan Constitutional Assembly to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Constitution.
