Last week Friday, the Mayor of San Ignacio, Earl Trapp sent a letter to the UDP Party Chairman asking him to expel Collet Area Rep Patrick Faber after he made Facebook posts speaking out against the party leader.
Trapp wrote, quote, "Patrick Faber must be expelled…in order for the UDP to rid itself of the internal elements with ulterior motives and to finish destroying our great party that are already in shambles...We must send a clear message to all Party Officials that destructive behavior will not be tolerated."
But, typical of the topsy turvy world of the UDP, Trapp now seems to have reversed his decision.
A letter sent to the Chairman today says, quote,
"Since the release of my letter, I have received a significant number of phone calls, text messages and personal requests from faithful UDP supporters asking that I retract the said letter...I am now of the firm view, after widespread consultation, that the expulsion of Patrick Faber will cause more harm than good to our beloved party."
So now, with the mayor flip flopping on Faber's expulsion, what will happen at the UDP's NatIonal Party Council meeting on Saturday? We asked the Chairman about it via Zoom today:
Mike Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"He wrote me a letter, then he wrote me a letter taking back the letter, but that has nothing to do with it. If anybody wants to raise any issue at the NPC, including that one, they still can. So we look forward to the NPC meeting."
"Hopefully we can meet and we can be cordial and we can be respectful to each other as we are most of the times. And I'm hoping and expecting that that will be the case, that we will go there, we will discuss our issues."
"And the safety is in the vote, you know, Jules, you put any matter on the floor of the NPC and however they vote, that's what carries."
Jules Vasquez
"Will Patrick Farber be expelled?"
Mike Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"I don't know. I don't know. That's for the NPC to decide if that's what they want to do. That's for the NPC."
Jules Vasquez
"But should the matter be live on the table or on the floor before the NPC in view of the post that he made, which goes against the specific language of the NPC resolution of May 2023?"
Mike Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"That's up to the members of the NPC. They will have to decide if they want to talk about that, and if they want to talk about that, they will decide what they want to do about it. That's not for any one person to decide."
Jules Vasquez
"But if you had a vote and you do."
Mike Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"You know the sanctity of the voting vote is the cornerstone of democracy. So I will not say what I would or would not do in a hypothetical situation. My hope is always that we never have to vote on those things."
"My hope is that we could always be calm and cool and sit down and work out our differences. That's what my hope would always be and will be right up to when the meeting starts on Saturday."
We'll let you know what comes out of that meeting.
