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Mayor Still Undecided On Political Future, And So What If He Is
posted (April 28, 2014)
On Friday night's newscast - you heard the Prime Minister say that the door had officially been closed on any possibility of Darrell Bradley running for mayor. That's because the deadline to submit names to that had long passed - and Bradley still hadn't made up his mind.

So what's Bradley's reaction to that? Well, like the man himself, it's complicated. But today, he had a surprisingly candid interview with 7News where he said, basically, his mind still isn't made up - and so what if it isn't?..

Mayor Darrell Bradley
"Whether or not I am going to run for mayor again, the jury is still out - I don't know. That is the reality and that's the honest response: I don't know. If you are telling me now that there was a statement made in relation to the door is close, then the door is close. That is the leader of this party and he makes those decisions, I don't. You ask me if I want to run for mayor, yes I want to run for mayor, but there are certain problems in relation to the structure of a municipality which I have elucidated which causes me a division and I told Jules this earlier. When you are dealing at City Hall, one of the things that kind of frustrate me substantially is that you are trying to push behind all of the problems that came before you and you are trying to pull the city forward in terms of a clear vision. That's a very frustrating job. I don't know if I want to do that another 3 years, but the election to decide whether or not somebody is in office comes one year from now. So all I am saying to you, you can have your opinion but let us deal with the work that we have to deal with right now. Let us get through the municipal bond. Let us get through the infrastructures. Let us deal with all of the concerns of sanitation and employment and citizen security and all the other kinds of expectations that they want us to deal with right now. Let us deal with that now because now is the season for that and let us deal with the election when the election season comes around."

"If it is of interest to you or of interest to members of public in relation to where I go here or here then that is why there is an election date, that is why there is a nomination period, that is why there is a convention, that is why those dates are set. Now what you want to do is that you want to sew a seed of division one year in front of an election. The Prime Minister and I are never apart in terms of where we want the country to go, where we want the UDP to go in terms of victory and what we have been doing in relation to this country - we are never apart and you will ask me in relation to his comments that I have not seen and you will ask me for a comment to somehow support that we are separated which we are not. You can come right now and you can ask me about any single thing under the stars that has to do with being in the office of the mayor, but you cannot ask me in relation to where will go in the future because that's my business."

Geovanni Brackett, reporter "But you are public official and your political future is of interest to the public."

Mayor Darrell Bradley
"It's of interest to the public, but what is of supreme interest to the public and I think what ought to be of supreme interest to the public is the performance of the municipality."

"Jules, you ask me about elections and forms and submitting this and whatever, but I hope that I would have demonstrated to you that I have never been about that. I have never been about an election, about a deadline, about this, about that. We have only been about the work. The only rule in life is the rule that comes of living a life of principle and integrity and that is what I have done."

Jules Vasquez
"Are you saying that UDP should be fixating on: well we had a date and you never sign the date, man, see me here, see the sweat in my shoes, I am working hard every day and night - I am the man for mayor, so just hold the door for me."

Mayor Darrell Bradley
"I have said and I have repeatedly said that it is about the work, it's about performance. I think that what win elections are not forms and deadlines, but performance - it is performance."

Geovanni Brackett, reporter
"Is it fair enough or realistic that the political party that you represent should wait on you until last day? You agree that they do have a timeline and you have a choice to choose before and of course you choose not to submit your name."

Mayor Darrell Bradley
"Yes, no. We are all creatures of law and rules; any organization that you are in. You are in COLA, there is a constitution that governs that - it sets the rules and regulations. When I do certain things or when I omit to do certain things it is that I do them knowing full well that there are consequences in relation to what I am doing."

Ours was an extended and quite revealing interview, and we'll have more of it in tomorrow's newscast.

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