And while the mayor took that bull by the horns, he was far more careful when discussing a political hot potato that the Prime Minister put in his lap. 11 days ago when he presented the budget, the media caught the PM outside the House and we asked him about former UDP City Councilor Eric Chang. And that's where the PM told an interesting story: he said that even after the whole Citizen Kim affair blew up, Mayor Darrell Bradley still pushed for Chang to be on the UDP ticket in the next city council election. Well today we asked the mayor what that was all about. For context, we air the PM's disclosure first, followed by the Mayor's quite stunned reaction:...
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
“I recollect the mayor of Belize City, a mayor who from time to time talks about unjust enrichment and that sort of thing and he was insisting that Eric Chang be part of the UDP ticket for the city 
council elections and I said absolutely not and I told Eric "don't you put up your name, because I will personally go to the ethics committee of the party and I will ensure that you cannot run for this party again."
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"That’s what the prime minister said, now I know you are a man who always speaks about good governance and ethics in public life, why would you have wanted Eric on your slate?"
Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"I again have not seen that comment, I don’t know anything in relation to that.â€
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"It was on the news."
Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"I wont make a comment in relation to anything that I haven’t seen and I will say is that I have never had any conversation with the Prime Minister or with any member of the United Democratic Party in relation to Eric Chan's candidacy. I have never ever had a conversation. I never went to bat for him, I never asked anybody for him to run as a candidate, that was never an issue and never had any conversation, I haven’t seen the comment. I don’t know what you were speaking about in relation to that but I can only say what I know and at no time..."
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"The Prime Minister says he doesn’t lie."
Darrell Bradley, Mayor of Belize City
"Jules, I have the utmost respect for the Prime Minister, I have not seen what you are telling me about and I don’t have any intention to look at it. I would only say that for the record I did not have any conversation with the Prime Minister or with any member with the United Democratic Party."
The mayor says relations between his council and central government have never been better.
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