SXMElections.com

>PHILIPSBURG:--- After listening to the last political debate on Sunday night which was organized by AVS News one wonders who really is running the country at this present moment. The two political parties namely the UP and DP tried their utmost best to convince the people that they are the ones most capable of running the country for another four years, yet they did not admit they are the ones in charge right now at least until October 10th, 2014.
SMN News has been bringing you a review of the past four years to remind voters of some of the things that transpired when the three coalitions ran the affairs of the people this great nation.
Early 2011 shortly after the UP/ DP government took office, the biggest scandal that broke and had the country in uproar was when Member of Parliament Jules James who is working for Simpson Bay Resorts Management Company (SBRMC) laid off close to 200 workers that have been working for Pelican Resorts for years. Despite several meetings with the unions, labor department and other stakeholders the company managed by Member of Parliament Jules James still did not cooperate. The union that represented the workers moved to court in order to get justice. They did got temporary justice by winning the first case but the company appealed. These workers went through the mill, some of them chose to give up their years of service and signed short term contracts in order to put food on their tables. The Government of St. Maarten had to pay out 1.4 million guilders in cessantia payments to the workers who just could not get their jobs back. It should be noted that while MP James is a legislator and he registered two companies at the Chamber of Commerce to camouflage a sale that never really took place. Below is one of the many links that shows what took place in 2011 and 2012 with the workers of Pelican Resort. Readers can find all the links related to the Pelican Layoff in SMN News archives. 

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/7787-pelican-workers-victorious-in-court-proceedings-workers-must-be-paid-by-new-company-says-judge-appeal-to-be-filed.html

After the first coalition fell and the NA/DP/ I-3 coalition was formed, one of the things that the then Minister of Finance Rolland Tuitt discovered was the profit tax that the tax office did not collect from the former owners of the American University of the Caribbean (AUC). Government at the time and up until today is struggling to balance its budget yet the UP/DP government saw it fit to give a businessman some 100 million USD, today that same businessman took government to court for the profit tax they want him to pay. The former Minister Roland Tuitt made this information public after they were kicked out of office. He even stated that casinos on St. Maarten were exempted from TOT, and that a Dutch contractor was paid some Naf. 1.7 million for mobilization cost.

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/13024-former-minister-of-finance-roland-tuitt-calls-on-current-minister-of-finance-to-work-for-st-maarten-says-dutch-contractor-was-paid-naf-1-7-million-for-mobilization-cost-casinos-do-not-pay-tot.html

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/13009-who-made-a-deal-with-former-owners-of-auc-on-profit-tax.html

The story on AUC profit tax was released by SMN News shortly after former Minister Tuitt confirmed it all. Not to mention the TAXAND scandal that was uncovered by the same former Minister of Finance, he even told reporters that the Governor of St. Maarten did not sign the LB relating to TAXAND.

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/10863-governor-did-not-sign-lb-for-taxand-and-did-not-cooperate-with-soab-during-investigation-tuitt.html

After the news on TAXAND broke on St. Maarten, a complaint was filed against the civil servant behind the TAXAND scandal in Curacao.

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/10684-taxand-curacao-files-complaint-against-judith-brewster-allegation-of-defrauding-taxand-of-naf-100-000-00.html

Then came the filling in of the Great Salt Pond that MP Frans Richardson ordered in order to build a drag strip and cricket stadium. MP Richardson was accused of not getting permission to fill in the pond but he stated that the project was part of the National Alliance manifesto and he worked on the project while being a commissioner and deputy leader of the National Alliance. This matter was addressed in Parliament when MP Richardson gave his explanations. However, the Minister of VROMI at the time William Marlin said he was not aware of the filling in because no one consulted with him prior to filling in the pond.

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/10786-mp-richardson-brings-clarity-on-cricket-stadium-and-drag-strip-william-marlin-nobody-likes-you-we-have-a-renegade-government-mp-leonard.html

Today one of the persons who spoke out about the filling in of the pond and how important it is to preserve the islands ponds and environment is contesting the elections on the USP slate headed by Frans Richardson, somehow environment and preservation is no longer important to Rueben Thompson.

http://smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/2497-worlds-wetlands-day-ruben-thompson.html

As the 2014 Parliamentary campaign continues, politicians are making lots of promises, promises they know will touch the most inner parts of human beings. For example a bigger hospital. However, these politicians seems to forget that the same persons that are making these promises to them now; promised a ring road years ago. The Great Salt Pond was destroyed, fishes dying every day because sand was poured into the pond and to date there is no ring road. The former commissioner, Minister and now MP even distributed land to several persons in order to obtain votes when he formed his own party.
As we continue, to remind our readers who sometimes forget what transpired yesterday more over four years ago. Several environmental foundations wrote letters, went on talk-shows condemning government for allowing Rainforest Adventure to purchase what they call the people's patrimony "Emilio Wilson Estate." Many of these environmentalists and activists called on government to purchase the property and to place it on St. Maarten's monuments list. When the NA/DP/ I-3 coalition took office the leader of the National Alliance made it his business to get the Council of Ministers to agree on purchasing the Emilio Wilson Estate. The National Alliance leader and former Minister of VROMI did sign off on a letter of intent to purchase the property when the budget was approved, but before that could have taken place the NA/DP/I-3 coalition fell apart on Cul de Sac Beach on May 1st, 2013 (the fish day coup). Then came the UP/ DP/ Laville government (SWW-3) who abandoned the purchase of EWE because Rainforest Adventure came back into the picture. The owners then moved to court. The judge ruled in favor of the owners of EWE and ordered government to comply with the agreement they have with the owners. Based on the judgment government has to pay EWE some 17 million dollars.
As if that was not enough and government was not struggling to finalize the Government Building on Pond Island, the current Minister of VROMI felt that he has sole power to commit government into buying 11,100 square meters of land from the Vorst family for a whopping 5.5 USD. The purchase of this parcel of land is the most expensive in the history of land sale $495.00 per square meter while the former Minister of VROMI Theodore Heyliger chose to give away empty plots of land to the developers of Monte Vista. The very land they could have used to build the much needed social homes they are speaking about.
As we continue with the reviews of the past four years we expect lots of our readers and supporters of some of the political parties to say SMN News is targeting them. Our job as media is to keep our people informed, to ensure they know the truth is told to them and they are not misled by politicians who only remembers them during election time.
Next issue comes out on Wednesday... more highlights of what really happened over the past four years. How many complaints were filed and against whom?

Frans Richardson mentioned 2 times
Jules James mentioned 2 times
Rueben Thompson mentioned 1 time
Roland Tuitt mentioned 1 time
Theodore Heyliger mentioned 1 time
William Marlin mentioned 1 time

National Alliance [NA] mentioned 4 times
United St Maarten Party [USP] mentioned 1 time