Ms. Arrindell,
I would first like to wholeheartedly thank you and the PPA for standing up for good governance, solid principals, nepotism, and corruption in the past; you represented the people by magnifying these ills in our community committed by our very own elected officials. I thought you were an esteem woman of moral and ethical principles. Your fight for the introduction of the Ombudsman, Good Governance, and Campaign finance regulations, were in-line with the general public's sentiments at the time. Had these laws and policies been in place, Councilman Louie Laveist would have been convicted much earlier.
One of your main convictions as the PPA leader and your fight for "Justice for the people" was to bring Commissioner Theo Heyliger to justice, which you often told us, your PPA supporters, that it was due to him that you resigned from the "Red" machine. Theo's alleged "wheeling and dealing," and the creation of wealth for his immediate family and cronies were the focus at almost every public meeting, and because we all knew it was indeed a "public secret," we just thought it was a matter of time for him too, especially by your past persistence in bringing justice to the people of St. Maarten by way of transparency.
Based on these principles, you and the PPA had my support as well as my family's; we too believed in good governance, and thought that enough was enough when it came to our government officials, especially Commissioner Theo Heyliger, who you often referred to on numerous occasions.
To be quite honest, I really miss the Gracita we once knew; what happened to the Gracita we once knew? I think the change in your personality is where the PPA started its decline; you, Gracita, became a carbon copy of the very "creatures" you once fought against. If someone told me that you were joining up with the DP or the NA, I would have believed him/her, but to join with someone you so publicly despised because of his alleged "racketeering," really surprises me. What will happen to us, your supporters, the ones who supported what you and the PPA stood for?
Do you expect us to follow your move to join with the UP? I believe that the shared sentiments that swayed us into supporting you from the very beginning, will have to be re-aligned back with the DP, because if we all develop the same attitude of, "If you can't beat them, join them," we will at the end stand for nothing!
Your decision to join the UP can be seen as political suicide and all-out risky; your supporters deserve better, and for leaving them out in the cold, they will have the last say. I hope that your "no-show" at the UP launch was a sign of contemplation and the return of the Gracita we once knew.
Former PPA supporter
