Bermuda Premier Stokes Racial War Over His Tourism Advertising Budget

Bermuda premier Ewart Brown has again placed ad agency Globahue and its handling of the nation's tourism advertising account -- on which the entire island economy is dependent -- at the center of his bizarre racial war on his critics. Brown's logic, in essence, is that he's black, Globalhue CEO Don Coleman is black, and if you don't like the fact that he gave Globalhue a $28 million contract without a competitive bid (and that the shop was later caught padding its bills), you must be a racist.

To recap: the former auditor general of Bermuda described Globalhue's billing as "possible criminal activity" after the agency overbilled Bermuda by $1.8 million and charged media commissions of up to 181 percent (about 10 percent is standard). Those overcharges came to light after Bermuda's previous tourism director, Glenn Bean, highlighted GlobalHue's failure to ask for copies of media vendors' invoices. Globalhue sent a letter to Brown labelling Mr. Bean "incompetent" in 2007 and Bean lost his job. The tourism ministry recently held a first-ever public review of how its $121 million budget is spent. In the four-hour meeting, only one minute was devoted to discussion of the $15 million portion of that budget that is spent annually via Globalhue.

Not surprisingly, Bermudans are keenly interested in why Globalhue still has the tourism account, given that it's currently more famous for its shenanigans than its advertising. Brown told them:

Mr. Coleman happens to be a black gentleman who owns a very successful ad agency that has done excellent work for Bermuda's Department of Tourism.
I find it ironic that certain members of the Opposition never fail to malign companies doing business with this Government that are owned by blacks or that are owned by whites who are friends of this Government. That is very tragic.
... In conclusion, I and others in the Government are often accused of playing the race card. What is hardly ever discussed is the fact that there is no need to play the race card -- it is already in play and so are its devastating effects.

Brown and Globalhue have repeatedly had "no need to play the race card." When Globalhue's billings first came into question, the government declared that it was "unfortunate" because many people were celebrating the fact that the agency is black-owned. Globalhue then accused me of unfairly targeting them for racial reasons:

-- perhaps you consider that these ethnic targets lack the interest or ability to travel to Bermuda. Or maybe there is the notion that -- targeting African Americans may not actually have any basis in legitimate marketing.

Even the premier's supporters are asking him to tone it down.

On one level, this is all good news. Brown and Globalhue have levelled their racism accusations so frequently, and with so little effect, that they've lost their power. That only draws people's attention to the real, underlying issue: How did Globalhue get this account, and has its handling of it been honest? One way to answer those questions would be for Bermuda auditor general Heather Jacobs Matthews to unveil her audit of Globalhue's books (the second such review of the agency's billing). But that audit has been MIA since last May 2009. Why? Because Globalhue has been covering up the paper trail that the auditor needs to assess the agency's record. Matthews told the Royal Gazette:

Senior Tourism officials authorised payments to GlobalHue over at least two years without obtaining media vendor invoices from Cornerstone [a media buying agency] -- invoices that would have allowed Tourism to quickly determine the unusually high markups that were paid to Cornerstone.
All Tourism requests for these invoices were denied because GlobalHue stated 'that it was their business'.

If Matthews ever does get her audit out then Brown and Globalhue will have to come up with a new, non-racist way to demonize her: She is also black.

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