It's about time somebody told John Dalli where to shove his rabid ambition
Here’s Pierre Portelli, president of the Nationalist Party’s Administrative Council, speaking to the newspaper John Dalli Today:
Contacted by MaltaToday, Pierre Portelli, president of the Nationalist Administrative Council lashed out at Dalli’s statements. “I fully disagree with John Dalli’s comments regarding the state of the PN. And I firmly believe that he is not right in claiming that a climate of apartheid has crept into the party.”
One needs to listen and evaluate every comment, including John Dalli’s, but he is not right in his conclusions, Portelli insists. “We have always been an open party with different points of view and when a party official or Cabinet Minister is right, the others defend his position… like we did when VAT was introduced, for example.
“I don’t agree with John Dalli’s comment. He is not right. Today I am more active in the party than he is. Dalli is now out of the political scene and definitely not as in touch as I am with the party core. Our party has been and still is open to internal discussions, proof of the matter is John Dalli himself.”
During the interview, John Dalli also talks about MP Jeffrey Pulliciono Orlando’s private members’ bill that proposes the introduction of divorce.
“I don’t think that it is the case. On the contrary, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando must have felt really comfortable to come out the way he did. It is JPO’s character – he has always been like this. I remember his crusade against the cement factory during EFA’s administration – where he openly pushed forward a petition of 10,000 signatures. John Dalli formed part of that administration, didn’t he?” Pierre Portelli asks.
“I must admit that, on the contrary, I was shocked with John Dalli’s comments and not with JPO’s private members’ bill proposing the introduction of divorce,” he adds. “Everybody has his own style in politics. For example Commissioner Joe Borg never made such comments while holding office. Last week I personally saw Commissioner Dalli on the Granaries in Floriana during the PN’s celebrations, something Dr Borg never did.”
So is he suggesting John Dalli was wrong in being present at the party’s activities? “It was his choice, and he had every right in doing so. But yet again it all boils down to different characters,” Portelli said.
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I see that you’ve quoted an extract from the MT article.
Strangely enough you have omitted the part about Former Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett (current PN backbencher) urging the Office of the Prime Minister to come clean on this saga. Is he also an “ex-girlfriend in the room” who must be told where to “shove his rabid ambition”?
[Daphne – I am not interested in that part of the saga, but only in John Dalli’s behaviour. There is nothing for the prime minister to come clean about. However, I think there is plenty for Jesmond Mugliett and Dalli to come clean about and yes, Mugliett may not be an ex-girlfriend in the room, but he certainly is a spurned boyfriend, somebody else who didn’t get what he wants. Perhaps he should compete with the kids for yet another STEPS scholarship – he got one already, last year – and buzz off somewhere to read for an MBA.]
This year Claudette Abela Baldacchino got a STEPS scholarship. So much for the MLP’s anti-EU agenda, with Abela Baldacchino first being proposed as a potential MEP, and then benefiting from a scholarship which is 85% funded from the EU’s social fund.
Daph,
While I stand by what I said in this article I need to clarify one point where a sentence was totally fabricated by the reporter in question. Following is the email I have just sent her with the previous correspondence below:
Julia,
As per correspondence below and attached I had specifically insisted that you remove a sentence in your article which you attributed to me but which I had never said.
Attached is the transcript with track changes as sent by me and acknowledged by you.
I cannot understand the reason behind your insistence to put words in my mouth which I never said and which you could have easily checked with your tape-recorder.
It’s as though an invisible hand is making you cast a rift in public between Mr. Dalli and myself. You knew I never said the words: “John Dalli is now out of the political scene and definitely not in touch as I am with the party core.”
Over and above I pointed it out to you in my edited attachment, yet you ignored it. Had I wanted to insult Mr. Dalli, as you tried to portray me doing, I could have easily done so myself but that wasn’t my intention and I told you so on the phone when you called asking for a comment.
Incidentally, or not, today’s L-Orizzont picked up on that sentence fabricated by you and made a front page story to try and embarrass Mr. Dalli.
This is very unfair and if you’re a worthy journalist, I expect you to rectify your mistake and directly apologize to Commissioner Dalli and your readers in the next edition.
I am here copying Commissioner Dalli with the attached article including my track changes.
Pierre Portelli
=====================================
will be using this version.
thanks so much Pierre.
Julia
———
On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 4:36 PM, Pierre Portelli wrote:
Julia,
Following your telecom interview I’ve edited the attached comments to reflect what I said and the context in which I’ve said it.
Kindly make sure to publish my version not the one you sent me earlier. Should you want to send me the final draft I’d be happier.
Regards
Pierre
If nobody is ready to say it, then I’ll say it: Mr Sore Loser get your rabid ambition and shove it up the part where the sun don’t shine. Jew nilghab jew inhabbel.
John Dalli was a competent finance minister, with good performance through the 90s.
However, he now risks damaging the image that he built for himself, and the party. He himself praises party discipline, but does not seem to be practicing it much.
Yes, it is fair for me as a member of the public to read through John Dalli’s public comments that he may be preparing a campaign to inflict damage on Lawrence Gonzi.
Should John Dalli adopt that approach, he may not only engineer a defeat for Gonzi and PN in 2013, but he will be positioning himself post-2013 in the case of a defeat for PN.
He will surely be in the position to say “told you so” and will be able to garner support should he then run for leadership.
However, should this be the case, Dalli could only become, at best, the leader of the opposition – but his age will work against him. In that case, in his position, I would very much prefer to remain a Minister of Europe.
However, there surely must be reconciliatory capability within the party, and Pierre Portelli’s comments above point in that direction.
Any political manouvres should be done behind close doors.