Smearing by numbers

I can't draw. For that matter, I can't whistle or ride a bike either, but that's another story. My mother thought she could help me along by giving me a paint-by-numbers book but the outcome was messy and sad. Politically, the Malta Labour Party has the same problem I have artistically. They stare uselessly at the blank canvas, unable to put a vision to it. Instead, they too try to paint by numbers, literally. That is what they did in my regard in last Tuesday's edition of this newspaper.

Just a day before I had been sent on Bondiplus by the PN, as the party's representative. Alfred Sant was there in representation of the MLP. This man can be Prime Minister in days, I thought to myself as I sat down next to him. It was not the time to speak hesitatingly, so I didn't. I tried to bring across his record of fabrications and double standards and exposed, as best I could, the danger of electing him to office.

I woke up after the programme to find a half page advert in The Times, paid by the MLP, full of big numbers. It stated that my law firm had been paid about Lm40,000 a year for the past four years "in consultancies for the public sector". Work out a total and multiply by the conversion rate and there, next to a photo of me in the potty position was a whopping "358,000 euros". It was one of those adverts in the series "Vote Gonzi. Get a guy that you don't want as a minister because he's a crook".

The first message was clear: Georg Sapiano doesn't want Labour in government because he will lose money. Then the advert asks "What happens if Georg Sapiano becomes a minister", clearly implying that I would ensure my firm receives its fair share of the cake.

Like Lawrence Gonzi, I too believe the answer is in the facts. So, here goes.

Will I lose money if Labour is in government? Sure thing. Not from government retainers though but from the way Dr Sant will run the economy and his relations with the EU. The crisis of confidence he will bring is not unprecedented, we've been through it before but it will be equally vicious. If that happens, the European companies flying in to set up in Malta will simply fly out.

Their money pays salaries, rents, services, schools, restaurants and everything else you'd expect. If they leave, they will stop pumping money in the economy and, yes, I will lose money. So will you.

Will I lose money from government jobs though, is the question.

First of all, I am not a sole practitioner; my firm represents only two government agencies, the total fees we receive from both together amount to Lm20,000. The main one is a foundation that is responsible for all the government's social agencies (the other is the Health and Safety Authority).

Owing to the nature of the work of this foundation: abused children, battered spouses, drug addiction and alcohol misuse we are available around the clock for any emergency as it arises. I have been doing this work uninterruptedly since 1992, which means that this was a job that even Dr Sant's government wanted my firm to continue doing. Doesn't that kind of puncture the friend-of-friends theory?

Now, let me say something that I never have and it really gets me that now I must: We make no profit on the social work retainer. We receive a monthly amount which is equivalent to the costs of the team of three lawyers (and office back-up) that we deploy to provide a round-the-clock service. That amount is about Lm1,200 per month. My partners and I decided that we did not want to make any money for helping a two-year-old whose father is disturbed enough to burn him with a cigarette end or an infant who has a mother that threw her down the stairs. I hate having to say this because I was taught that, if you help others, you shut up about it. But I'm a politician now, I guess, so I had to make this explanation even though I previously refused to.

If Labour is elected and relieves me of my duties, my only regret is not that I lost the contract but that I lost the chance to make a difference in the difficult life of an unfortunate child.

Dr Sapiano is a PN candidate on the ninth district.