Dear Editor,
Suresh Singh attempts to rebut the conflict of interest arguments severally being made by some with regards to pollster Vishnu Bisram in his letter captioned, “Many pollsters abroad offer opinions on other issues”. But he fails to account for one conspicuous and important difference between Mr Bisram and those he references. As Singh, perhaps unconsciously, acknowledges in his letter, Dick Morris and Frank Luntz are both open and public about their political affiliations. Thus their opinions and commentaries are being analyzed by readers with this information in hand. Mr Bisram, in retrospect, seemingly opines from a pedestal of non-affiliation with any political organization in Guyana, even though his commentary and opinions are always, peculiarly, slanted towards one side. No one who accounts for the Guyanese diaspora in New York exclusively through the prism of the locality of Queens can ever remotely expect to be regarded as detached and objective. And that’s a fact.
Mr Bisram certainly has a right to express his opinions, as well as to do polling wherever and whenever he is so inclined. What he absolutely does not have a right to, is to be regarded as an impartial referee of things political in Guyana. Cleavage to a political or cultural thought pattern is not necessarily incompatible with fair and balanced punditry. But such cleavage has to be overt. I read one of Vishnu Bisram’s letters in which he virtually presented an image of Caribbean Leaders genuflecting and bowing in the presence of Rickey Singh. I would like to make this observation to Suresh Singh. Mr Vishnu Bisram is a mighty long way from being able to mask his political and other partialities, whether they occur in his polling or his punditry. And you need to accept the fact that this kind of housekeeping by you and others is not ever going to throw observers off the scent.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
