'Dissing' Dorothy

As Attorney general and minister of justice, Dorothy Lightbourne is expected to be the central player in any treaty dispute between Jamaica and any other state.

As a high-ranking member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), leader of government business in the Senate, and an internationally respected legal mind, one would believe that Lightbourne would be central to any plan by the party to engage an American law firm to deal with any matter.

But based on her public pronouncements, she was shunned by the leader of her party, who kept her out of the loop, while he went off on a frolic and sanctioned the JLP's contracting Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to try to settle the extradition request for West Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

"The first time I heard about the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips was when Dr (Peter) Phillips raised the issue in Parliament," Lightbourne said in a recent radio interview.

If that is true - and there is no reason to doubt Lightbourne, who once headed the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council of Jamaica - then she was 'dissed' by JLP Leader and Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

How could Golding have sanctioned the Manatt deal in September 2009 and not tell his justice minister and attorney general six months later?

If this is not disrespect, then Lightbourne, a fine legal mind from Aeolus Valley, St Thomas, will have to find the right words to describe it.

Lightbourne will also have to find the words to describe the action of her solicitor general, Douglas Leys, who, Golding says, met with officials of Manatt, took a representative of the firm with him to a meeting with the United States State and Justice departments, and started to craft a joint release with them before that idea was scrapped.

During all that time, Leys - again if Lightbourne is to be believed - never told his boss the name of the law firm.

Based on the public pronouncements, the soft-spoken and disarmingly charming Lightbourne has been given less than a supporting role in this docudrama.

However, her cameo has opened a can of worms and even worse, it has not cured her of the headache caused by the US request for the extradition of 'The President'.

Based on the public pronouncements, the soft-spoken and disarmingly charming Lightbourne has been given less than a supporting role in this docudrama.