Say “Nay” To Adam Christian (Updated)
(Editor’s Update: Despite the potential issues and unanswered questions that remain concerning his role as legal counsel to Governor John P. deJongh, Jr,, Atty. Adam Christian was favorably recommended Friday for a seat on the bench of the Superior Court by the Legislature’s Committe on Rules and Judiciary by a vote of 5-2, and will now move into confirmation hearings before the full Legislature. We will post a full analysis of today’s hearing Saturday on CIF.)
It really shouldn’t even be happening now.
The Committee on Rules and Judiciary of the 28th Legislature, chaired by Sen. Michael Thurland, will meet on Friday to consider the nomination of Atty. Adam Christian, put forth by Governor John deJongh, for appointment to the bench of the Superior Court.
They will consider whether Christian, who has served as deJongh’s counsel since January, 2007, possesses the knowledge, experience and character necessary to sit in judgment on the interpretation of the laws of the Virgin Islands and to issue orders that assure that those laws are followed as they were intended.
It should be a very short session.
A review of the record since January, 2007, should be sufficient to determine his fitness for the bench. The actions that triggered the “Mafoliegate” scandal began with a flawed opinion from then Acting Attorney General Elliot Davis, an opinion we must presume was reviewed by Christian. That opinion supported deJongh’s violation of the provisions of the Revised Organic Act concerning the governor’s official residence and the use of public funds that the Legislature did not authorize to make improvements to his private home at 23-8 Estate Mafolie. Did Christian point out the flaws to deJongh? If not, why not? If so, and his advice was ignored, then on what basis is the Governor making this nomination?
And in October, when the Legislative hearings were held to investigate the Mafoliegate matter, Christian, without prior notice, chose not to testify.
Conversely, Christian was a highly visible figure in the activities that led to give-away deals to Diageo and later Cruzan Rum. In the case of Diageo, a year of negotiation resulted in a 60-year deal that obligates 45% of the rum cover over revenues to the distributor, in addition to the $200+ million in bonds and exhaustive tax breaks to locate their plant on St. Croix. Payoff to the Virgin Islands – 40 jobs.
And in the recent hearings on Cruzan Rum, which obligate 46% of those cover over revenues to the rum producer, Christian was unable to adequately address questions posed by the Committee and another testifier was called in to respond to the inquiries. Are these the actions of competent legal counsel?
The questions go on. What was his advice to the Governor concerning the Constitutional Convention and his legal obligation to forward the document to the President of the United States? Was he unaware of or did he choose to ignore the conflict of interest issues raised every time the Governor (who is also chairman of the Public Finance Authority) approved the use of public funds for the improvement of his personal residence? What is his court record? What litigation history exists to establish his approach to interpreting the law?
With all these pending issues, why is this individual even under consideration for a seat on the bench at this time?
Under the circumstances, the only responsible action the Committee can take is to recommend that the nomination be withdrawn until the Mafoliegate issues are resolved.
Donstorg is not strong as you may think and a lot of us agree with Bring tears to my eyes, he is not a team player and can get all out of shape a loose his composure. I don’t support the governor and will never, so don’t come bloging that I am one of his supporters. I am the man on the street hearing the people talk. Donastorg you have some youth support, but is split between you and positive, therefore the other candidates have to fight over the rest.
Who will Positive run with ? …. will St . Thomas support him ?
Regardless of what people say I will support Donastorg regardless of what party he runs for . If im the only one to vote for him let it be , but he has made me feel comfortable enough to support him , i think he can perform well as a governor , and Saint Thomas knows he has worked hard for the people and has gotten the job done , Not only stt but he has done alot for this island St. Croix also, we elected deJongh who never did anything for these islands ,, why not give Donastorg a man who fought for ALL these islands a chance ? … End of discussion for me , Support who ayo like , I rolling with Foncie … Like they say we cant agree on everything there will always be divisions. Donastorg.2010
My opinion is that Mapp and Positive will split the St. Croix so bad , That neither will win , St. Thomas will decide who they want in government house.
Debating who we will vote for in 2010 is just another huge distraction from the issues. We should really focus on holding our current leaders accountable for all the mess they have made. What about the $500k spent at the Governor’s house? What about this Alpine deal? Diaggeo? Cruzan? Come on people – FOCUS!
Wake up and smell the “political” coffee.
While the PRESENT is relevant to TACTICS, the FUTURE is relevant to STRATEGY.
EXCELLENT STRATEGY will predict VICTORY, but POOR STRATEGY will produce DEFEAT.
To all who seeks to run for governor, I ask this simple and basic question: Do you have a STRATEGY TO WIN?
I can assure you the good governor has a STRATEGY TO DEFEAT YOU!
The “Election of a Governor“ is like a battle: Show me your “generals” and your “soldiers.”
It is not about FIGHTING; it is about WINNING.
I am telling you, no “divided opposition” can defeat the governor, NONE!
If the administration can see this, why can’t you?
The Administration can not see the emperor has no clothes on. DeWrong will not be around to run, he will be in jail.
In fairness to Adam Christian…
Unlike what many may wish, attorneys are generally barred from disclosing the advice or nature of the advice given to a client, even if the client is a government division or entity, such as the Office of the Governor. The rules of conduct do also “prevent” attorneys from knowingly providing advice to a client or to engage or assist a client in criminal or fraudulent activities.
The quagmire that Christian finds himself in is that even if he had advised John Dejongh that certain activities might be in violation of exiting laws, such as the conflict of interest statutes, he may not be able to say what advice he gave. He would be in breach of his fiduciary duties if he said: I told him not to do it and he did it still, or he did what I advised him to. This is a no no.
In criminal matters, for instance, many lawyers discover and know for certain that their clients are guilty, sometimes of gruesome crimes, such as rape and murder. However, they are bound by a code of ethics that has few exit doors. This is one of the pillars of law practice.
If the truth be told, Willocks would be similarly barred and likely would have abstained from disclosing specific communications made to him as well as any advice he may have given to any of his clients he represented in his capacity as public defender.
But here is what we know. We know based on the governor’s own, personal statements that he asserts that none of his legal counsellors informed him that by signing the Mafolie gate contract that he would be in violation of the conflict of interest statutes.
Even if he was so informed, the governor (Office of the Governor) is not obliged to follow any advice, legal or otherwise, given. This fact became evident from the recent testimony provided on the subject of the fencing at the governor’s residence. The initial plan, by Public Works, was to erect the fence within a smaller perimeter than what was finally done.
An interesting fact of the confirmation hearings is that both Christian and Willocks are being considered for positions of judges after they have potentially spent the past few years advising criminals. Wat a ting!
We must accept and understand, however, that providing advice to a criminal is not in and of itself criminal, and is perhaps not the correct ‘barometer’ to determine fitness as a judge. In any event, this matter is not over yet.
Today I heard someone who works at the court (MARSHALL DWAYNE CALLWOOD)on Mario’s show talking about specific activities of the court. Is this legal?
Based on what you are saying, U-Turn, these are all reasons why A.Christian should not have been processed as a nominee at this time while his “client” is under investigation.
Based on what you are saying, U-Turn, these are all reasons why A. Christian should not have been processed as a nominee at this time while his “client” is under investigation.
For discussion sake, let’s examine a presumed fact.
We all have to agree that Harold Willocks is likely representing one or more client who has been or currently is under criminal investigation. Many of these individuals have likely broken into our homes, raped our daughters and sons, and traumatized our elderly.
Willocks then goes to court in defense of these persons and requests less jail time than what the prosecution (Office of the Attorney General) proposes. Should Willocks therefore be excluded from consideration for the position of judge?
You know, you have to keep a watchful eye on the posters on this site. Some are blatant in their attempts to distract attention from the real issues – others creep up on the distraction and then move in with the “gotcha.”
I watched UTurn for the past couple of days meandering through the Code and the rule of law, all the while detecting the undercurrent of rationalization present for the actions of the Comnmittee in moving Christian’s nomination forward.
And after several days we finally see the bottom line.
I’ll keep the discussion short. There is no correlative relationshp between the premise of Atty. Willocks’ role as public defender and his fitness for the judgeship and Atty. Christian’s role as counsel to the governor and his fitness for the judgeship. None.
You’ve written hundreds of words the past few days about atty/client privilege, when that is not the issue. The issue is whether the Committee had enough information to make an informed decision on Christian’s eligibility to ascend to the bench. They did not. Period.
To try to move the discussion in this direction is the posting equivalent of those deluded individuals who are infesting the talk shows with their delusional diatribes on the virtues of the governor.
Enough already. It ain’t gonna fly.
Two sides/halves of a coin or a dollar bill are required to be simultaneously entered into a vending machine in order for the desired item to exit.
The delusion arises when we convince ourselves that we can victoriously argue an issue and attain the desired effect when we only have half a solution, if that much.
You cannot counter an opponent’s arguments if you know not what those arguments are. However, success is almost guaranteed if you can predict your adversary’s anticipated move. In other words, you have prepared for the next series of steps even before she/he has thought of them. Powerful!
We can beat a dead horse, but the initial confirmation has already gone forward. So the question is: What’s your next move? More importantly, tell us, what is their next move?
Let A Christian sit as judge, but when the embarrassment come after the whole mafolie scandal unfold and he is unseated many heads gone roll in the senate. This is going to be an easy race. Anybody including Broda Cayt is going to win.
There’s a big difference between the example used by Wake Up with the scenarios of Willocks v. that of Christian and atty/client priviledge. They have different bosses. While they were both nominated by the governor, one(HW)is responsible to a board and the other(AC)to the governor himself.
Consider this. We know we have a corrupt Governor – we just don’t know how corrupt yet.
We know we have a Legislature (except for those who voiced objections) that ignored the advice of their own Counsel and presumed that Christensen had no culpability in the illegal actions of said Governor.
And soon, (unless something REALLY radical happens, like a mass attack of integrity ha ha) that same legislature will confirm that nomination and Christian will sit on the bench.
Thereby infusing all three branches of the government with individuals who support the “above the law” attitude that’s becoming commonplace around here.
Throw in a predominantly repressed media and, well, it leaves a big question.
What happened to checks and balances?
Well said, Clock!
Hey, anybody read the Daily News today about the former Director of Tax Review Board dishing out the dirt on her former department? This is getting scandalous!
I want to pose a question here; who would win a primary between Donastorg and dejongh? Lets be honest now. I heard the Senator had a meeting on St. Croix and now heads are starting to turn. Mapp and dejongh must be concern to hear the amount of people that came out to a meeting held on Tuesday here on St. Croix. From all accounts I heard it was well attended and no one has disagreed with the attendance. Again, who would win a primary between Donastorg and dejongh?