Governor Challenges IG’s Report
deJongh: Use Of Funds Was Authorized by Amended Act 6917; No Laws Violated For Mafolie Improvements
There was nothing improper about Governor John P. deJongh, Jr.’s use of public funds to renovate his Estate Mafolie private residence - and the Administration disagrees with a US Inspector General’s report (IG) that concluded the Executive Branch had no authority to divert funds the Legislature had approved for road repair to security enhancements for the Governor’s home.
Governor deJongh made these comments during a press conference Tuesday.
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The IG report was issued last Friday and contained the following summation of their investigation into the use of reprogrammed funds from Act 6917 that were used to fund $490,000 in security enhancements at the Governor’s St. Thomas home. The IG report stated:
“We found that the funds used for the purpose of providing security at your private residence were set aside for road repairs in the Virgin Islands by the Legislative Branch of Government. In using those funds, the Executive Branch of Government improperly diverted roughly half-a-million dollars of specifically earmarked public funds and usurped the authority of the Legislative Branch of Government.”
“Under Virgin Islands law, only the Legislature is authorized to determine how public funds can be spent,” wrote Mary L. Kendall, Acting Inspector General.
The Governor stated that all of the processes associated with the improvements made at his home were “open and transparent” and that work was only done after proper Request For Proposal and bidding processes. He also questioned the thoroughness of the IG’s investigation, stating that both the work done at the East End Cemetery and drainage work should also have been investigated for the report to be complete.
All the work done was in compliance with Virgin Islands law, he said, and the report was incorrect in stating that federal funds were used. Additionally, he said, the investigator should have interviewed the sponsor of the amendment outlining the use of the funds in question, Sen. Carlton Dowe, for clarification on the intended and authorized use of the funds.
During a question and answer period following his statement, deJongh said it was “patently unfair” for employees in the Departments of Property and Procurement, Public Works and Justice to be subjected to “personal abuse” for doing their jobs “professionally and legally.”
When asked about the IG’s recommendation that he pay back the funds, he said he had made a decision prior to the report to repay the Government funds representing the value of the improvements at the end of his term to show that he never intended to “personally benefit” from the enhancements to his property.
He declined to respond to a reporter’s question as to whether he believed there was “collusion” between the federal and local IG’s offices since a relative of Sen. Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg, the senator who brought the disputed funds use to the public last June, works in the local IG office. deJongh said he believed the federal IG was aware of any “relationships” between people involved in this matter.
One reporter challenged the governor’s assertion that the actions of his Administration have been transparent and open, citing the refusal of Cherrie Wallace-Cole, a Public Finance Authority employee, to testify at a Legislative hearing held last week to discuss the Executive Branch’s use of these funds.
The Governor responded:
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The Governor said he plans to respond to the IG report by the February 16, 2010 deadline.
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Ha! Like we will believe anything the “St Thomas Source” has printed.
The owner of the online paper was one of the people on the $140,000 VI Lottery Rawanda trip! Her and her online garbage is another pawn of the deJongh Administration.
She has to pay her dues, after all, Cecile deJongh gave her a free trip to Rawanda to buy Africa’s land!
The deJongh Administration and all the people associated with this Administration is TRASH!!!!!
And your refuse is collected on this site.Minds from the gutters do not get their nonsense published by respectable media. Stay in the gutter. Know your place. You can never rise above pettiness.
Thank God for this sight, we are able to get information that the “Crappy Source” refuse to print. You are allowed to put stupidity on CIF and we allow it because who are we to stop you from expressing yourself.
Dumb Question (STX Educator = Dumb Answer = This one is all you!):
If blogs and AM radio are so bad, then why do mainstream media and the administration react to them?
Why do they stoop to the level and acknowledge the existence (thereby adding to the credibility) of websites and radio programs such as of CIF, Demmansay and AM 1620?
If they are purely B.S., then why not leave well enough alone?
CIF, today is the deadline the governor was suppose to respond to the IG’s report. I wonder how he is handling the report. From what our boy, Recon was saying on Jimmy’s show, the governor is in Denver attending an energy conference.
He may not come back
Not to worry.His advisors are on the case.The deadline will be met.Promise.
He has responded to the IG Report. The press conference made his position clear. Let the IG take the matter to court. The Third Branch of Government has the final say.If he is ordered to live elsewhere,the First Branch has to appropriate the funds to make an alternate site to Mafolie suitable for the incumbent Governor. If it should be Government House, then,convert it back to a residence. If Government House can not accommodate a governor,the Revised Organic Act has to be amended. Only the U.S. Congress has the authority to make the change. What is the next move?
Let the IG take the matter to court!