Who Made The Decision To Spend The Money On Mafolie?
Mafolie documents raise questions about process, intent and communication regarding Act 6917 funds
Sen. Carlton "Ital" Dowe
If you want to understand the game you’ve got to focus on the players.
The central issue in the Mafolie matter is whether the Legislature intended that funds from Act 6917 could be used to renovate Governor John P. deJongh’s private Estate Mafolie home. It is from that issue that all the other issues, including conflict, collusion and fraud, emerge.
Sometime between March, 2007, when the 27th Legislature authorized the road repair funds in Act 6917 and April 16 of that year, someone made that determination, and we’re trying to discover who that was. That determination has resulted in $490,000 in public funds being spent on the Governor’s private property. The exact language from Act 6917 is that the reprogrammed funds were to be used for “engineering designs, construction, repairs and resurfacing of roads.”
Let us return to the documents we have access to.
April 16 – Director of Finance and Administration Julito Francis sends a letter on Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority (PFA) letterhead to Property and Procurement (P and P) Commissioner Lynn Millin. The first page of this letter is dated April 16; the second page is dated April 30.* It is in this letter, that the use of funds from Act 6917 is specified to include the “Security Booth and Road Improvements at the Governor’s residence – STT.” The only senator copied on this letter is Sen. Carlton “Ital” Dowe.
April 25 – Then Commissioner Designee Darryl Smalls, Department of Public Works, sent a letter to Francis asking him (Francis) to send a letter to Millin informing her that the funds from Act 6917 “ are to be used for” several projects, including “Security Booth and Road Improvements at the Governor’s residence – STT.”  The only senator copied on this letter is Sen. Carlton “Ital” Dowe.
May 17, 2007 - Smalls wrote to Debra Gottlieb, then Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In this letter, he requested the release of funds from Acts 6868 and 6917 for five projects, including the $1.305 million for “engineering designs, construction, repairs or resurfacing of roads.”(attached p. 2 dpw/omb below)
May 30, 2007 – Gottlieb, now Director Designate of OMB, sent a memo to Smalls releasing the $1.305 million from Act 6917, again, for the “engineering designs, construction, repairs and resurfacing of roads.”  (attached p. 1 dpw/omb below)
Who told Francis that those funds were to be used for security enhancements at the Governor’s home? Why was Dowe copied on his April 16 letter? Why did Smalls copy Dowe on his April 25 memo to Francis? Did Dowe have information from other members of the 27th Legislature that they intended these funds be used for Mafolie? Some have stated publicly that they did not.
Why didn’t Gottlieb question the use of funds for something other than what was outlined in the amendment language? It is our understanding once money is appropriated for a specific purpose, that can only be changed through additional legislation. In her position as OMB Director, was Gottlieb unaware of this?
It is also important to note that before funds appropriated by the Legislature can be legally expended, those funds must be ratified by the PFA. The 6917 funds, appropriated in March, 2007, were not ratified until a meeting in October, 2009. Â
Gov. deJongh is the Chairman, Angel Dawson is the Executive Director and Gottlieb is the secretary of the PFA. Dawson,  and Gottlieb both testified at a recent Legislative hearing that the 30-month delay in ratifying these funds was an “oversight”. How did the deJongh, Dawson and Gottlieb all overlook the fact that these funds had not been ratified?
The US Inspector General has issued a report finding that the use of these funds at Mafolie was unauthorized. The Governor has until February 16 to respond to the IG’s report.
(*Editors note: You will note there are two different attachments of the same letter from Francis to Millin. One of them is dated April 16 on the front page and April 30 on page 2. (Attachment titled April 16 letter). A second, nearly identical letter is also attached, where the date on both pages is April 30. (April 25 Smalls/April 30 Francis). We can’t explain the discrepancy – we are simply pointing it out.)    Â
All are in cahoots. Dowe needs to go and with a new governor, beyond a transition period, so does the current administration’s finance team. Shame on all who try to keep accountability from public purview.
Don’t worry my youth the information that’s going to come about Dowe he will hide.SOON COME!
CIF Administrator take note:
In the second to last paragraph needs to be corrected instead of Francis you need to put in Dawson.
@Hey meson -
Thank you.
Point noted and it has been corrected.
I heard Dowe has a huge shack under construction on Skyline Drive in STT. Is that one of President Obama’s shovel-ready projects? Getting America (Illegal’s) Back to Work? Where is the Big As* Highway Sign to tout the stimulus? Department of Labor? Receipts? Any at all?
Instead of Goldman Sachs I will call him Goldman Dowe!
@Nice Pad:
For some reason your blogs are going into a spam filter which is why they don’t appear here immediately.
Thanks
“Dowe Now” or “Dowe Again” in the center of corruption. I am wondering if the Feds are paying attention to the connection with one contractor i.e. Balboa in St. Thomas who’s kick backs is to either contruct houses or repair houses for Government Officials who play a role in making sure he get these contracts. It’s gone on far too long and they all need to be placed in jail. Who is building Dowe and his son house. Guess who?
I am wondering when will the Feds make the connection between Mafoliegate and the Nardo Trotman Drive. Dowe happens to be at the center of everything. Mr. Dowe, don’t be too sure you will get away this time around.
And the DeJongh bus keeps rolling along, and taking others downhill with it. This keeps getting interesting! I wonder who’s going to be the next scapegoat for this administration.
- AG office, check
- PFA employee Wallace-Cole, check
- Sen Dowe, check
Stay tuned, to see who’ll be thrown under the DeJongh bus next.
Based on a discussion between “The Educator” and “Jamila” (Sorry for misspelling) on 1620 AM, I felt compelled to review the IG Report.
What I have found is irrefutable!
The IG Report cites the following on page 2:
“In 1998, the Virgin Islands Government received surplus bond funds from the Public Finance Authority that the Legislature had earmarked for public projects.”
I have seen no subsequent “unauthorized legislation” which has allowed “public funds” to be re-directed from badly-needed “public projects” and to be used instead on the governor’s “private residence.”
The governor’s private residence IS NOT “part or parcel” of any PUBLIC PROJECT!
I hope we’re all seeing that all of this illogic being spewed on the airwaves are the last desperate acts of a disintegrating regime.
It’s all designed to move us away from the issue. The tighter the corner they get in, the more disjointed and in-credible their arguments become.
I can’t tell you how many times i have resisted calling mr. o’bryan or mr. moorhead and reducing that woman to rubble- i mean shreds. but that’s their whole goal – to get us all so vexed that we too turn into babbling idiots and lose sight of what’s going on.
then there are the reptilian insidious like roosevelt david who, i know from the days i worked at innovative, needs to take a long walk down a short plank if he’s putting himself out there as the voice of right and good. and he knows it.
hold straight, my friends – it’s early in the campaign and if we think its bad now, just wait as the election gets closer. there’s ain’t gonna be a bus tall enough for everyone who is going to get thrown under it between now and then.
but we have to do like this website says – stay FOCUSED – because the biggest tragedy is if through split alliances or scattered thinking, we allow this group of miscreants to take office again.
Yes i enjoyed Jameela’s show this morning,”YES I,”she handle de cruzan miseducator so well that she went off track came back on and just crash,BRAGGADAM!
There is one thing for sure: The Governor’s “people” hate it when We “The People” speak of MAFOLIEGATE.
Believe you me, they hate it with a passion!
Jamila is the right person for the mis-educator. She has her head on and knows what she talking about most of the time.
Comment removed by Administrator.
That’s why you like to roger morgan lie to you everyday and tell you how much he loves the virgin islands and he loves black people.Yo want lie that is lie,who is more a kiss ass than he,that’s the kind of people you like to here,don’t be vex with jamila cause she asked some questions that couldn’t be answered honestly.
Anonymous,
Mafoliegate would not have been “coined” if the governor had not taken almost a half-million dollars of “public fund” for use in his “private residence.”
What part of that don’t you get?
It was “public funds” for “public projects”
What part of the governor’s “private house” is “public property?”
This is the issue, not Jamila!
@Anonymous at 4:25 p.m. I am Jamila and let me set you straight on a few points and in the future if you have something to say to me you can call me at 332-1025 or email me at jamilaarussell@hotmail.com or call the radio station and I will gladly have a conversation with you. I am not disgruntled, I am disappointed. I like many others have made mistakes, have owned them, learned from them, asked for forgiveness and moved on. I think highly of John P. deJongh, Jr. and consider him to be a highly intelligent individual. That is why I felt he should apologize, move forward with his plan to repay the money and focus on other, more pressing issues. However he has someone who calls herself the “Crucian Educator” defending him blindly and by doing so she is making people not hate just her but him in the process. You may very well be her and for the allegation that I am a liar, that is true because we have ALL LIED but thief I am not get your FACTS straight if you are able to discern FACT FROM FICTION. There is no need to bash me on a site that I do not visit or participate on. Be a Man or Woman and do your bidding where I can defend myself because trust that I can defend myself always have and always will. In in most regards, I am all too pleased that I am not affiliated with the 28th Legislature, that is there loss. Maybe if they had hired me the employee morale would not be at an all time low and I could advise some of your senators on what they should be doing for the people. Nuff said…call me on 1620 the number is 719-7435 or call me that the aforementioned number and email. Do you need a dictionary???
Thank you kooldaddy and EyesWideOpen2010. The issue isn’t Jamila, I have paid for my mistake and if I had to pay why shouldn’t they??
Wahh tek dat in yo bombo!Well said, LOL,LOL.
Distraction people, distraction. Good on Jamilla for responding and glad that comment got taken down – but as many of you have said – not Jamilla or anybody else is the issue but DEJONGH and his band of hucksters.
That’s all. Nothing else.
And as for that other woman, i advise caution. She’s going to piss the wrong person off one day. People are frustrated and tired of being trifled with, and they’re only going to take so much.
Just a word to the (not so) wise.