Ware Stands Firm On Mafoliegate Report; Feds Reviewing Response
Business Week Article Highlights deJongh Response, Davis Opinion In Spending Scandal
Gov. John P. deJongh, Jr.
The Governor can say what he wants about the US Inspector General’s (IG) report on the Mafoliegate scandal, but the local IG is standing firm on its conclusions.
“We do stand behind every single fact on that report. There is nothing on that response that sways us or moves us,” Hannibal Ware, the U.S. agency’s assistant regional manager, told Business Week magazine.
The response Ware is referring to is a defiant letter Governor John deJongh sent in rebuttal to the federal report that concluded he was not authorized to spend $490,000 in public funds earmarked for road repair on security enhancements at his private home at Estate Mafolie on St. Thomas. The office’s report had recommended the money be returned.
In his response, deJongh not only refuted the IG’s conclusion, he declared he would not pay back the funds without a court order and further, in an act of dangerous defiance, questioned the competence and integrity of the investigator who prepared the report.
From the beginning of this controversy, the administration has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as a political ploy instigated by Sen. Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg to discredit this Administration. In his report, he chastises the IG for allowing a ”linkage” between Donastorg and Ware to “undermine the solid respect” the community has previously had for the IG office and said he regrets the investigation was so “woefully inadequate, as it further corrodes the public’s respect for the integrity of government.”
Time after time in the face of irrefutable evidence and documentation, the Administration has either ignored or outright lied about the events that led to the Mafolie exposure.
And if you needed any more evidence about the level of hubris resident in Government House, please note that the Governor also stated that whether or not the Senators who voted on the funds knew that they would be used for Mafolie improvements was “irrelevant” since in his opinion, and relying on a flawed opinion from then AG Elliot Davis, he was justified in using the money as he did.
Well, we shall see. According to the Business Week article, the federal IG is reviewing the governor’s response.
In the meantime, consider this. Business Week Magazine, which has a circulation of over one million subscribers, is owned by Bloomberg LP, a well respected widely read financial publisher in the states and beyond. Add to that the intense scrutiny being focused by the national and international press on the impact of the Diageo deal and its distribution of some $2.7 billion in cover-over revenues to a foreign corporation and the following statement made by Ware could foreshadow things to come.
“The American public right now is questioning funds that go to places, especially those places that have shown issues with accountability, transparency and integrity,” Ware said.Â
The only thing that is rolling is the fat arouund deJongh’s waist.
Good thing we have a Cardiologist on STT. Who do we have to thank for that?
Anonymous on February 25, 2010 at 6:33 pm
You can thank the patients who paid hospital bills and the former CFO @ SRMC who paid Roy D. Flood, MD a $1.0M/year salary.
Put that in your pipe, bong, rear-end and SMOKE IT!
The Virgin Islands is in a state of disaster. We need to take the bull by the horn and change the direction of this government. It is more of us than it is of them and those who is corrupting it. Our children is depending on us to save their future. Let’s get serious and get involved like our lives depend on it.
Read today’s NY Times article regarding my solisitation of free tickets to the Yankee’s game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/nyregion/04paterson.html?hp
Next time I’ll run for political office in the Virgin Islands so I don’t have worry about ethics violations!