Local GOP Official Asks Congress To Amend Draft Constitution
Guest Editorial by Herbert Schoenbohm
(Editor’s note: The following is a letter sent by Mr. Schoenbohm to Senator Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources, regarding the presented V.I. constitutional draft discussed Wednesday in a hearing in Washington. Schoenbohm is the State Chairman of the Virgin Islands Republican party. The Constitution is now with the Senate and is expected to be returned to the Territory next month.)
Dear Senator Murkowski,
Herb Schoenbohm
Thank you for your consideration of the draft Virgin Island Constitution. I beg you not to send this document back to the V.I. with the expectation that the past delegation will reconvene and make the recommended corrections. During the many hearings and meetings of the present V.I. delegates they were repeatedly reminded of their responsibility, reinforced by the enabling legislation, that they must adhere to the U.S. Constitution. They did not care to respect their oath and presented you instead with a seriously flawed draft document.
If returned there is no guarantee that they will even make the corrections Congress may require. They are now even asking Congress for funding to continue a deliberation that they failed to do properly in the first instance.
The proponents told you today that after they reconvene, the draft it would be voted upon and become law, without any further review by Congress or the Executive branch.. Such a procedure would abrogate the powers of Congress. It would remove your powers as a gatekeeper, a protector and guarantors of the Constitutional rights of our citizens. It would place in the hands the power to present to the voters anything they wish while removing Congress from the loop.
As ranking minority member of the Energy and Resources Committee, please do everything you can to protect us from unconstitutional peril. If this matter ever passes in its uncorrected form it would take years of litigation for the citizens to achieve redress.
Please encourage the members of your committee to provide safeguards that the bi-partisan concerns are dealt with first before it is returned to the voters. A more expeditious means in my view is to send instructions that a Constitutional Convention could be provided de novo by local legislation but that the Congress has no authority to reconvene a local (state) convention that is sine die.
For the U.S. Congress to throw good money after bad for the old delegates to continue hoping they would do it right would be an exercise in futility. A new convention with new delegates could proceed as local appropriations allow. To reward those with more of the U.S. taxpayers money, when they failed in the first instance to even grasp the meaning of their oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution is just plain wrong.
Thank you for your attention to this very serious matter.
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Herb may have forgotten that while Rome ruled, the barbarians dwelt in the caves of modern-day France.
They haven’t asked for one but considering their service to the community they certainly would be entitled to that. They are autonomous adults, they paid their debt to society, they are raising their families and working a great jobs. I recently have a new grand daughter named Alyssa and here mother is from Mexico and a pure Aztec princess. So this makes my granddaughter a native American. Wonder if that gives me any special rights for not paying taxes at my vacation home in Cancun? As far as advocating borrowing money to avoid layoffs…this is a temporary fix. There are many ways long term that the government here can increase revenues without increasing taxes and burdening the little man. Maybe someone from the administration should call me and I will tell them how to do it.
gee herb, a non white relation must have really pissed you off. RACIST.
Anonymous at 8:25 I think your time line is a bit off…..when the Romans advance through the forests of what is now Germany they got their butts kicked by very veracious Germanic tribes living in the Schwarzwald.
The cave dwellers in France, I believe where several thousand years before the Romans made it to England through France. BTW living in caves isn’t all that bad considering the temperature says the same year around. No need for A/C in the summer or a wood fired stove in the cold winters. No need to worry about shelter from wind, rain nor snow. In some caves there were spring fed subterranean streams of constant cool fresh water. Caves had built in fruit and vegetable cellars. I have never tried woolly mammoth steaks but can’t imagine they were all that bad. Certainly caves were a much more formidable structures that a grass hut in the Selva and going out gathering ground nuts each day to survive. Life was good, considering more time for hobbies like painting on the walls and making babies.
Vive La Difference Mon Cher!
Anonymous on June 3, 2010 at 8:54 pm Just the opposite. Most all of my grandchildren are multi-racial, Crucian, Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, East Indian, and the most recent Azteca. All were born in the Virgin Island…and I guess they all will have to pay your property tax. So don’t knock it!