Danet Gets Big Endorsement From RNC Chairman Michael Steele
RNC Chairman Michael Steele, right, endorsed Republican Candidate Vince Danet, left, who is challenging incumbent Democrat Donna M. Christensen and St. Croix Atty. Jeffrey B.C. Moorhead for the US Delegate to Congress seat, shown here with Mrs. Gertrude, whose establishment hosted Saturday's event.
Vince Danet’s campaign for Delegate to Congress got a huge visibility boost on Saturday when Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele came to St. Croix to endorse him.
In an appearance to a group of the party faithful at Gertrude’s restaurant, Steele praised Danet in his quest for the Delegate’s seat saying, “I like your style, I like your message,” and added, “Don’t apologize for not being a politician – it’s a blessing.”
Danet will face Democratic incumbent Donna Christensen and No Party challenger Atty. Jeffrey B.C. Moorhead in the delegate race in November.
Steele characterized the reemergence of the Republican party as a “Renaissance” and assured those in attendance that the Virgin Islands plays an equal role to party members on the mainland in “helping us grow the party, win elections but most importantly, to affirm the values of the Party.”
“Don’t let anyone tell you that we can’t have a presence or we can’t win,” he said. “We can have a presence – we can win in the Virgin Islands.”
Steele was introduced at the meeting by local Republican National Committeeman and radio personality Holland Redfield, who praised him for “doing an outstanding job as the National Chairman of our Party.”
Steele was upbeat in his message, and he asked to group to keep one basic principle in mind.
“I don’t know what the outcome is going to be in November but I know this – we win they lose,” he said.
And the mission of the party should be to “do everything we can to help this man (Danet) represent our goals, our aspirations, in the United State Congress – that’s our struggle, that’s our stragety, that’s our goal.”
Steele emphasized the growing Party diversity, citing the 118 African American candidates representing the party in the upcoming elections, and said that Virgin Islands Republicans are “a representation of what’s going on around the country,” adding that the “new” Republican candidates  “look and sound like everyone in this room.”
He attributed the rebirth of the party to the disillusionment of many with Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration, saying that when Obama took office, “the kool aid was flowing,” but said that after disappointment began to set in with the Administration’s actions “the eyes of the American people were open and they began to speak their mind.”
He said the public began to realize that, “the leadership in front of you couldn’t answer the question – the leadership in front of you essentially blew you off,” and that instead of being part of the solution, they were part of the problem and created “too much government; too much debt.”
He asked the group not to “get caught up in the hype of media and polls – there is real hard work to be done,” and said that this is an historic and exciting time for the party.
“For the first time in history, we are competing in every region, every state, every county and every community – we have a campaign and a candidate,” he said.
He thanked the group for remaining true to the party, “despite the noise, despite the storm,” and reminded them that the mission is greater than simply garnering votes.
“We don’t win just by going to the poll and winning the election,” he said. “We win by carrying a message that people can believe in again.”
And he said that although the party has had some tough times in recent years, the outlook has never been more positive.
“Now here we stand on this precipice where we can win again,” he said. “This is our Renaissance and I am so proud to be a part of it.”
Speaking of finances, ask yourself how any candidate with kids can afford to quit their jobs and run on a ” non sure thing.” Who’s paying the bills? Or how some of our senators afford the homes they live in. I can’t believe that so many are so naive.
Bring Back the 70s,
You are fooling yourself once again. Mapp is not the ‘lesser of all evils’. Mapp is as evil as John de Jongh, the $600, 000 bribes he took from Jeffrey when he was Lt Governor more than proves this.
My question for you is: What has Ken Mapp offered you, inorder for you to compromise your intelligence and integrity and blindly follow him. (Mind you, this may be a trick question, as some of us already know what you have been offered, just trying to decipher if you have one iota of respect remaining in your body. Won’t hold breathe on that though.)
@Herb, try investigating a little further. No one Senator has the ability to remove a SENATE President. Ricky Ricardo was a active member in his own demise which had nothing to do with Senator Donastorg. You people will try to do anything to discredit Senator Donastorg too bad for you his support is thousands strong all over St Thomas, St John and St Croix.
Your politricks won’t work. We are united and voting for Donastorg/Baptiste 2010 in the Primary and General election.
1) A cushy job making 6 figures
2) A Swiss bank account for which to forward my millions
3) Use of his private yacht
I can’t reveal the rest. And with that, I’m out. I feel my brain cells atrophying.
@ Herb et al
To copy and paste from other documents you must now use the Ctrl functions. Right clicks to do copy and paste are disabled on the site.
ctrl A to select the text
ctrl C to copy
ctrl V to paste into the comment box on the site
You can also use the backspace key to correct any errors. Hope this helps.
Any Senator can break the majority depending on what he has to sell the minority and who he can get to ride the new gravy train. It happened to Ruby and others. You want the perks that go with being in the majority i.e. bigger office, bigger staff, better car and having the lust for power to turn your backs on your previous fellow comrades. What “IS” did to Ruby broke her heart and it was just plain wrong but that is the way they play the game.
And Herb? How many times has Donastorg been apart of the majority since he has been in office? Donastorg could care less about attaching his name to any majority caucass. His decisions are based on principle and doing right by the people of the VI. Period.
AFD never to my knowledge tried to put a hurting on me, so I will be fair. I can’t say that about two others. I remember well in 1988 when I was on the GOP ticket for Senator another candidate for the senate said he would not like me on the same slate and made his feelings known to the party. He won his seat….but I did not hold any grudges when as Lt. Governor he ran for a position as a delegate to the 1996 GOP Convention and I beat him. Several of us recognized the fact that it would be wrong for him to not attend with full credentials. I had won by a mere seven votes so I withdrew as did Humberto. He was certainly a star at the San Diego GOP Convention and had immeasurable contacts with other high ranking members of the party. Again my point here is that somethings, like doing something for the good of the party should trump personal differences. As Republicans were know that famous 11th Commandment of Ronald Reagan. The democrats need to learn that all their fighting in the party is not god for anyone. Some of these wounds go way back and we all have to live in harmony after a very divisive election.
Herb, the Lt Governor you speak of in your comment which attended the Republican National Convention was Kenneth Mapp. Don’t be afraid of Mapp, Herb. Mapp has a lot of legal problems to deal with. Check out the website ‘The Real Ken Mapp’. And don’t forget to tell all your friends to look at it.
Mr. Herb talking the truth about Foncie and Rick Ricardo. We were all upset when we heard Mr. Rocardo was fired because he was definitely an asset to the Public Affairs division. That’s why when they removed him as President in the 28th, very few of us in Central Staff felt sorry for him because we know how vindictive he was and still is.
As for the question of how many times Foncie has been in the majority caucus while he was a senator, the answer is 6 times in his 7 terms. 2 of those 6 times he ended up in the minority caucus. The first time when Berry switched the majority and in this legislature when he couldn’t hold on to the chair.
We know all about how Foncie got his staff on Crucians In Focus posting things for him. The computer network in the legislature tells us everything we need to know. Foncie ain’t going nowhere in this election.
Hi Herb, tell us something…do the Republican party still trust Kenneth Mapp? It’s odd that he attended that endorsement party last night and hung out with Michael Steele.
Do you believe is was really there trying to undermine you? He seems to have good reasons to come after you. Or was he really there trying to cut a deal for himself?
Hard to read this guy…
Sure Mapp, whatever you say. I guess that why most of the Central Staff supports Donastorg? Please come better than that Mapp. Your lies get weaker by the day.
Lolo Willis is in de Jongh’s camp so is Neville James, Malone, Alvin Williams. The stategy is to turn Mapp and Foncie against each other before the primary.
Do all of you hear yourselves? Ridiculous, mindless chatter.
As the former klansman David Duke once mis-quoted: “What a terrible thing it is to lose one’s mind.”
Go easy on the gin and juice everyone, night night.
CIF, please rid of this nastiness on the blog. It’s childish and counter-productive.
Mr. Springer, I agree with anon @ 11:38. All of this useless rhetoric is doing a disservice to CIF. This website has been good for the people of the VI and we don’t want it to become a medium only for those who have nothing meaningful to contribute. This nonsense needs to stop.
I would like to discourage talking about people’s height, teeth, bodies, etc. It really lowers the standards of this serious website and I find it offensive. I mean you guys make me laugh most the time but your not right.
I just read for the first it time the Mapp/ICC deposition and it is very disturbing. It paints a picture of graft, corruption, and portrays Ken Mapp as a sleaze ball. Over a half a million dollars to him from Prosser of under the table payments via an off shore bank in St. Martin for doing nothing except letting him improve his educational resume that heretofore was a figment of his imagination. The deposition speaks for itself and Mapp can’t spin his way out of it no matter what. Is it not true to say that Mapp was an investment by Prosser for ICC control of government house? Mapp supporters where are you on this? $600,000 for being a political hack under control of Jeff Prosser. Ken Mapp must answer this or politically he is finished.
Why did Mapp’s Lt. Governor candidate change his name to the Islamic name “Malik”. Now don’t tell me he is an Apostate like Donna who joined Islam and now have defiled the Holy Qu’ran.