Challengers Take Full Advantage Of Only Forum For Debate With Incumbents
In general it went this way:
Sen. Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg and Sam Baptiste were a finely-tuned team.
James “Jimmy” O’Bryan and Pamela Richard-Samuel hit the issues dead-on and O’Bryan blew away the smoke on the real issues created by the deJongh Administration.
Luz James and Glen Smith will “follow the law.”
John deJongh and Gregory Francis inherited everything so they can’t be held responsible.
An ever more suspicious “bomb threat” delayed the start of the forum sponsored by the Democratic Party for the Governor and Lt. Governor candidates Thursday at the WTJX -TV studios on St. Croix.
And as we listened one message was clear – even at this late date the deJongh Administration believes this community will believe whatever it says, no matter what it has done. And the challengers, both for governor and lieutenant governor, clearly welcomed the only opportunity they’ve had to go head-to-head with the incumbents.
The format of the forum did not allow for direct rebuttal between the candidates, but O’Bryan and Donastorg both took opportunities to directly refute the Governor’s comments on issues, particularly in discussions about official integrity and the handling of the property tax issue.
Property taxes were another area where the challengers took issue with the incumbent. With the exception of James, the challengers included some measure of “forgiveness” for taxpayers who are facing the prospect of four years of uncollected taxes coming due in the next year. James responded that he needed to get a first-hand analysis of the financial condition of the Territory before making a determination on the tax issue. Donastorg also raised ethical questions about why the Administration did not collect taxes for so long.
We learned that the fiscal condition of the Territory is the issue that causes the incumbent to have “sleepless nights” and that the crime situation gives him a “headache.” The challengers all had more specific approaches to reducing government expense and crime, with all stating that some type of independent evaluation of the situations were necessary to determine what the highest priorities will be.
Perhaps the most significant exchange came during a flash round of questioning when candidates were required to simply give a “yes or no” answer. All the challengers said the Territory could have done a much better job in negotiating the Digeo deal – only deJongh said no.
The Water and Power Authority (WAPA), the cost of energy, and ways to lower it were another point of discussion, with James and O’Bryan advocating upgrading of the current WAPA plant for immediate relief; Donastorg recommending negotiations with the government of Venezuela for prices concessions on fuel purchased from Hovensa; and deJongh discussing plans he said his administration has in process to acquire means of alternative energy.
Other topics included education; health care; same sex marriage (all said no); prayer in the schools (all said yes); and the need for a Chief Financial Officer to oversee the budget (all said no).
And while all agreed that the Constitution, whenever it is ready, should go to the people for a vote, deJongh reiterated his lack of support for the document, while the other candidates, in particular James who was president of the Fifth Constitutional Convention, stressed that the document as published is only a “draft” and that if the Convention is allowed to reconvene, that adjustments and amendments can be made prior to taking the document to a vote.
In the end, there were clear winners and losers – but we’re going to keep our predictions to ourselves and let all of you speak at the polls on Saturday.
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LoL anon 1:58pm-
You wolverines just dont stop huh? dejongh CAN’T speak spanish, nor is he intelligent enough to get anything done these 4 years. Could he have gotten a better deal with diageo? Cough-cough…no was dejongh’s response. He cant stand up for ANY of his mistakes and blames it all on inheriting the problems. Did he inherit the money for mofolie gate also? Yall going to be bawling and howling come tomorrow.
Awwwwwwwoooooooooooo! I hear ayou “king” now.
Donastorg/Baptiste 2010!!
Not sure what I said wrong. I guess Ill have to wait and see. This is a first for me.
bye bye pedro. come back when you can answer a straight question.
Only Eight more hours until the big day!! I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!
Is it possible that the incumbent might end up finishing dead last in the primary?
The way i see it he might end up 3rd.
So, who gets the Yellow Office in F’std come January?
The paint still is fresh, and the walls look like there aren’t too many nail holes either (pictures still on the floor).
Having watched the debate I must say that I am truly baffled by this article. By no stretch of anyone’s imagination did the three challengers “take full advantage of the debate”. Much to the contrary, I was left feeling dismayed and disgusted by the weakness and passivity of the three challengers during the debate. It isn’t that they didn’t land any heavy blows. Its that they chose to not throw any punches.
Do you realize that NONE of the challengers mentioned Mafoliegate during the debate? Instead they talked about ‘clean hands’ and ‘following the law’
They did not confront the Governor with any of the specific, detailed proof of his misdeeds that are regularly presented on this site and at demmansay.com (for example, the post from a few days ago about being out of the territory for Hurricane Earl; the NOPAs for new hires during hiring freeze, the TRUE state of hiring at Diageo, and more.
Worst of all was Donastorg. In a radio ad, he challenged the Governor to state, yes or no, if he and the Administration were facing indictment by the Federal Government. On Thursday, he sat next to deJongh for two hours and didn’t mention it.
Running for office is hard. Knocking off well entrenched, well funded incumbents is hard. Its a messy business and hands will get dirty. You need not sling mud or ‘go negative’. But confronting the Governor with his own record, fact checking him when he speaks nonsense, and holding him accountable for the last 3.5 years of high crime, rising prices and poor government is well within bounds. None of the challengers took up this challenge during the debate or during the campaign. THAT, I believe is why Gov. deJongh is celebrating victory tonight.
You can take potshots at me as the messenger all you want, but lets be clear. Regardless of what you think of deJongh, Donastorg, James & O’Bryan simply did not do enough to beat him.