deJongh Vetoes Suspension Of Local Broadband Funds; Malone Calls For Override As VINGN Update Hearing Looms Wednesday
So now he wants to pay local vendors?
That’s the reason Gov. John P. deJongh Jr. gave for line item vetoing the portion of the bill that would have suspended the use of the $38 million in local funds floated for the Broadband project.
Sen. Shawn Malone, chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Technology and Agriculture and sponsor of the bill calling for suspension of the spending of the local funds until Federal authorities release $68 million in funds allocated to the Broadband project, is calling for a Senate override of the veto.
In a press release issued Tuesday, Malone expressed his “disappointment and dismay” at the Governor’s action.
The veto comes one day before the Wednesday night meeting of Malone’s committee, called to provide a forum for those related to the Broadband initiative to come before the Senate and explain how the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (VINGN) plans to address the stipulations made by federal authorities after a June audit raised grave concerns about the structure of the organization and its operations to date. Those concerns were so grave that the Feds suspended the use of the monies they had allocated to the project until revisions were made in the operating model of the VINGN group and controls were put in place that met federal guidelines for the use of the funds.
The committee is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday to continue its oversight hearings and representatives of VINGN have been invited to appear and account for all the funds expended to date. We’d have felt better if they’d been subpoenaed to come, but we’ll see what happens.
After the Feds suspended VINGN’s use of their funds, Malone put forward a bill suspending the use of the local funds until the Federal concerns had been addressed. Among the concerns of both federal and local officials was the granting of contracts for the high speed internet initiative, as virtually none of them were awarded to local contractors – the group that was held out as some of the main benefactors of the project funding.
In his veto, deJongh said he would not support it because “it would result in interruptions of lawful payments to local vendors who serve the Government.
“This I will not abide,” he wrote.
Hey John – give us a break. This from a man who runs a government who has been documented not to pay local vendors for their work on a regular basis; this from a man who runs a government who owes millions of dollars to the local utility company; this from a man who chose to loan millions of dollars to a filthy rich multinational distillery to build a rum plant on St. Croix which, to date, has contributed no more than additional pollution to the environment and certainly nothing to the general fund.
But lest we forget, none of those local vendors are on the list of the “chosen” off-island contractors who were promised fat juicy rewards from the money that the Federal government will no longer let John spend – so it’s going to come out of the local taxpayers’ pockets – whether we like it or not.
Apparently there are some promises he has to keep.
We don’t know exactly what happened in Washington last week when the VINGN officials were called to account to the Department of Commerce about their attempted use of the Broadband funds. We do know that John came back and threw a tantrum against the Senate for not passing a budget he felt did not adequately address the Territory’s “financial crisis” and has once again threatened to fire hundreds of workers as a result.
Yet he is equally adamant that local funds continue to be spent to pay off-island contractors for work on an ill-conceived broadband network that is expected to run on power provided by a utility that cannot provide reliable basic electrical service to its customers.
This following a week when 25 Federal agents raided the Legislature in what many believe is just the beginning of a series of actions directed at addressing the pattern of misuse of funds and government irresponsibility that has become the hallmark of this adminstration.
“It is my position that Virgin Islands taxpayers should not continue to expend $38 million in local monies on a project where the Federal government has identified major problems with and has suspended the $68 million dollars in Federal funds until corrective actions are completed,” Malone wrote.
It is our position that this entire project was a sham from the beginning, fraught with malfeasance and conflicts of interest and rife for the misuse of funds.
The Feds had sense enough to cut them off at the pass. Will the Senate follow suit and override this latest slap in the face from the Tyrant on Government Hill?
Malone Press Release On VetoÂ
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He been just like dat since high school.
Geez,insecurity (not knowing who you are and being proud from whence you came) is a blip.People like that will be ‘ridden’ like a mule all day long.
Giddy-up!!
Wha’? Dawson sporting ‘curls and talking like he swallow the Oxford Dictionary? You go,guy.
Affectations in speech are a sign of trying to be aloof and attempting to impress other with hyperbole. The arrogance shows through every time but rather then being annoyed the Senators appear impressed by it all.
Angel for Governor 2014! He has a great voice and he is a business man from a bank!
What do you expect? Dawson idolizes John deJongh. He needed that coolie hair like John so Dawson had them put a straight in his hair and uses S-Curl activator.
This man doesn’t have an independent bone in his body.
Anonyous, You must be being sarcastic, because if memory serves me right (which it does) didn’t they say the same thing about John deJongh the “financial guru”?
Lawd….by association with John alone, Dawson political career is over before it even start!
A deJongh clone…..God protect us!
I did notice the new Coolie-hair look by Dawson.
Is this outer “transformation” an indicator of an inner “preparation”?
Is he being Johnanized?
The man is incapable of generating an independent thought and is making a thorough ass of himself.
Why does Dawson’s hair-line start on the top of his head?
Why does Hill wear shoes with height a increaser in the sole?
Hill is a miget with a little brain.
Dogson is perming his hair so he can fit in when he gets to jail with his new position
By the time the senate meet for an override dijon would have already raided the fund. The FEDS is looking closely to see his actions.Think Jumpsuit Johnny
The funds are already gone.
More money for johnny to repay when the FEDS are ready.We are tracking all those off island financial hiding places as well as the shell companies that are being used to hide all the funds and property he acquired from the peoples money. It will all be repaid, remember madoff and stanford. They are crying like babies in jail.Johnny will fit in well. Cecile might as well not continue to be forced to hang around until the end of the term. It is coming to and end soon and she to might find herself in a cell.