DISMISSED! Judge Gomez Rules In Favor Of Government; Upholds 8% Pay Cut (Court Documents Attached)
District Court Judge Curtis V. Gomez Thursday ruled in favor of the Government and has upheld the 8% pay cut imposed on government employees as part of the Territory’s “austerity” plan.
The suit was filed by several of the unions affected after the Virgin Islands Economic Sustainability Act (VIESA) was enacted last July, resulting in an across-the-board 8% pay cut for government employees; incentives for early retirement for employees with 30 or more years of service; the requirement that those long term employees pay an additional 3% a year into the retirement system; and giving the government the ability to divert and borrow significant funds for its operation.
We are reviewing these documents, and will update our reporting throughout the day. Meanwhile, for your review, are Judge’s Gomez’s ruling and judgement documents.
Gomez Memorandum Opinion
Gomez Judgement
Order To Submit Briefs
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adoption of a constatution superceed agreements made by an unincorpreated teratory, our edc agreements are just that they are not law, they are contracts with an unincorperated teratory, when our status changes we can require anyone to meet tax requirements,hiwai and alaska did this when they became states, and i belive we could do this with incorpertion,a public corperation thats governed by a constatution can define the rights and responcibitys of hose who reside or do bussiness with in its boundries.nevda use this to have leagl prostitution alaska to alow marajuna, we are under no responcibity to agreements made befor incorperation and the establishment of a binding constatution. we can do it by simply no mentioning edc’s but by a simple statment in the constatution about all taxation must be equil forall persons liing in ,doing bussiness in or resideing with in the boundries of the incorperate us virgin islands.
but no matter its a pipe dream because those in power will never comeup with a constatution that is aceptable to the us congress and president.
That’s what you hope for….but just try it and you will see that contracts and to try and abrogate them will be costly. Our GVI agreements must mean something and the burden is on the VI government to make the signatories whole. Even when Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez tried that with big oil he lsot in U.S. Courts and will have to pay or his accounts in the U.S. will be frozen.
our gvi agreements mean something nd long as they are qualified under the organic act, the nature of incorperation and the leagl requirements of incorperation and a constitution are placing the requirements to aproval of the people who vote to ratify it, this is why things like the tax laws and rules have to be in some way empowered by the documents, under incorperation gvi deaprtments likeirb have no power to act unless they are granted by the ocuments hence a current exemption may be excluded unless itis grandfathered in. this puts all contracts on thetable includeing govement payrole, retirments and actual ongoing contrcts , it cant erase debit but it can amend the way all bussinessis done.
@ Herb Schoenbohmn on April 13, 2012 at 5:04 pm
HAHA I found it (see below)! It is a RIGHT to vote!!!!!! Furthermore, when you register to vote in the VI, you are not legally allowed to also vote in the US, last I checked.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973aa-6) is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.
Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, the Act prohibits states from imposing any “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure … to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise. The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, who had earlier signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
huh? at 4:12 pm You are correct the VRA does exactly that but it gives no right to *any* citizen of any state to vote directly for the U.S. President. State electors do that and only “states” are allowed electors based on their population. This is as required by the U.S. Constitution.
Any Virgin Islander, if they wish can indeed, vote for an elector in any state where they are registered to vote. Some states even permit same day registration. The VRA means exactly what it says and does not amend the U.S. Constitution at all. This would be a requirement of any U.S. Territory to be granted electors who then vote for the U.S. President. There is a big difference in claiming a denial of rights you simply don’t have in the first place…unless of course you care to cast a ballot in one of the several states. You do not stop being a Virgin Islander if you fly to Orlando to cast a vote in the presidential election, now do you?
@Herb 6:48pm
I thought you couldn’t be registered to vote in two places. So I thought if I am registered to vote here in the VI, I can’t be registered to vote in the states. Correct me if I’m wrong?
herb then why have thepopular vote? many places the electorial votes are based in the popular vote, a vote is a vote, anyone who is registered can vote for a president if they live in a place where a president is registered on the ballot. in some states the electorial votes dont have to follow the popular vote but not in al states, but thats not considered as voiding anyones right to vote.
huh? at 1:24 When you register to vote in another jurisdiction you registration is automatically cancelled in the previous jurisdiction. You can not be registered to vote in two places at the same time. You could conceivably vote in the VI and then travel to the states where same day registration exists and vote. To be precis you could vote for the U.S. president alone and not violate any laws since you were barred from voting for that office in the V.I. Capeesh?
rainman @ 3:38 There is no such thing as a presidential election by popular vote nationally. In fact even Algore got greater popular votes than George Bush and lost. This has happened in the past elections as well. Much of the vast popular vote, especially in fly over states, don’t really count. It is just a few “battle ground” states that are crucial to winning the office. If you loose in new York, California, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois your chances of winning are somewhere between slim to none. Another interesting factor is that if no candidate receives the requisite number of 50 plus 1 of the Electoral College delegates the presidency is determined by the U.S. House of Representatives. Go figure who would win then and make my day!
huh? 1:24 pm…Now I will give you one maybe better. The USVI used to have an Attorney General who would rush of to BVI to vote in their elections along with many prominent people, including senators and commissioners, although they were registered to vote in the VI, could blithely claim they were allowed to vote and did vote in the B.V.I. This gets even more interesting as those from Rep. Dom who are registered to vote in the VI actually cast their ballots for the president of the Dominican Republic right here in Santa Coola. I spoke to one such person who was a past member of the V.I. Board of Elections who complained that although he could vote in Rep. Dom for the President of that country because of his birth there, he could also vote in V.I. elections because he is registered here, and vote for the Prime Minister in B.V.I. because his one of his grandparents are from Tortola creating a “belonger” status for him, he was upset because he could not vote for the U.S. President! So I suggested that he register in Florida the next time he goes there. Matter Done! At least now he could vote for two presidents and one prime minister.
@ Herb 7:36 – I still think I am correct that according to US law, you cannot be registered to vote in the US mainland and also in a US territory. The examples you cite involve (I assume) US citizens who are voting in another country (BVI and DR) Those countries probably would not care whether the voter is registered in annother country, nor could they probably verify it since they don’t use the same system of identification that the US uses (SS#) Whereas (I assume) the USVI or the US could either one of them identify that a citizen is already registered somewhere else. Now I want to find out for sure whether this is the case.
@ Herb – I sent my last reply too soon before reading your first comment from 5:31.
While you might be correct, that one could fly the same day to a state that allows same day registration and vote for president along, three problems exist with this solution: 1. Who has the $ to afford to do this? 2. Don’t you have to prove residency in those states when you register? and 3. wouldn’t they still check you, via your SS# and confirm that you are registered elsewhere? I still don’t buy it.
huh? States with same day registration require normally a mailing address but establishing a residency in some cases can be instant. The mere fact that you are there and some proof like a drivers license but you could have one from before on a previous trip. Many people have drivers licenses valid in the states that are still valid. I know it isn’t practical to do this but it is possible.
huh? If your are registered elsewhere, registration in another jurisdiction just cancels your previous one. Most states use a data base and a good internet connection for notification to other jurisdictions that you have now registered at the new location. This takes only a few milliseconds by the internet to accomplish were your previous registration is purged when they hit the return key in your new one.
Herb that just isn’t true. Ther is no instant email to other jurisdictions. How can one man be so full of crao?
crap?
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