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	<title>Crucians In Focus &#187; Government Ops</title>
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	<description>&#34;We knew the job was dangerous when we took it.&#34;</description>
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		<title>IG Report Reveals VIPA Deficiencies Leading To &#8220;Fraud, Waste And Mismanagement&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2010/09/23/ig-report-reveals-vipa-deficiencies-leading-to-fraud-waste-and-mismanagement/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2010/09/23/ig-report-reveals-vipa-deficiencies-leading-to-fraud-waste-and-mismanagement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 20:40:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=8268</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“Fraud, Waste and Mismanagement.”  It’s such a familiar phrase when describing our government agencies.  And now a scathing US Inspector General’s Audit report adds that description to the administration and operation of the Virgin Islands Port Authority.  The September, 2010, audit report was penned by none other than Mary L. Kendall, the Assistant Attorney General who authored the “Mafoliegate” report directing Governor John P. deJongh, Jr. to repay the $490,000 in public funds he used to enhance the property at his private home on St. Thomas.  The Virgin Islands Port Authority consistently disregards its own rules governing selection of contractors, contract administration and financial management, creating an environment that leaves the VI Government “vulnerable to fraud, waste and mismanagement,” Kendall wrote. In addition, lax financial reporting rules have resulted in the failure of the Authority to report some $84.3 million in payments made to contractors and other service providers over the past 10 years, resulting in a potential $12.6  million in tax revenues that the Government has been unable to collect. The last audit was performed five years ago.  The audit reviewed 12 capital improvement projects, totaling $86.2 million. In nine of those 12 projects, totaling $75 million, the Authority [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2010/09/23/ig-report-reveals-vipa-deficiencies-leading-to-fraud-waste-and-mismanagement/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
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		<title>Point Blank: What Happened To The Audacity Of St. Croix?</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2010/02/23/point-blank-what-happened-to-the-audacity-of-st-croix/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2010/02/23/point-blank-what-happened-to-the-audacity-of-st-croix/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:41:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=4173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Winston Nugent  “Where have all the soldiers gone?”  The lyrics of this song have been a question in the minds of quite a few Virgin Islands Veterans and their families for approximately ten years. And it is becoming an obsession for some due the fact that the executive branch, the legislature, and the local veteran’s administration, were informed that the exploits and deeds of American War Veterans have been memorialized through the erection of monuments, such as the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the Veterans Memorial Wall in Puerto Rico.  At several meetings and gatherings, St. Croix’s veterans were lectured on the fact that many of their brothers and sisters have given their lives for the protection of peace, liberty and democracy, and there is no memorial in honor of the over 3,000 of them in the Territory. Until this day, the powers that might be, have not seen the need to preserve, memorialize, and promote their heroic deeds.  What total disrespect!  It is not my fault that I am a pessimist. If you live on the island of St. Croix long enough, you will realize that when it comes to St. Croix, to get anything worthy of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2010/02/23/point-blank-what-happened-to-the-audacity-of-st-croix/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Hiring Freeze: Lots of Chiefs in Justice</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/13/hiring-freeze-lots-of-chiefs-in-justice/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/13/hiring-freeze-lots-of-chiefs-in-justice/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:11:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fiscal Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1464</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today we take a look at more than $500,000 in salaries and benefits that have been added to the payroll of the Department of Justice during the “freeze.” Justice is the most critical partner of law enforcement. Without efficient prosecution, effective law enforcement is severely compromised. And for that, you need a solid group of prosecutors – and that’s where we expect the budget should be spent. Instead, in what we’ve been able to gather, we see more evidence of top-heavy staffing with more emphasis on bureaucracy and support than prosecution. And if these large dollars are being spent there should be some visible results. Nearly $200,000 of the positions highlighted here are for a Director and Assistant Director of Corrections – and the only significant activity we’re aware of in this area is the deportation of local inmates to stateside facilities. CIF would welcome a full roster of the Department’s resources – perhaps there is some balance in personnel we cannot see based on the documents we’ve been able to obtain. As a final note, we are still working to obtain the financial disclosure forms we requested from Atty. General Vincent Frazer on August 4. To date, we have [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/13/hiring-freeze-lots-of-chiefs-in-justice/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>23</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>&#8220;Hiring Freeze&#8221; &#8211; License To Make $$$</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/09/hiring-freeze-license-to-make/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/09/hiring-freeze-license-to-make/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:27:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fiscal Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1413</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In this post, you&#8217;ll find appointment letters for the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs. Pay attention to the job titles. (Note: Be patient &#8211; these files take a little longer to download) Stay tuned. There is plenty more to come. DLCA &#8211; Part1 DLCA &#8211; Part2 DLCA &#8211; Part3 Share on Facebook]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/09/hiring-freeze-license-to-make/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;Hiring Freeze&#8221; Meltdown</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/07/hiring-freeze-meltdown/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/07/hiring-freeze-meltdown/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:45:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fiscal Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1372</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s been a “hiring freeze” since May 2008, the budget is tight, government employees are being asked to forfeit eight paid holidays, and the Virgin Islands is borrowing like there’s no tomorrow. So we’re at a loss to explain how at least 63 Government employees and nearly $3.74 million in salary expense were added to the payroll between May, 2008, when Governor John P. deJongh, Jr., put the first hiring freeze in place, and August, 2009. Now, we are reasonable people here at CIF, and understand that some hiring is necessary to keep things going. But as you will see as we release documents related to these transactions, some just don’t seem to fit in an environment of fiscal belt-tightening. We are perplexed by the “Agent/Driver” who is making $70k a year; the “Executive Assistant” who is making a cool $80k; layers of litigators and quite a few “Specialists” who are bringing down between $40k and $65k a year. And then there are the new “Security Guards” (see story below). And these are just the ones we know about… There was a time when we could rely on certain mainstream media to publish the salaries of all government employees. We’re [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/09/07/hiring-freeze-meltdown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>28</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8220;The Fish Stinks From The Head&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/25/the-fish-stinks-from-the-head/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/25/the-fish-stinks-from-the-head/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:56:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1276</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a saying that “the fish stinks from the head” and never was that more apparent than at the Senate hearing on the mold-infested St. Thomas IRB building last night. After months of public discourse on this issue and apparently years of evidence collected by experts, there was finally an official forum for these obviously ill employees to make their case. They told stories of degenerating health, loss of pay, and the physical and emotional hardship of being forced to work in a toxic environment. At times it was difficult to listen to their heartbreaking testimony. But perhaps the most horrifying moment in the long evening came from IRB Director Claudette Watson-Anderson, who took a moment from filing her nails to deny her responsibility for this situation by stating she wasn’t director when the problem started. The fish stinks from the head. There’s plenty of blame to throw around – the Government blames the landlord, the landlord blames the government, it goes on and on. Where was the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) when this issue came to light? Where was the Department of Labor when employees were denied leave and pay for their illnesses? What more could the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/25/the-fish-stinks-from-the-head/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>44</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>It&#8217;s Just Another Million &#8230;</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/22/its-just-another-million/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/22/its-just-another-million/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:03:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1237</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When a last minute amendment proposed hiking the 28th Legislature’s budget by a million dollars for unspecified “infrastructure repairs and upgrades,” Sen. Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg wanted to know why. The request was part of an amendment submitted by Senators Michael Thurland and Sammuel Sanes, but provided no detail on how the funds would be used. “My fellow senators and the people of the Virgin Islands need much greater details before handing over another $1 million to this body,” Donastorg said. “What are these repairs and upgrades – more wood paneling for the Legislature’s entrance?” Maybe the Legislature is taking its cue from the Executive Branch. After all, home improvement seems to be the thing these days… Sen. Donastorg Press Release Senators Thurland and Sanes 1M Amendment Sen. Donastorg&#8217;s Alternative Amendment Share on Facebook]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/22/its-just-another-million/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>76</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>It’s Time To Come Clean</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/19/it%e2%80%99s-time-to-come-clean/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/19/it%e2%80%99s-time-to-come-clean/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1204</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Enough with all the spinning. It’s time to come clean. The VI Code and the Department of Justice require public officials to file financial disclosure statements every year and a portion of those filings are public record. Well we are the public and we want to see them. Crucians In Focus sent a certified letter (attached) to Attorney General Vincent Frazer to provide that information to us. The letter outlines the details of the request and the names of the officials whose filings we want to see. This is a simple request. These documents are public record and the electorate is entitled to them. If they are not available, we want to know why. We will keep you posted. Letter to Attorney General Department Of Justice Financial Disclosure Form Share on Facebook]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/19/it%e2%80%99s-time-to-come-clean/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>53</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Stand Firm!</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/11/stand-firm/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/11/stand-firm/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:09:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mafoliegate]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1057</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Word has come to us that pressure is boiling in the Legislature’s kitchen. Senators Hill, Dowe and White appear to be furious that Senator Neville James posted the “Mafoliegate” documents on the Legislature’s website. As Senator James previously stated, the Governor’s actions are indefensible! It’s time for all Senators to accept this fact. It’s time to restore some integrity to the so called first branch of government. Senator, as Mario Moorehead would say, “your back broad.” Now prove it to your constituents. Push for a hearing. Stand firm!   (Editor&#8217;s Note: We have removed the link to the Legislature&#8217;s website that briefly held the Mafoliegate documents because it is no longer active. We are working to repost the documents and will provide a new link as soon as it is available.) Government House Denial Indefensible! Share on Facebook]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>38</slash:comments>
<enclosure url="http://cruciansinfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/indefensible_audio.mp3" length="671659" type="audio/mpeg" />
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		<item>
		<title>Patients or Profit?</title>
		<link>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/10/patients-or-profit/</link>
		<comments>http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/08/10/patients-or-profit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:58:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Website Administrator</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government Ops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://cruciansinfocus.com/?p=1017</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Juan F. Luis Hospital Board is reviewing a contract that has, for the past 10 years, provided one medical group with significant financial incentives and a monopoly on the administration of  radiology and nuclear imaging services (CAT scans, MRI’s, and Nuclear Medicine Services) on St. Croix. This no bid contract defines a “joint venture” between the Hospital and Advanced Radiology, LLC.  The Hospital Board is a “partner” in this enterprise,  but the contract gives Advanced Radiology manager Marcel Galiber sweeping autonomy over the daily management, operation, administration, and billing practices of the Nuclear Medicine Diagnostic Laboratory located in the Hospital. The agreement outlines a 60-40 net profit split between Advanced Radiology (AR) and the Hospital and positions them as the sole provider of these services on St. Croix. The initial term of the contract was 10 years, with an automatic renewal provision of 5 years after the initial period. However, it does provide for some elements of the agreement to be renegotiated prior to renewal. After reviewing the document, there are several areas we hope are being reviewed before an extension is signed. The information below is taken from the contract, which is attached at the end of this article.   Rent – AR currently [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
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