We’ve all heard him say these words before, but never, never like this.

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St. Croix Teachers who had gathered at the Educational Complex for a Development Day on Friday had no time for Governor John P. deJongh, Jr.’s platitudes, and he was forced to leave the stage after being heckled into submission by the unhappy throng.

Apparently, in an effort to finish his speech, DeJongh ask Rosa Soto Thomas, the First Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers, to control her members. Thomas declined.

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And just in case the Good Governor wanted any more input into how she thought he should solve the fiscal crisis, she added: Read more »

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Between the two of them they owe nearly $300,000 in delinquent taxes.

Between the two of them there is a mountain of unkept promises about how they had the answer to our cripplingly expensive energy issues.

But one is concentrating on a futile challenge to a federal warrant served recently on the Legislature.

And another is casting pointless allegations about attacks on her already tarnished reputation while enabling the Administration to prolong the cover up that is the Broadband project.

In yet another disgraceful display, Senators Ronald Russell and Alicia Hansen peppered the airwaves on Thursday with mindless prattle about who paid who to say what,

We’ll post the audio for the record – but it’s just one more distraction designed to remove our focus on the real issues at hand – and we’re not going to let them get away with it.

The real issue, and the place where our spotlight will remain, is on the ongoing coverup in the saga of the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network, and the responses provided by the Public Finance Authority, its parent company, to the federal investigation that has frozen some $68 million in funds allocated to the high-speed internet project. Read more »

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While we consider our analysis of Wednesday’s Broadband update meeting, we can’t help but note the disturbing similarities between last night’s session an many of the other significant public forums that started with a whimper, ended with a frustrated sigh.

From the lack of responsiveness of Angel Dawson, clearly this week’s front-man for this tarnished high speed internet initiative, to the inconsistent messages and juvenile machinations of the members of the Legislative Committee members, to the fact that the CEO and current operating officers for the Broadband group didnt even show up – one thing stands out.

If we want answers, we’re going to have to get them by some more forcible means than “requesting” the information.

Sen. Shawn Malone convened this hearing of his Committee of Economic Development, Technology and Agriculture, to follow up with the leadership of the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (VINGN) on the status of their operations since the federal government froze the $68 million in grant funding for the high speed internet project. Malone himself had introduced a measure to also freeze the $38 million (or $32 million depending on who you listen to ) in local bond funds floated to match the federal allocation to the project.

After Gov. John deJongh Jr. vetoed the local funding suspension bill, Malone is now faced with seeking an override from a Legislature that could not even sustain a motion to subpoena the documents that would have revealed what VINGN has had to report to the Feds in an attempt to get the funds released. Read more »

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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. Read more »

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Those who challenge the status quo are filled with “negativity” and the public should be warned!

That’s the message CIF President Michael Springer and other callers to Sen. Ronald Russell’s radio program received when they challenged Russell’s response to the recent raid at the Legislature and his failure to respond to the Governor’s address on the FY2012 budget last night.

The last straw was today’s revelation that Russell is hiring counsel to examine whether the Federal raid on the Legislature was legally appropriate.

Really?

We want to know why Russell is wasting our money challenging the Federal action. Has the delusion gone so far that the thinks that 25 Federal Agents would descend on the Legislature without the proper authority? And what are you worried about, Senator? Might it be that there is some information on those file servers they took along with whatever documentation they confiscated from Sen. Alvin Williams’ office?

So, in light of our financial “crisis,” let us save you the money it’s going to cost to hire this “expert in the Fourth Amendment.” Read more »

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Just call him “Teflon John.”

Those damn Senators sent Governor deJongh a budget he is refusing to sign, and now, gosh darn it, he’s going to have to send hundreds of people home.

Like that’s not what he was going to do anyway.

But hey, they left him no choice – at least that what he tried to tell us in a Friday evening recorded statement.

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In that petulant child voice we’ve come to know, he explained his options – pass, veto or not sign (which he has never done before) – and all the problems with those choices.

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Ok, so a veto is off the table. And so how do you feel about approving it?

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You’re right Governor. After all this time it would be a shame to tarnish the spotless reputation of your Administration with a bad financial decision about the Territory’s funds.

So what’s a fellow to do? They wouldn’t give him is full gross receipts tax increase or sign off on nine unpaid holidays. So he’s going to do the only thing he can, poor dear.

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So there. Read more »

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Speculation is flying about the Federal Investigators’ visit to the office of Sen. Alvin Williams in the St. Thomas Legislature Wednesday morning.

An ABC Online News Report confirmed that members of the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and and US Marshals offices descended upon the Legislature today and that a spokesperson would only say the activities were part of an “investigation.” (link below)

It s our understanding that indeed Williams’  office was searched and that paperwork and some computer equipment was reportedly removed.

The obvious speculation is that this is connected with Williams’ reported defrauding of the system at the Phoenix Online University by having a staff worker do the work that led to his online degree. And that may be part of what the FBI is here to investigate. After all, as a CIF blogger pointed out, when his (Williams’) cousin took to the airwaves revealing her version of how the Senator acquired his academic credentials, he responded by telling her to take her information to the proper authorities.

And maybe she did. We’ve placed the link to the story we ran last May when Williams told his cousin to “take it to the FBI.” Read more »

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We’re hearing it just like you are. Legislature surrounded; Offices raided.
Have they made it up the Hill to Government House?
Post and let us know what you hear and see!

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Well let’s start to connect some dots.

It seems we will have to wait a little bit longer to hear the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority (PFA) explain the financial mismanagement of the broadband funds to the Legislature because they’ve got to explain it to the Federal authorities first.

Sen. Shawn Malone has announced that the Legislative committee hearing originally scheduled for October 6 has been postponed until October 12 because “the PFA is scheduled to report to the Federal agencies monitoring the disbursement of its broadband funds on this date (Oct. 6).”

The funds that were being used to operate the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (VINGN), the PFA subsidiary appointed to manage the high speed initiative, were suspended last month when the results of a June audit of the organizations’ management and structure raised serious concerns at the Federal level. Read more »

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December Is going to be a pivotal month for the future of organized labor in the Virgin Islands.

Today we learned that the American Federation of Teachers voted to extend their contract for an unspecified period of time, even though they were faced with a last minute cancellation of bargaining sessions originally scheduled for this week.

The Virgin Islands Office of Collective Bargaining now says it will come back to the table with the teachers in mid-December, nearly halfway into the school year on the brink of the long holiday break.

No reason was given for the last minute cancellation, and the jury is still out on whether the teachers made the right move in voting to extend their current agreement.

Earlier this summer, the government reacted in exactly the same way when a number of unionized employees filed suit immediately following the enactment of the 8% salary decrease applied to government employees. Read more »

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When this kind of foolishness is going on at the executive levels of the educational system it’s no small wonder that our children are suffering from intellectual poverty everywhere we look.

The ongoing apparent vendetta against Dr. Whitman Browne by the ever more intolerable Insular Superintendent Jeanette Smith-Barry gets more ludicrous by the day,  and resembles a schoolyard brawl more than interaction between educational “professionals.”

Browne, you may recall, was the principal of the Evelyn Marcelli School, a facility that was abruptly closed after the education department was unable to find the funds to repair it. Despite community outcry, and questions about the actual severity of the facilities’ deficiencies and the negative impact its closure would have on its student population, the facility now sits idle.

Browne’s transfer was one of a series of controversial moves this past summer that included the removal of Kurt Vialet from his position as principal at the St. Croix Complex, a school where he was known for the positive impact on the quality of education, staff and students. During a hearing this summer, Smith-Barry exhibited her approach to managing the successful and not so successful principals in the educational system.

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What do you do? You demand that all of your principals perform at a level that meets the standards of providing a quality education, Ms. Smith-Barry. That’s what responsible educators do.

But back to the matter at hand.

Browne, who was principal of the St. Thomas facility, was then transferred to be the principal of the Guy Benjamin School, on the far side of St. John, an assignment many questioned. Was this move in the best interests of the educational system, or was it retaliation for Browne’s outspoken demeanor and his political affiliations? Read more »

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