The Office of Management and Budget is refusing to release the first phase of a five-year economic plan completed by a Washington consultant under a $600,000 Interior Department grant.
Wednesday's Independent quotes Judith Michael of OMB as saying of the report by Consultants for Resources Evaluation, or CORE, "That's a confidential document." The newspaper said Michael did not respond to its faxed list of questions about the plan.
A spokesman for the Interior Department also refused to release the plan, telling the Independent, "I don't think the Department of Interior should be commenting on a contract that the Virgin Islands government has selected."
Though Gov. Charles W. Turnbull made no reference to the CORE contract or report in his State of the Territory message when he said he plans to draft a five-year economic plan, Juel Molloy, his chief of staff, said Turnbull does intend to "look at all ideas on the table. I'm very confident that he will consider the recommendations of the group."
The Interior Department grant was intended to help the Virgin Islands develop a long-range plan to cut government spending and increase revenues. CORE has been working on the plan for about a year and a half, according to the Independent.
