April 18, 2001 – Following a video presentation of "the man in the street" lauding the efforts of the first 100 days of the 24th Legislature's majority bloc Wednesday morning, the eight members of the majority caucus continued for the next three hours to laud themselves, their staffs, their mothers, their central staff and their maintenance crew. Sen. Norma Pickard Samuel even thanked their minority colleagues.
The gallery was packed with well wishers, while central staff members took up half the seats in the well. Also in the gallery, several people planning to testify on pending legislation awaited a scheduled 10 a.m. committee meeting that would not begin until the afternoon.
Majority Leader Celestino A. White Sr. said, "We won't be stopped now. We will go down as the most productive Legislature in Virgin Islands history." He and his colleagues noted that, contrary to remarks made at the beginning of the year, the majority senators have managed to stay together and to be productive. "We hit the ground running, and we have accomplished a lot," he said.
White said the majority is in the forefront of efforts to secure the return to the territory of a portion of the federal gasoline excise taxes. He cited senators' trips to Washington, D.C., where they have hired a lobbying firm, the Dutko Group.
The Rules Committee, chaired by Carlton Dowe, has, as promised, confirmed three of the governor's nominations, White said, and will consider two more soon. The nomination of Wayne Callwood as Public Works commissioner has been held up pending investigation into a "questionable contract" leasing a water barge. (The contract has since been canceled.)
Rules considered 15 proposals which have "sailed through the committee process and have been approved by the full body," White said. These include a resolution opposing the V.I. Coral Reef Monument approved by then-President Bill Clinton late last year.
White said another achievement of the majority, sometimes calling itself the Millennium Eight, is a bill calling for all revenues collected by the Internal Revenue Bureau for Fiscal Year 2000 to be used "to put union employees on step." The move has been questioned by the minority senators.
In a general session earlier this month, the majority overrode five of Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's vetoes – dealing with the territory's landfills, the new Economic Development Authority, the unemployment tax rate, the hotel occupancy tax rate and the dispute over whether vendors can operate at Drake's Seat.
The vendors' cause has been championed by Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen. Citing her accomplishments Wednesday, she said she has held "10 successful meetings" of the Finance Committee, which she chairs. A highlight, she said, was a hearing on the needs of the marine community, in an effort to revive the territory's once-robust chartering industry.
Sen. Adelbert Bryan, Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee chair, touted his committee's preparation of a territorial Strategic Economic Development Plan.
He also took a familiar swipe at the news media, whose members, he said, "seek out the negative and totally dismiss the positive." As an example, he said, he spoke before the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association presenting the economic plan and was not quoted in the print media, as "not being newsworthy." The Source covered the meeting; it did not post a news story of the presentation, but the full text of Bryan's speech can be found in the Source's Data section.
To go with Wednesday's oral reports, the majority produced a colorfully illustrated 64-page booklet titled "Majority Caucus First 100 Days Report to the People." It includes each majority senator's accomplishments and speeches, a listing of central staff executives, and a summary of bills adopted in the first 100 days by the 24th Legislature. The booklet can be downloaded at the Senate's website senate.gov.vi.
White said "Reports to the People" will be issued periodically.
