Dear Source,
The recent comments by the Delegate to Congress [Donna M. Christensen] leave me at a loss. First, how can you expect the same people that created the financial mess to now clean it up? That is the problem! In addition, this administration and most of the members of this Legislature are to blame. Sen. [Lorraine] Berry, who was part of the problem as the longest-serving senator, seems to accept this point by calling for a board. I truly applaud her for "owning up". But you can't have the same people who oversaw the demise now appoint people to fix it. Come on now! Is the populace that crazy? I know the politicians are.
I ask that the Delegate name one community with similar circumstances as the Virgin Islands where self-policing worked. Even New York City in the 1970s (probably the biggest financial comeback in municipal history) had its board created an controlled by the state government, not the city. Since our next higher level of government is the federal government, then we need them to perform the task. That is the essence of oversight.
In fact, the V.I. government already has a locally created financial control entity: It's called the Public Finance Authority!! We see where we are, years after creating that bastion of political cronyism.
Delegate [Ron] de Lugo (no favorite of mine), to his great credit, brought home the bacon during his years in D.C. through legislative action. This Delegate announces grants from federal agencies as if she is responsible for them (almost all of which are the result of grant applications made by local agencies or simply proportional application of the law by regulatory and administrative entities). I think the public deserves an accounting of legislative action by the Delegate over the entire length of her term (I suspect that her bills and amendments are with the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq).
We all know that the Congressional Black Caucus has relegated itself to a position of irrelevance in the U.S. Congress. The delegate seems to spend an inordinate amount of time with these people with no result (and possible harm) to the Virgin Islands. Members of the Caucus, with the exception of people such as Charlie Rangel have Congressional records that are lacking. We all know how politics works; the Virgin Islands cannot afford to have a delegate that is hostile to the White House. She has neither the seniority nor the political clout to engage in confrontational politics.
I didn't vote for the president and don't support most of his policies, but I know better than to get on his bad side. The mood of the country is such that the president is basically in full control. His re-coronation is basically assured. If we don't get our act together we will be left to the wayside. His administration has already demonstrated a penchant for punishing people that openly disagree with it. Ask France (which, by the way, was right)!
Dwayne Henry
North Carolina
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