Oct. 18, 2006 – Senator Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg said he supports Senate hearings on the Public Services Commission's latest possible breach of public trust.
Donastorg expressed outrage last week after learning that the PSC had granted permission to ICC to use VITELCO to finance its bankruptcy settlement.
"We need to determine exactly what took place," Donastorg said. "If the PSC did not approve this deal then someone at ICC is likely guilty of forgery and misleading the District Court neither scenario sits well with me."
Donastorg said he disagreed with the Senate President's decision not to go forward with public hearings.
"In my opinion a senate investigation would be germane to future legislation in that there is an obvious need for significant reform within this commission," Donastorg said. "Alternately, I would support immediately convening a meeting of the Committee on Government Operations. We can't simply allow this matter to slide. The Legislature has oversight of every Government department and agency to include the PSC we would be derelict in our duties if we did not pursue this matter."
The senator said that he was infuriated that ICC would continue to abuse its considerable power with the apparent consent of the PSC.
"ICC built its empire on the backs of the people of the Virgin Islands," Donastorg said. "But in order to do this they had help of irresponsible officials in more than one agency. This goes way beyond the PSC."
The near 100 percent tax breaks granted to VITELCO more than 10 years ago made it possible for the company to purchase numerous businesses to include local cable television companies and the Virgin Islands Daily News.
"There was and is a concerted effort by ICC to control information in the Virgin Islands," Donastorg said. "Until very recently I was the lone voice on this issue as I said some time ago other officials were either 'afraid or being paid' not to address blatant problems faced by consumers and ICC employees."
Donastorg said the public must not forget that ICC was found to be in direct violation of its tax benefit agreement and never faced significant penalties.
"Not only were they allowed to get away with this, but they came back to the table and were granted more tax breaks after abusing the system," he said. "If the Daily News was not owned by Prosser we would be reading about all this on the front page everyday. ICC's greed and the Government's apparent willingness to accommodate it, know no bounds."
Donastorg, a gubernatorial candidate, said he would end corruption surrounding ICC.
"Enough is enough," Donastorg said. "I will make the PSC into an effective regulatory body through new appointments and reforms. I will put the Public back into the PSC. I will not allow any member of my Administration to grant special favors to ICC to the detriment of our consumers and taxpayers. All that money that was spent building Prosser's empire and buying him three mansions should have been paid to our Treasury in taxes. The people of the Virgin Islands deserve better."
Donastorg said that he was unimpressed by the response of his fellow gubernatorial candidates as it relates to the PSC and ICC.
"This is the kind of Government corruption that not only hurts local consumers and businesses, but costs us big dollars in lost revenue." Donastorg said. "This should merit vigorous discussion in this campaign, but one of the candidates is a former well paid employee of ICC and the other has made a very weak statement after 10 years of remaining absolutely silent on this issue. With the people's support on November 7, I will resolve these matters once and for all."
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