June 25, 2008 — The 5th Constitutional Convention passed a rule on decorum Tuesday in a session marked by substantial acrimony.
The 30 elected delegates to the Constitutional Convention are working to create a draft constitution for the territory by July 27.
Shortly after the opening of the plenary session in Frederiksted's legislative hearing room, delegate Francis Jackson moved to enact the following:
"When any delegate fails to conduct himself or herself with decorum or to abide by rules and procedures of the convention, or uses profanity, abusive or inappropriate language, the president of the 5th Constitutional Convention shall issue a warning.
"If further inappropriate conduct or language continues from the same delegate, any other delegate may move to have the offending delegate censured. Censure shall mean the offending delegate shall be prohibited from any further discussion or involvement during the session except, said delegate shall retain his/her voting privileges.
"If such delegate violates the censureship sanction, any other delegate may move for such offending delegate to be expelled from the session."
Delegate Adelbert Bryan spoke angrily against the motion, which he appeared to believe was aimed specifically at him. Bryan has been criticized for personal and ethnically based attacks at fellow delegates, members of the media and others. (See "Deadline Extension Sought for Constitution" and "Senators Denounce Racist Attack at Constitutional Convention Meeting.")
"You cannot shut down Bert Bryan in Frederiksted, much less in this forum," Bryan said. "There is no man in here or in the police department who can take me out of here. If I want a war in here, there will be a war."
Delegate Mary Moorhead spoke against the motion.
"I don't agree to this at all," Moorhead said. "If someone determines my decorum is not their decorum, that is totally unfair. Sometimes people get emotional. To me emotion shows sincerity."
Voting for the decorum rule were 16 delegates: Craig Barshinger, Doug Capdeville, Gerard Emanuel, Arnold Golden, Violet Anne Golden, Gerard Luz James II, Clement "Cain" Magras,
Stedmann Hodge Jr., Francis Jackson, Thomas K. Moore, Eugene "Doc" Petersen, Charles W. Turnbull, Lawrence Sewer, Elsie Thomas-Trotman, Alicia Wells and Lisa Williams. Voting no were Bryan, Moorhead, Douglas Brady, Kendall Petersen and Michael Thurland. Claire L. Roker and Robert "Bobby" Schuster abstained. Absent were Rena Brodhurst, Mario Francis, Lois Hassell-Habtes, Myron Jackson, Wilma Marsh Monsanto and Arturo Watlington Jr.
Some of those absent arrived later in the hearing.
After the rule was passed, the delegates proceeded with committee reports, financial accounts, approval of minutes and other housekeeping measures. Bryan stood to make points of inquiry, points of personal privilege and points of order many times, slowing the proceedings to a crawl. He also raised numerous objections. With each report, he objected he had not been given the report in advance. It turned out all documents were being emailed to all members, but both Bryan and Kendall Petersen do not use computers at all. James, the convention's president, provided the two with paper copies as each objection was made.
When the minutes for the Education Committee were read, Wells raised a strenuous objection to the phrase "only member Alecia Wells was absent," as a substitute for a complete roll call, arguing the word "only" singled her out for denigration. The delegates voted to remove the offending word, but Wells began shouting at Hodge and Bryan and could not be persuaded to stop. James called an early lunch recess to restore order.
Bryan said during the break that no newspaper would write about Wells' outburst or note the fact that no delegate moved to censure her for violating decorum.
After lunch, Bryan argued there was not enough time to complete a proper document before the July 27 deadline and asked about efforts to have the Legislature modify the convention's enabling legislation to extend it.
A contested election and subsequent lawsuit delayed the start of the convention by several months, and since then meetings have been delayed by funding shortages. (See "Swearing in of Constitutional Convention Delegates Set for Monday.")
Many of the delegates agreed time was tight and an extension would be extremely helpful. Thurland proposed a more intensive, personal lobbying effort to each member of the Legislature. After arguing in favor of an extension, Bryan vociferously opposed lobbying for one, calling it "begging."
James argued the delegates should push vigorously to complete a document by the deadline, while simultaneously lobbying for an extension. Brady made a similar plea.
"When the deadline comes, are we going to cast blame and say we didn't get what we needed from the executive or the Legislature, or are we going to roll up our sleeves and hammer something out?" he said.
"Hallelujah," concurred Brodhurst.
Emanuel offered a motion directing that all the delegates — particularly James, as the president — lobby for an extension, while simultaneously pushing vigorously to complete the task. The motion passed.
Voting yes were Barshinger, Brady, Brodhurst, Capdeville, Emanuel, Arnold Golden, Ann Golden, Hodge, Francis Jackson, James, Magras, Moore, Eugene Petersen, Roker, Thurland, Turnbull, Wells and Williams. Moorhead abstained.
Voting no were Bryan, Kendall Petersen, Schuster, Sewer and Thomas-Trotman. Absent were Francis, Habtes, Myron Jackson, Monsanto, Schrader and Watlington.
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