Feb. 10, 2009 — Violet Anne Golden, a delegate to the 5th Constitutional Convention, resigned as chairperson of the Committee on Government Tuesday by means of a letter to convention president Gerard "Luz" James.
"Your decision to direct the Treasurer to cancel my meeting scheduled for Friday … at the VIPA (V.I. Port Authority) conference room where the public could see the committee in action was shocking, and unprecedented," Golden wrote. "Instead the Committee under the direction of Vice Chair Craig Barshinger has accepted language approved by a majority of members at a meeting held on Monday that was scheduled by the Secretary and not the Chair of the Committee. This too is unprecedented."
Asked for comment, James said he not yet seen the letter of resignation. But scheduling of meetings has continued in the same manner since the convention first convened, he said.
"Claire Roker has been making all our travel arrangements, coordinating with the secretary," he said. "The secretary has been coordinating with the members and committee chairs to arrange our calendar. Gerard Emanuel did an excellent job until his resignation from the post in December and now Mary Moorhead has taken up that role."
Golden has not been coordinating her meetings with the rest of the convention, James said.
"All chairs or vice chairs were asked to contact the secretary so she could put the schedule in place," James said. "We had no reply from Golden … So we went ahead and met anyway. Mr. Barshinger, the vice-chair ran the meeting and we approved language for consideration in plenary session."
In her letter, Golden says she plans to continue to be an active delegate. Though she personally has issues with the language on municipal government approved by the committee, Golden said she "respect(s) the decisions made by the members in spite of my feelings over how this entire matter was handled."
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