U.S. District Judge Wilma Lewis remanded Wednesday the question of Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen’s right to be on the general election ballot to V.I. Superior Court, while reconfirming her eligibility to be a candidate.
St. Croix Board of Elections Chairman Adelbert Bryan sued to force Hansen off the ballot, arguing Hansen’s three convictions for willful failure to file income tax were "moral turpitude," rendering her ineligible to serve. The V.I. Supreme Court ruled her ineligible in late August. Gov. John deJongh Jr. then pardoned Hansen, saying her candidacy should be judged by the voters.
DeJongh also petitioned the V.I. Supreme Court to rehear the case, and that court declined.
Hansen herself and a group of St. Croix voters separately brought suit to have Hansen returned to the ballot. Lewis issued a temporary restraining order, then a permanent order directing Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes to put Hansen back on the ballot. (See Related Links below)
Bryan filed a motion to remand the case to V.I. Superior Court and seeking Fawkes be held in contempt of court for not following the Supreme Court’s pre-pardon order, and instead following the federal court’s post-pardon order. Bryan argued, among many other things, that his motions were grounded entirely in local law, without a federal question and so should be heard by local courts. He also moved to have the pre-pardon local court order to have Hansen removed from the ballot enforced.
In her memorandum opinion ordering the motion for contempt, Lewis partly agreed on some of the questions, while upholding her earlier determination that Hansen is eligible, due to deJongh’s pardon.
"In addition to the governor’s authority to issue pardons, the question of whether, as a result of the governor’s pardon of her tax convictions, Senator Hansen is now eligible to run for and hold senatorial office clearly implicates federal law," Lewis wrote.
She went on to write it is "inconceivable that Bryan could credibly premise any argument in his Emergency Motion on an interpretation of Section 6(b) of the Revised Organic Act that would somehow render Senator Hansen ineligible to run for or hold senatorial office – the federal issues that were the subject of this court’s rulings."
But local legal issues exist, according to Lewis.
"Indeed, separate and apart from the federal issues regarding Senator Hansen’s eligibility to run for and hold senatorial office, there remains the issue of ballot access – an issue governed by the Virgin Islands Elections Code. … The court makes a distinction here between access to the ballot and other means through which a candidate might be able to run and be elected to office – e.g., through a write-in candidacy," Lewis wrote.
