A regular Source feature, Undercurrents explores issues, ideas and events as they develop beneath the surface in the Virgin Islands community. This is the second in a two-part series based on an interview with John P. deJongh Jr. a month before he left office, at the end of two terms as governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As Gov. Kenneth Mapp took the oath of office Monday, the man who held the position for the last eight years seemed well prepared to exit stage left.
In an interview with the Source in early December, outgoing Gov. John deJongh Jr. said, “This position, I don’t own it. I’m just renting it.”
DeJongh declined to offer advice to his successor, saying, “I actually think Governor-elect Mapp, when he gets here, he’ll have a pretty good sense of what he wants to do, based on his involvement in government before.”
In speaking about the continuity of government, deJongh also said that while politics play a part in a campaign, “once you get to this position you realize that governing is being a lot more comprehensive and inclusive” and, as a result, you become more open.
People like to ask candidates and elected officials questions such as “What are five major things on your agenda?” deJongh noted.
“As governor, you don’t have the luxury of picking five major things,” he said. “You’ve got to do everything.”
In the Virgin Islands, the job is multileveled. You’re governor, mayor and county commissioner all at the same time, he said. “And people expect the governor to respond on all levels.” You have to figure out how to get the money to buy garbage bins, decide where to locate them and then empty them regularly.
That kind of job can lead to long work days.
“I usually begin my day about 3, 3:30 in the morning,” he said. “I usually leave the office by 8” at night – sometimes with a bit of paperwork to look over at home.
He’s famous for sending emails to his lieutenants in the wee hours and, he said, they learned that it was a good time to get his attention. DeJongh laughed as he recalled that at least one commissioner didn’t appreciate it. In conversation before a cabinet meeting, the person advised the rest to treat the governor’s emails like junk mail and don’t reply because, “If you respond, he’ll just keep sending you stuff.”
On a more serious note, deJongh said he was “very fortunate” with his cabinet, most of whom served through all of two terms. “They’ve stayed true to the course all the way through,” he said. Especially in light of the fact that the fiscal crisis precluded any salary increases for eight years, “I think their commitment really is to public service …They see that within government they can make an impact,” he said.
It was not all “sweetness and light” with the Legislature, however. In the early years of deJongh’s administration, there was a fair amount of cooperation, but relations cooled later on and, by the end of his second term, they turned bitter cold.
“I think that on the big issues we have found common ground,” he said, but acknowledged relations were strained “particularly in the last two years.” He blamed much of the tenseness on the mistrust some senators had and said some came to office with “preconceived ideas.”
Sometimes legislators “think we withhold information, which is never the case,” he said. “We’ve been extremely transparent… If you want to see our numbers, you can go online” and find them on various department and agency websites. “The principle we’ve operated under is, ‘Disclosure is better than discovery,’” he said.
“I’ve had to make some very tough business decisions, which have been unpopular,” he said. Among those, a temporary pay decrease for government workers and tax increases. Those made him vulnerable to attack from politicians who want to curry favor with the voters and he said, “I think some have done that.”
While he clearly puts most of the blame on his detractors, deJongh did say if he had it to do over, he’d “try to bridge some gaps” with legislators and try “to work more with them.”
“I wish there was a way to have worked better with them, that some didn’t take everything so personally, and I think that is the problem. I think our politics has got to the personal level.”
That assessment is not reserved for the Legislature. DeJongh said that, in general, his biggest disappointment in office “is just the level our politics has gone to.”
One of his biggest surprises, he said, was the realization of the importance of the National Guard. When he came to office in 2007, the War on Terror was in full swing and he found himself comforting families who had lost loved ones to the war effort. Ever since then, he said, he has been very supportive of the Guard, particularly pushing for education and advanced training for its members.
“We will have a disaster. The question is only when will we have a disaster,” he said. The National Guard will be first responders and “I wanted to make sure we’re trained.”
What else does he see in the future?
“I’ll be very surprised if the next Legislature doesn’t look at election reform,” he said, adding that he believes some community groups will be pushing for it too. “It’s unfortunate that people believe that the only way to get fairness or equity in the election process is by going to court.”
On the economic front, he sees better days ahead.
Before leaving office, he said, “I don’t sleep well at night because I worry about payroll. I worry about vendors getting paid.” But there are more Economic Development Commission applications in the works and, by 2016, he’s predicting there will be economic growth for the territory.
In its short history of elected governors, deJongh was one of the youngest in the Virgin Islands. Now 57, he has a lot of energy and a few job prospects – none of which he would discuss.
One thing he won’t be doing is retiring to his hillside home to watch the world go by.
“I wouldn’t find that interesting,” he said with a smile.
