Many of you know me. Many of us are also related as the Vialets have been Virgin Islanders for over 200 years. In my lifetime, I can remember hearing the Danish language spoken on our islands.
What many of you don’t know is that I’m a Republican. My father was a Republican. My uncle David Vialet founded the V.I. Republican Party in 1948. I had the honor and privilege of advising Melvin H. Evans, a Republican and the first elected governor of the Virgin Islands.
One party rule has failed the Virgin Islands.
Our islands deserve better than the failed ideas and programs that the ruling party recycles year after year. It’s time to say enough is enough.
All of us deserve more jobs, bigger paychecks, safe drinking water, reliable and affordable electricity, roads without potholes, and, most importantly, good schools for our children and grandchildren.
I graduated Charlotte Amalie High School in 1963 and later attended Howard University, earning B.A. and J.D. degrees. I remember a different Virgin Islands — a Virgin Islands where every person had an equal opportunity for a better, brighter future.
I’m asking Virgin Islanders to send a message on Thursday, Feb. 8 by voting in the Republican presidential caucus. This is our one and only chance to vote for president in 2024.
The Democratic Party today is not the Democratic Party of the past. The party has left us. It’s a different animal altogether. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has returned to its roots as the party of the common man.
It doesn’t matter whether you support Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, or someone else, a vote in the Republican presidential caucus is a shot across the bow at the ruling party — a party that has nobody to blame but itself.
Your vote is your voice. Please use it.
— Fred Vialet Jr., Esq., St. Thomas. Attorney Violet is a member of the Virgin Islands Real Estate Commission, a former vice chairman of the Republican Party in the Virgin Islands and a former president of the St. Thomas-St. John District Republican Committee. He was an adviser to Republican Gov. Melvin Evans, the first elected governor of the territory (1969-1975).
