The Nightmare Chucky – The Sequel

As I review the headlines in the daily news papers and hear the radio hosts rattle off the top stories for today, I feel like I am dreaming. Actually, it is almost as though I have been trapped in a terrible nightmare, where Chucky is ultimately going to jump out of the Jack in the Box and hack me to death, or worse, that Chucky Hansen will once again make it on to the 2016 Election Ballot and win (insert horrified scream here) noooooooooo.

It is almost like déjà vu as we are once again spectators at the onset of a back and forth court battle with former Senator Alicia Chucky Hansen and the Board of Elections, Elections System and of course Uncle Bert in a toss up on if she is indeed qualified to even be placed on the ballots for reelection this coming November.

So, as we cue the theme song from the Ringling Brothers Circus, we remember that two years ago the court battle that took The Chuckster off the ballot then on the ballot, then off the ballot again bounced back and forth between the court on every judicial level in the territory. Reasons being was because she had been convicted of what some called a crime of moral turpitude.

We remember the dozens of residents who piled into the courtrooms at every hearing – an equal number for and against any decision that would put her back on the ballot. Ultimately the highest court determined that Chuck could not be placed on the ballot, but there was nothing stopping her from running a write-in campaign- one that was unsuccessful in part because most of her supporters were not even literate enough to the point where they could spell her name correctly. (can someone please turn up the circus music) smh.

Now, as we fast forward two years, Its 2016 and Chucky has once again made the decision to throw her hat into the election ring for a seat in the senate. Cool – Or Nah? Well it was cool until Chucky decided that she wanted to waltz her happy tail down to the Superior Court to request an official name change to use Chucky on her official documents. Seems simple enough right? Wrong again, nothing is ever simple with Chucky.

Long and short of this process determined that to complete the name change, Chucky had to present her original birth certificate. That was when it was revealed that her name was not Alicia Hansen at birth, but rather Alden Alicia Pickering. Whaaaat?

And so the drama continues.

The members of the St. Croix board of Elections said they conducted a cursory review of her documents and determined that there was sufficient inconsistencies and possibility of fraud that it would be in the best interest of the community to remove Chucky’s name from the ballot. They had requested legal guidance from Attorney General Arrogance Walker but were ignored and now many legal errors may have been made.

Someone described the Ag’s representatives at a court hearing Wednesday as bumbling fools – that does not surprise me. They made crucial errors themselves in the hearing according to reports and now, who knows what the judge’s outcome will be when he hands down a ruling from the bench by Friday.

AG walker had agreed to investigate the matter but has also told the board that his investigation would go well past a Friday deadline of when decisions of who will be on the ballot must be final.

(As the DJ transitions from the circus music to the Mission Impossible theme song) We ask ourselves dozens of questions with our eyes squinted and heads tilted to the side.  But the one question that stand out for me is “Why the hell would Chucky had not handled her name change business in the two years that she sat out of the Senate and not wait to bring back more drama to the already dramatic political climate. Personally, I think she is tired and quietly hoping that she gets barred and could spend another two years grooming her wigs, getting acrylic refills and restocking her candles and oils – but that’s none of my business. I will, however, bet my sandy bottoms, that if Chucky is allowed back on the ballot and is reelected, she will be back with a vengeance.

Runway to Cell Block D

The Runway to Cell Block    D        ………..                                                                As a young person growing up in the Virgin Islands, I used to spend countless hours chatting under the mango tree with my grandmother. She had tons of old-time saying that stuck with me. One that comes to mind is “time is longer than twine”. When Granny died, Aunt Lucille picked up where she left off with the old time sayings. One of her favorites has become my favorites “Night does run until day catch it”. Initially I did not know or completely understand what these saying meant, but when former Senator Wayne James was arrested in Italy last month on charges that he squander off the territory’s money claiming fraudulent projects, I thought of Aunt Lucille and my dear grandmother Greta. According to a federal indictment, while serving as a senator between 2009 and 2011 the fashion model, historian and designer turn senator was the chair of the Senate Committee on Youth, Education and Culture. Well, school children alerted the feds to suspicions that Casanova had allegedly obtained tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars for the purpose of acquiring and translating historical documents related to the “Fireburn,” an 1878 uprising by freed slaves in St. Croix. Now, we all know that the good senator has always been fascinated with things of historic value, but to turn in false documents to the Legislature and received cash advances saying that you were going to conduct historical research on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands and then not do it is just down right low. He take the people’s money, according to the court and embezzled the cash advances for his own personal benefit instead of using them for the intended purposes. I see the arrest and prosecution of Mr. James as a step in the right direction as far as political and government corruption goes. The big questions are though, How would this first-time senator feel so comfortable taking up the people money after just a few short months? Who did he see doing it first? You would think that he had seen some of his senior colleagues doing similar juggling or heard the decades old stories of how to get away with taking out the butter cookies without getting caught. I guess the trick is to not leave any crumbs behind and in this case, when I say crumbs, Mr. James promised to produce documentations that he clearly could not without using the money in the right way.  I think I feel bad for Mr. James, (well, not really) but he clearly isn’t cut out for prison. He is such a gentleman and someone who could have really contributed to our community, especially during this pistarkle of a celebration to observe the centennial anniversary of the territory’s sale from Denmark to the United States coming up in just a few short months.

I’ve heard; however, that he is working on a new prison uniform to add to his fashion line and it will be to die for. The clothing line “Manly Manners”, same name as his book, will feature summer casuals for Caribbean inmates all year round and will come complete with hidden compartments for the Golden Grove inmates to hide their shanks, lighters and other contraband. There will be an insulated compartment for ice and shot glasses for a perfect libation every time. It’s not on the market as yet, because due to the demand, he needs much more material. As I’ve heard, the new line will also include a government official made to order weasel or snake skin leather, and will come complete with extra long pockets so that embezzling and shoveling funds into their pockets can go undetected, at least until they can transfer them to hidden compartments in the floors of their homes. He’s going to be there for a pretty long time, just awaiting trial in the matter. Prosecutors were granted their motion to have him held without bail while the case is pending, primarily because he has not even a pot to piss in in the territory and because they already had to go half way around the world to drag him back here, kicking and screaming.  As he tried to convince the court that he was not a flight risk his brother – Public Works Commissioner Slim – testified on his behalf, although he admitted that they had not been really tight in recent years. Now, I commend Commissioner Slim, for stepping up to defend his brother, because from where I sit, he isn’t looking that good in the court of public opinion his damn self. I am almost positive that he is being watched closely with his history of financial issues including forclosures and outstanding debt. He is also already mounting reimbursements without accompanying receipts and other documents, perhaps a course in keeping your hands off people things or don’t do everything you see the other senator or commissioner do, should be taught, but until then, we will see how this case plays out and wait for Wayne James to put his talents to work and start singing like a canary.

Rolling with the Diva: Dinner for 12

I’ve just about had it with Mr. Governor “The Diva” Mapp, his minions and their high-rolling spending habits. As if there were not enough relative news to report on across the territory, local journalists are being pinned to their desks, sifting through piles of hotel, dinner and airline receipts, travel authorization documents and credit card statements just to try to keep the governor and his staff humble and on the right track with how they spend public funds. They are stuck working extra hours, distracted from the changes in education, crime, insurance, healthcare, tourism numbers and the overall economy so that they can keep us, the readers and the tax-paying public abreast of what the governor and his staff has been up to and how they had been spending our money. On the last episode of “As The Piggy Bank Lost its Fat” we’ve been reading in the local papers that travel records for the governor’s chief of staff Randy Knight of the Castle, show that the authorizations for three of his trips out of the territory with the governor came after he actually traveled, and some of his expense reimbursements exceeded limits allowed under rules established in an executive order signed by the previous governor John deJongh, who was a lot of htings, but certainly not a high spending Diva like the likes of these clowns.

As I typed that , I remembered a recent picture editorial I saw in the paper last week that was essenitally a meme where Pope Francis ridiculed the Diva’s lavish travel accomodations, saying that if a Fiat was good enough for him, it should have been good enough for the Diva. According to local news, the Diva has been running up in excess of 16,000 in a two month span in charges for limo rides and hired cars. CRAZY.

Travel records show that records for Knight’s travel expense reimbursement or authorization were filed after the travel had occurred. He was also dipping his paws in to the pot, licking it off and dipping again… yep, double dipping as documents reportedly show that he received his travel per diem payment while also charging meals that were reimbursed by the government, tsk, tsk. Knight, I guess he was just following the example of The Diva as they have all been living high off the Hog, or steak of lobster or whatever they could be eating that they could consistently be running up $600 to $800 dinner tabs on a nightly basis.

We’ve also seen the same type of mis spending by the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff Princess Corniero as she too has charged up hundreds in travel and hotel stays and hundreds of dollars in expensive meals…. Even while she was on St. Thomas, where she could have easily gone home and hot up her own pot.

Is no one in charge in Government House’ business office? Is there no one who is put in charge to make sure that moneys are spent properly, proper protocol is followed and the tax payers’ dollars are being spent in the most efficient way. I mean, its not rocket science. I heard someone say that many of the cabinet members and the governor’s staff are new to the inner workings of such positions. There should have been some sort of training so that they are duly aware of the procedures, what they can do, what they can’t do and more importantly, what is allowable under the laws. Remember some of the greatest people have learned the hard way that ignorance of the law is no defense against criminal charges.

There actions turn on a flashlight under a microscope on their character and their overall good intenstions to defraud the government of the Virgin Islands and the people for their own personal gain, much of which we are see gains around the mid section after all those late night big meals.

I note that the Diva’s Chief Legal Counsel, who himself is said to be a Diva and lover of nice things, received a passing grade in the media for the way he handled all of the travel, hotel stays and meals to date. Counsel loves, nice things and great food, but seemingly his chracter and respect for the people and its money allowed him to dip into his own pocket when it came to  what was beyond the general scope of what it allowed to be paid with by the taxpayers.

It may have helped the good counsel to stay in line due to the fact that his mother is the executive chef and probably stashes away a small bowl of her kallaloo, peas soup and souse for him when she cooks for Governor Diva.

While I loved delving into the melee as the staff memebrs wiped the crow from their faces, I certainly hope that we’ve seen the last article or TV report about these shenanigans.

Perhaps the Diva and those divas in training would soon realize that their actions borders that of criminal activity, we’ve seen government officials arrest in recent months, some for very blatant criminal actions and some who may have just been caught up in the excitiement and power of their positions. I bet my sandy bottom though, if this type of mispending does not cease, we will soon be looking at more criminal charges and the entire cast of “As the Piggy Bank Loses its Fat” may find themselves with leading rolls on “Inside the Slammer”.

Alvin Gee Southwell, the legend, the myth, the one-man news machine

The turn of events over the past few days has really got me missing my deliverer of news we can trust, Yes, our beloved Alvin Gee. I find myself wondering in and out of reality, remaining in a state of shock upon hearing the news that our long-timer friend and  notable newsman had died. Alvin “Alvin Gee” Southwell was found dead in his Estate Richmond Apartment August 12th after he did not return to the WLDV studios to do his afternoon news program at 5 p.m. No foul play was suspected, but no information has ever been released about what caused his demise.

I met Alvin Gee about 20 years when I was a guest at the old WSTX studios up on the hill overlooking the Lagoon and Little Bay in Christiansted. It has been a long time between that Saturday morning and the person we are today and over the years I continued to look up to him as a mentor and  the only person I counted on for news I could trust. His job took hard work and dedication and he had it all.
I’ve read so many accounts from reporters, government officials and ordinary residents who spokes highly of Alvin Gee. They spoke about tag-teaming with him to get the information that they needed to make a better story. They laughed about how Alvin Gee was adamant about starting press conferences on time. They said he would stand up and put his hands on his hip, demanding answers “what’s going on here, when are we starting,” he said. When Alvin spoke, people responded. He was well respected and gave respect. He was never afraid to ruffle feathers but he also respected other people for  their views, no matter what they were.
Alvin Gee is probably trying to kick his way our of the morgue as we speak, knowing that he missed being able to be the one announcing the arrest of former Governor John deJongh. Alvin kept his ears to the ground, he kept his finger on the pulse of the people and kept the news fresh every day.

Alvin was great at giving the play by play of developing stories, politics, regional news, and more. He broke stories and made sure to follow them closely even if it took weeks or years. He had that institutional knowledge on all of the issues and it showed in his background knowledge that he threw into his stories.
My mornings started with Alvin, I would start my workout at 5:00 a.m. and at 6:00 I would click on my radio and wait for the station ID and his “Goooooood Morning”. My work days ended with his “have a good night everyone” and I am missing it badly.  His passion for what he did was real and his love for the Virgin Islands was just as real.
He was serious and a man of business on the air but had the heartiest laugh and loved to joke when he was off the air. While I am extremely saddened by his passing, I am also grateful that he is out of any pain that he may have been suffering. When Alvin Gee took ill on air last September and lost consciousness, he knew just how much the people of the territory loved him. The 911 dispatch line was tied up as listeners frantically called to report his situation. When he was found and brought back, there was a continued outpouring of support for him as he tried to live a more healthy life. The community is feeling a void by Alvin Gee’s death, we will all miss him and pray that his soul will continue to rest in peace.

Dude is famous (and then he wasn’t)

Dude is famous (and then he wasn’t).

Lady Justice proves that political and social status is of no moment with her

Lady Justice proves that political and social status is of no moment with her.

Lady Justice proves that political and social status is of no moment with her

The word on the street is that Governor Kenneth Mapp has issued orders to his seamstress in light of a handful of former government officials and associates being arrested over the past few months.

Now, as the story was told to me at the barber shop ( so I know it’s true) Governor Mapp was elected in November and by mid December, he had dropped off all of his pants to his seamstress, asking her to stitch in longer pockets to facilitate the large amount of cash he and his friends had expected to be stealing from the government and the people of the Virgin Islands.

He said he had followed the acts of past governors for decades, one administration after the next and had seen how they got away with taking a few hundred thousand dollars here and a few there and catered to their special interest friends to give them all the contracts and perks that they wanted.

Well, bright and early  Tuesday morning, Governor Mapp called his seamstress and cancelled the order on the dozen slacks, she had not yet altered. He said he had changed his mind about the pockets and instead ordered her to buy 12 bolts of orange poly/cotton blend material to make as many of those two-piece orange suits that they wear at the prison.

Governor Mapp heard of the arrests of Former Governor John  P. de Jongh, Jr. and Julito Francis, former director of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority, just two weeks after Francis and two others had been charged in another scheme to take public funds. The two were arrested on two counts of embezzlement of public monies, and neglecting to pay over public monies in violation of Virgin Islands criminal code.

The crimes are punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment of not more than ten years, or both.

According to court documents and published reprots, the arrests stem from an issues that arose between April 2007, through January 2009, where both men, being in public offices, acted in concert  in the process of conversion in public monies for private use and executed several government contracts to convert $490,000 of Virgin Islands Government Highway funds, to fund improvements to the private residence of Governor de Jongh without authority of law.

This is what we have all summed up to be called Mafoliegate. Governor deJongh was given an opportunity to come clean and pay the money back before the people began calling for criminal prosecution. His arrogance prevented him from doing that and it was not until a few months ago, after a criminal investigation had already been launched, that he opted to have an appraisal done and tried to pay back what he thought the work was worth as this time. Well, not so fast Johnny.

His arrest shows that lady justice does not sea political or social status.There were confirmed reports that the price of toilet paper in local stores skyrocketed to over $5 a single roll as dozen of current and former government officials started experiencing the bubble guts and loose bowels as rumors circulated about who would be next.

There are rumors that Start Over, Papa Ital, My Pal Sal, Monsieur Hill and even Bull – the good History Professor are tangled in the webs of corruption and are now only waiting their turn to be handed their invitations to face the judge and answer to the people.

Well, I don’t know who is next, but I bet my sandy bottoms that I’m gonna keep my ears close to the ground to hear the rumblings.

When the Truth isn’s Good Enough

Just when I thought that the season was over and there could not possibly be another episode of “Governor Pinocchio and the Tangled Web”, we see that the web of lies is beginning to unravel some more and the good old governor has added an inch or two to his sniffer.

Senate President Neville James said recently that the long-awaited hearing that he had called to delve into the Mapp Villa saga had to be postponed because he and other senators had uncovered an overwhelming influx of new information. So, the good president calls it “an influx of new information”, I call it “governor going to be ….  hmmm, what rhymes with influx?.

Legislators issued a statement saying they are in the stages of requesting additional information from WICO and Property and Procurement relative to the rental of the $14,500-a-month villa that Gov. Kenneth Mapp had been renting since January. Senate president James said the Senate needs more time to review the documents that have been requested , while the governor tightens the noose, I mean… before they can hold the hearing with all the information that they need to have on the forefront.

Now, stemming from recent statements from government house and press conferences and news reports and sound bites on radio news, we’ve all heard the Governor and his staff discount reports about how much the villa was being rented for, how the deals came about and whether the deal was legal. He scoffed at questions about conflicts of interest and once the heat was turned on by a steady wave of media inquiries and he had become the hot topic on the daily talk shows, he opted to pack up his Georgie bundle and move out of the Villa.

Mapp jests about being the homeless governor, saying that he had no place to go in between his trips. His trips every other week on his tour around the world that are a part of his plan to rack up frequent flyer mileage on the people’s dime campaign.

Well, he has an additional week or so to get his ducks in a row to ensure that  he answers all the questions asked of him truthfully and completely.

The senate president said had called for the hearing earlier this month to let the Senate focus on residency and housing issues currently affecting the governor and the lieutenant governor as they are outlined in the Revised Organic Act. The issues became a hot topic around the territory after news paper reports outed the WICO board’s resolution that showed the governor’s office had misled the public about the cost of his seven-bedroom, nine-bath villa and since then the governor and his staff has been sliding down a slippery slope of misinformation and back peddling.

I’ve recently ordered a case of Orville Redenbacher’s best batch and a 10 gallon jug of cherry pop, because no matter when this hearing is held, there will be more fireworks that what I expect to see on the forth of July. I expect the Governor will try to pull another rabbit out of his hat or saw  someone in half or conduct another one of his tricks to create a diversion, but I hope the senators are paying attention and will remain focused until they find answers, cause I’d bet my sandy bottom that the public is looking.  I am not even blinking during this hearing, I don’t want to miss a thing.

Family Over Everything …. for everyone.

A woman who I will go ahead and call Constance, for the purposes of this blog post, was ecstatic last week when the news got out that the V.I. Supreme Court had largely sidestepped the question of whether or not a woman can adopt the two biological children of her wife, whom she married in Canada in 2007.

Constance said while she realized that the ruling and opinion did not mean that she, who is also in a gay relationship where children are apart of the family, would have the right to adopt her partner’s children, it was a step in the right direction. She said looking at what was done, rather than ruling on whether the woman could become the legal joint parent, the supreme court sent the case back to the lower court after singling out what they termed as a misinterpretation of the adoption laws of the territory.

She said if she and her partners or the couple that is subject of the case were living in a state that recognizes gay marriages there would probably be no issues to discuss or bring before the courts, but because the married couple now lives in the Virgin Islands, which does not recognize gay marriage, then the issues is at hand to be determined.

According to the court records and published reports, the biological mother is currently the legal parent of the two children, but in 2012, she petitioned Virgin Islands Superior Court to allow her wife to become a co-parent of the children. The Superior Court denied the request, arguing that since the couple’s marriage was not recognized by Virgin Islands law, the non-biological parent could not share parenthood of the children.

The Supreme Court disagreed, saying that the court’s reliance on the small section of the Virgin Islands law that it used to reach its conclusion was misleading. The sentence, a portion the territory’s adoption code, states: “Except where husband and wife adopt jointly, no person shall be adopted by more than one person.”

The Supreme Court justices said that a rigid interpretation of this piece of the law could lead to unwanted consequences. For instance in a case were a step mother filed an adoption request for the child of a spouse, such a request could technically be denied because it was not done “jointly.”

While the case was sent back because of the error, the Supreme Court, however, did not venture as far as to reverse the original decision in favor of the woman seeking co-parenthood, leaving that decision for the lower court.

Some time in the coming weeks the United States Supreme Court is expected to decide on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage. If the justices rule in favor of marriage equality, the adoption case before the Superior Court would become irrelevant, and the couple could apply for a marriage license in order to achieve legal co-parenthood.

Contance and so many other gay unions – social and lawful – are waiting on bathed breath for the highest court’s ruling.

These are the issues that we find even more common in our society today, issues that are laws were not build to support. While our mindset is slowly changing to adopt the alternative lifestyles of so many across the nation and even here in our small community, we have to be mindful to also have our legislators up to beat on the changing times so that our laws do not become antiquated and infringe on the constitutional rights of our residents and visitors to our shores.

I would bet my sandy bottoms that this is not the last time that our courts here will hear cases of this nature. Our judges, our justices and or legislators better get ready.

Topled Scales of Justice

As if the back and forth between the Attorney General’s office and the various defense attorneys and the stressed relationship between that office and the general public was not enough, the in-fighting amongst attorneys and staff and even between the individuals nominated to act as head of the Department of Justice has finally come to a boil.

Putting the flip-flopping appointment and resignation of the governor’s previous running mate -turn AG nominee aside, with the abrupt escape of former Judge Soraya Cofelt,  the agency continued to see myriad of disgruntled employees trying to air its dirty laundry in the media in written correspondence outlining some of the issues at a time when employee morale is at an all-time low.

Last week Gov. Kenneth Mapp appointed former Superior Court Judge James Carroll III to be acting V.I. attorney general, replacing Terri Griffiths in the post, after having her tenure marked by growing controversy, including temper tantrums and threats that she would sue a local media house for calling her phone after regular business hours, according to publish reports. Her time was punctuated by a particularly contentious hearing in federal court Friday pitting Griffiths against Assistant AG Denise Counts in the tax case relative to media mougle and businessman Johnathan Cohen, who was arrested last year on charges that he had not been filing his taxes and that he owed the people of the Virgin Islands more than $10 million in tax dollars, according to court documents and published reports,. Cohen has been stealing from the people while he has been giving away a single five-dollar sandwhich to his listenership for decades, possibly symbolic of his thinking that while he was racking up the ill-gotten dough, the people were worth nothing more than bologna…. I digress.

So back to the AG office. Griffiths only served for five months, after Cofelt served for just over a week following Mapp taking office in January.

Governor Mapp, the tactful Diva that he is, thanked Griffiths for all of her efforts on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, as she stepped in and gave her assistance during the transition. He said he would be meeting with Griffiths in the near future to determine a continued role in the administration – probably that of solicitor general, or janitor or something else right up her alley.

In appointing, former Superior Court Judge James Carroll to the acting positions, I think the administration has a fair chance of stabilizing the department and at least saving face at not completely ruining the little faith that the people have left in the justice system and the integrity of the office.
I mean, it looks really bad when attorneys are fighting over actions taken on high-profile cases, they are battling out their issues in the media and senior attorneys are being suspended for offering plea deals – which in itself raises the questions of potential wrong doing and curry favors.

The victims are watching, the criminals are watching the general public is watching and by all means, the entire world has had the opportunity to focus in on the embarrassing series of events which have been circulated heavily on social media over the past few months.

I don’t know if the good judge is the cure all, be all and end all to get the justice train back on track, but I woudl bet my sandy bottom that we need to get our ducks lined up  in the AG office before the wheels of justice slow to a grinding halt for all of us.