The juxtaposition of the "Prosser deal" and the "Ackley Companies' proposal" makes for an interesting comparison.
On the one hand, you have a successful businessman asking for full tax breaks for all of his companies and stockholders even though two of his companies — the V.I. Telephone Corp. and the V.I. Community Bank — have already been granted generous Industrial Development Commission benefits.
On the other hand, you have another successful businessman who has never asked for or received any tax benefits for his radio station, his Internet service providing company or his other business interests.
On the one hand, you have a man who is offering to give the V.I. government 1,000 acres of land that he does not yet own and won't buy unless he receives the full tax benefits he seeks.
On the other hand, you have a man who is offering to build a telecommunications school to train Virgin Islanders in a huge and growing industry on land he already owns.
On the one hand, you have a man who, in getting his last IDC benefits, agreed to bring his phone company up to current industry standards — and hasn't.
On the other hand, you have someone who says he will, whether he receives benefits or not, invest $100 million in a state-of-the-art telecommunications system, a wireless system that is not affected by winds.
On the one hand, you have a man who is asking for a zoning variance to use land that was set aside "in perpetuity" for scenic overlooks so he can build a subdivision that will likely destroy the real estate market on St. Croix.
On the other hand, you have someone who says he will offer the land around his tower sites for public parks and gardens.
On the one hand, the Legislature has ramrodded through legislation, without public hearings or thorough analysis and in defiance of the Organic Act, to give one man 30 years of tax benefits, and this possibly illegal bill is being considered by the governor.
On the other hand, the governor has said that the second man has to take up his request with the Industrial Development Commission.
On one hand we have a man who has "befriended" first one governor and then the next.
On the other hand, we have a man who says he has never contributed to any political campaign and has always remained politically neutral.
On the one hand, we hear platitudes spouted about the importance of standing on our own two feet.
On the other, we reward the people who don't do that and make it difficult for those who do.
