After a contentious meeting at the beginning of the month, the V.I. Democratic Party ended August with three days of "frank" discussions at a party retreat on St. Croix.
State Party Chairman James O’Bryan described the the weekend meeting as "frank, constructive and extremely helpful in the formulation of a modernized party agenda for the new century."
In their remarks, Gov. Charles Turnbull and Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II said they expected political employees to support the party’s influence and role in the administration.
During the first weekend of August, the Democratic Territorial Committee met on St. Thomas. There, more than a few Democrats criticized the administration for failing to adopt a political platform and not following up on campaign promises.
This weekend, though, party members were able to meet with the Turnbull and James personally. The two met privately over the course of Saturday afternoon with nearly two dozen people to discuss a range of issues, O’Bryan said.
A three-hour executive session was also held, he said.
"This was a very good and positive weekend for the party," said Carmen Gonzalez, party vice chair. "Things were said that needed to be said and I am convinced that things brought to the attention of the administration will be addressed."
Party business was also taken care of on Saturday by charging its district committees with generating policy positions and initiatives for consideration by the territorial committee. A notification process for the dissemination of policy decisions was also adopted, O’Bryan said.
The party appointed Simon Caines, president of the newly chartered New Generation Democratic Club, and Sandra Thomas Mason, newly elected president of the Young Democrats of St. Thomas-St. John, to full membership on the governing body.
Along with briefings given by Turnbull’s chief of staff Juel Molloy, cabinet members and other executive staff, Democrats were briefed by representatives of Beal Aerospace about the company’s proposed rocket assembly plant on St. Croix.
Several prominent local Democrats were at the retreat throughout the weekend, including Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen, Senate President Vargrave Richards, Sen. Lorraine Berry, Sen. David Jones and Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste.
