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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesJAMES GIVEN LOTS MORE TICKETS TO GALA BUT STILL WON'T GO

JAMES GIVEN LOTS MORE TICKETS TO GALA BUT STILL WON'T GO

Despite being given hundreds more tickets to Sunday’s Government House rededication gala, Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II still won’t be going.
At a press conference earlier this week James ripped Gov. Charles Turnbull, saying the measly 15 tickets he was issued was indicative of the "disrespect" that Turnbull’s staff on St. Thomas has for St. Croix.
But even after being given more than 200 additional tickets, including 100 just hours after criticizing the governor on Wednesday, James said he was going to stand by his decision.
"I have not changed my mind. It’s not a matter of getting tickets now at this late time," James said. "It’s the principle."
James said the extra tickets he received will be given out to the public at the Office of the Lieutenant Governor on Friday.
But on Thursday, Turnbull’s St. Croix administrator, Rupert Ross, offered more of an explanation than a rebuttal to James’s comments.
Ross said that a 26-member committee was responsible for planning the ceremony, which will take place primarily in the ballroom of the renovated Government House, which has a seating capacity of 400. The committee put together an invitation list with 27 categories ranging from Cabinet members, former and current governors, lieutenant governors and senators, widows, District and Territorial Court judges, the Office of the Delegate, political party leaders, historical societies, civic and business leaders, foreign dignitaries, housing community leaders, and the subcontractors involved in the restoration.
Ross noted that standard protocol is to extend invitations to guests and their spouses, which automatically doubles each invitation.
"Given the ballroom’s established capacity of 400 persons seated, prudence required a limitation on the number of additional invitations that could be made available," Ross said.
Nonetheless, Ross said that prior to James’s press conference, the lieutenant governor and Turnbull met May 25 to discuss the number of tickets James was issued. Ross said that after hearing James’s complaints, the governor directed an additional 125 invitations be printed and given to James. Those were delivered to James on May 26.
"Because of the additional printing, a different paper stock was required in order to accommodate the request for more invitations," Ross said. "To avoid any possible misunderstanding, 100 of the original beige invitations were hand-delivered to the lieutenant governor on Wednesday, May 31."
Still, Ross said as many people as possible will be accommodated inside Government House on Sunday. There will be some 150 seats set up inside the building for the general public as well as TV monitors in the courtyard, he said.
"We're making every attempt to accommodate as many people as possible in the ballroom without compromising safety," Ross said.

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