Three of Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's nominees to the Territorial Court, plus his nominee for adjutant general of the V.I. National Guard, sailed smoothly through the Senate Rules Committee—peopled on Wednesday by four lame-duck senators—with hardly a discouraging word.
Turnbull renominated Territorial Court judges Brenda Hollar and Patricia Steele to new terms, and tapped Deputy Attorney General Darryl Dean Donohue for the bench after deciding against renominating Alphonso Andrews.
Hollar and Donohue's appointments provided the only whiff of controversy Wednesday. Hollar had been attacked in some quarters for ruling against the American Federation of Teachers during the recent teachers' strike, while some had charged that Turnbull's failure to renominate Andrews was retribution for the judge ruling against the administration on the Beal Aerospace deal.
Hollar alluded vaguely to the issue. "I was totally taken aback and unprepared for the unjustified public suggestion and implication that I ruled in a particular manner merely because my renomination was pending," she said.
Hollar asked that the Senate "consider revisiting the issue of the length of the term of judges, with the objective of depoliticizing the reappointment process." In response to senators' questions, she spoke approvingly of the District of Columbia system in which judges are appointed to a single term of 15 years without possibility of renomination, with some legislative oversight.
Led by Rules Chairwoman Violet Anne Golden, senators made it clear they felt such criticism of Hollar was entirely unwarranted, and both judges Hollar and Steele were backed by a chorus of approval from testifying attorneys, prosecutors and V.I. residents.
Donohue also was lauded, particularly by others in the Attorney General's Office, causing Sen. Gregory Bennerson to quip that perhaps they turned out in force in order to have the office rid of Donohue.
Bennerson had nothing but praise for Donohue and lamented the "insinuations" surrounding the deputy attorney general's nomination to the bench, which he termed a "sad and strange irony."
All three nominations to the bench were unanimously forwarded to the full Senate by the committee members present, which also included Sens. Vargrave Richards and Judy Gomez.
Brig. Gen. Cleave McBean, acting adjutant general of the V.I. National Guard, was also a beneficiary of the lame-duck love-fest. Most of the questions directed at McBean concerned his goals of constructing a National Guard headquarters on St. Croix and modernizing structures and equipment for the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency, which he called "totally inadequate." The adjutant general also serves as VITEMA's executive director.
In general, senators seconded the comments of William John Glasser of the V.I. Housing Authority police, who called McBean "a true hero, a leader, an officer and a gentleman."
McBean's 25-year military career included a tour of duty in Vietnam as well as numerous managerial and executive posts in the V.I. National Guard. His nomination was unanimously forwarded to the full Senate for confirmation.
