Curiouser and curiouser is how Virgin Islands politics probably looked to even the most seasoned observer after the latest round of rhetoric and radio wrangling Monday.
Following the uproar over the weekend when radio pundits predicted the imminent disintegration of the 24th Legislature’s eight-member majority bloc, Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, one of the two majority members said to be bolting, used his Senate Education Committee hearing Monday to refute claims of his departure.
The St. Lucia-born senator did, however, make it quite clear that he does have issues with a fellow majority member, Senate Vice President Adelbert Bryan, over Bryan’s comments about naturalized citizens holding political office in the territory.
"There is a majority," Baptiste said. "It is the majority of the 24th Legislature. It’s the same as on the eighth of January, 2001, and I expect it to be the same tomorrow…
"Those who wish to fill in the blanks can," he said.
Baptiste said the majority does have "differences," but that those issues were "on the table" being "thrashed out." If they can’t be resolved, he said, there are "several options left to exercise."
"At the appropriate point in time, I will decide what I’ll do with those matters," Baptiste said.
He was apparently responding to Bryan’s comments over the weekend that naturalized U.S. citizens, particularly those from neighboring islands in the Eastern Caribbean, shouldn’t be allowed to hold public office. Bryan suggested that Baptiste, now an American citizen, could return to St. Lucia and hold office there.
"Clearly we have people around us who are ignorant," Baptiste said without naming Bryan in particular. He said he has forfeited any right to hold public office in St. Lucia.
Baptiste did say, though, that he took Bryan’s comments seriously and that he had confronted his colleague on the issue in the past. Additionally, he has asked majority bloc leaders to discuss Bryan’s remarks.
Later in the day, Majority Leader Celestino White Sr. issued a statement abjuring Bryan's remarks, saying they did not represent the viewpoint of the majority though Bryan was free to express his opinion.
RADIO DAZE
Meanwhile, Baptiste’s Education Committee hearing Monday didn’t make it out of the Senate chambers in Frederiksted over the radio waves because the nonprofit radio station, WIUJ-102.9 FM, that has for years broadcast Senate sessions had technical difficulties, said station owner Leo Moron.
The station’s troubles were ironic in that Monday was the first day that Mario Moorhead’s new radio program, funded with $60,000 in taxpayers’ money over two years, aired. Moorhead referred to the broadcast as "Radio Free St. Croix."
In late January, Moorhead was hired by Bryan and Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen to broadcast their committee hearings live and provide commentary on those and other legislative proceedings.
Moorhead’s $60,000 contract will be paid with public funds from the Senate. The contract calls for $30,000 to be paid up front.
The up-front payment was apparently enough to "leverage" Moorhead’s efforts to return to the airwaves after being dismissed by a number of local stations. Along with the Senate coverage, Moorhead will operate and manage the commercial FM radio station, WAXJ on St. Croix.
On Monday, Moorhead encouraged potential advertisers to contact the station, saying that rates could be worked out on a business-to-business basis.
Moorhead also assailed V.I. Democratic Party stalwart Gerard Luz James, the owner of WSTX radio, for broadcasting "propaganda" over the weekend about the possible breakup of the Senate’s majority bloc.
On Monday afternoon, WSTX reported that WIUJ’s broadcast of Senate proceedings had been halted until station-owner Moron and Liburd finalize contract negotiations for future coverage. In their contract with Moorhead, which was approved by Liburd, Bryan and Hansen said that "existing radio coverage of Senate meetings and sessions is inadequate and warrants improvement."
Moron said the lack of coverage Monday was due to technical problems, which he discovered after returning from off-island Monday afternoon.
"I don’t know what happened at the Legislature," he said. "My station was off the air."
