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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchives'RECALL HIM!' FORMER SENATOR SAYS OF TURNBULL

'RECALL HIM!' FORMER SENATOR SAYS OF TURNBULL

Dear Source,
Recall him now! If the unions are as outraged as they say, if the business people are as outraged as they say, then the unions should start circulating a petition to recall Governor Turnbull, and all of our residents should speak together, once and for all, to stop this corrupt administration and senators who should be damned for their avarice and greed, and recalled and removed from office.
Labor union members and business leaders alike should stand together to initiate a recall of the less-than-Honorable Charles W. Turnbull. The infamous author of his own "get rich quick" scheme, after perpetrating an alleged fiscally responsible campaign election fraud on all voters to get re-elected, then raises his own salary. He has no shame. His equally as fiscally reprehensible and irresponsible lieutenant governor and the senators that voted for their own raises have no shame, either.
It is unbelievable that our territory is in financial ruin and yet some of our least responsible senators joined Governor Turnbull and raised their own salaries $20,000 more a year, to $85,000 a year, for a part-time job. They, too, should be recalled. But let us all start with the man who authored the bill to raise his own salary by $55,000, to $135,000, within weeks of his re-election and then had his new lieutenant governor neatly guide it through the Senate on the eve of Christmas.
It is time for a recall. Governor Turnbull knows he cannot run again for a third term, so he is lining his pockets and sponsoring a bill to give himself a raise from $80,000 to $135,000 and raising the lieutenant governor from $75,000 to $115,000 for our small community of barely 100,000 people, supported by some of the unscrupulous senators in the Legislature who, it appears, got together with the governor beforehand to make this deal, as long as they got a raise, only to hide it from the people until after the elections.
These elected representatives are not trustworthy or reliable enough to represent you or me, or anyone. "Shame on them!" one may say, but these elected representatives have no shame, and they are laughing at all of us all the way to the bank because, do not forget, it is not just the salary they received. Look at their per diem and all of the expenses they are paid and monies they have budgeted for their staffs and cars in addition to their outrageous salaries.
At a time when our territory is bankrupt, when our schools, hospitals and police do not have the equipment or people to do their work efficiently or properly, and when our workers are underpaid and lacking in necessities, these raises are the absolute height of fiscal irresponsibility and totally contemptuous of the plight of our workers, our businesses and our residents.
Our people should rise up and demand the resignation of the governor without delay to start the new year off on a positive note — and, when he goes begging for money from the U.S. government, be there to confront him about his fiscal irresponsibility and deceit until he agrees to waive his raise and his new fat pension.
Britain H. Bryant
Former senator, St. Croix

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