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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesFlorida Lends Fairy Godmother to Constitutional Convention

Florida Lends Fairy Godmother to Constitutional Convention

Aug. 17, 2008 — Whatever your view of the Constitutional Convention — the fifth time in the territory's history that residents have tried to craft such a document — there's a handful of legal eagles in Florida who are downright inspired by it. So much so, that they are working countless hours to help ensure that locals craft a document that can pass U.S. constitutional muster, as is required for approval.
And they're doing it for free.
"Absolutely!" said Dorothea A. Beane. "This is an honor."
Beane, co-director of the Institute for Caribbean Law and Policy at Stetson University College of Law, and four other legal experts from Stetson along with 11 law students have been consulting on the drafting process.
They've spent countless hours analyzing former convention drafts, poring over transcripts from committee meetings and public hearings, reviewing language from other constitutions and reading over committees' draft language submitted along the way. The Stetson team is trying to make the transcripts cohesive and easily referenced for historical purposes; it's putting forth suggestions based on previous V.I. conventions as well as ideas gleaned from other constitutions; and it's helping delegates vet language that needs clarification.
"The amount of persons involved from her law school and the amount of time they put in and will continue to put in, it could easily come close to a million dollars or more," said delegate Frank Jackson.
Indeed, what the Stetson law school, in St. Petersburg, Fla., is doing for free, Stanford University offered to do for close to $1 million, according to Gerard Luz James II, the Convention's president. Having requested $3.2 million from the legislature to fund the Convention, only 10 percent of which was allocated by the government, not including money to support publicity, Stetson's service is all the more valuable. So what's the hook?
"As a lawyer, you go to law school, you study constitutional law and if you're lucky, you get one case (in your career) that has constitutional implications," said Beane, a former trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice who also teaches law at Stetson. "To help form a constitution is a dream come true. It's not about money."
Nevertheless, some delegates were skeptical.
"They were pretty much hesitant," explained James. "They all thought, 'Here comes someone else to see what they can make off the Constitutional Convention, in terms of funding.'"
How Beane found her way to the Virgin Islands is a testament to the adage, "it's a small world," and can be traced back to Westfield, N.J., where she used to play with a neighborhood boy – now delegate Jackson.
"We've been friends since the 4th grade," she said. "One of our alums told me he'd been elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and I called him and said coincidentally we've formed this Caribbean Law and Policy Institute and I'd like to make a presentation to the delegates."
She did, and after several delegates saw her wrap her arms around a legislative aide who happened to be a Stetson alum, she morphed from interloper into a possible friend.
"I give her a big hug and she gives me a big hug, and now they understand … that I know about the Virgin Islands because I've taught students from the Virgin Islands," Beane recounted.
Beane and Jackson not only grew up together, but they shared a passion for sports.
"She was voted the best female athlete from the junior high school and I was voted the best male athlete," Jackson recalled. "She's a hard worker, always been a hard worker, driven and determined to succeed."
All of that, plus her athletic instincts to ignore what hurts and keep on going, were manifest in May, when she and three colleagues came to St. Thomas for a Convention plenary session. The morning began with Beane tripping and breaking her toe — something she managed to disguise from many of those she was helping throughout the day.
"I had no idea," James confessed. "She was there with us for hours, and it wasn't until after dinner at about 7:00 or 7:30 that my secretary drove her to the hospital. I went to the hospital and checked her out, and she was in pain, but eager to make sure that everything went right for us at the retreat. And we did accomplish so much more than we had accomplished any time before."
As valuable as Beane and Stetson's assistance have been, delegates will, nevertheless, be hiring local attorneys this coming week as they head into daylong plenary sessions Thursday and Friday in hopes of meeting an Oct. 1 deadline to complete the draft. Why pay when free assistance is already in place?
"There were some delegates who really and truly did not want Stetson to do anything," James acknowledged, "and I didn't see why. But putting that aside, I said we would bring in drafters."
James said the local attorneys do offer easier access as delegates hit the crunch period before deadline. But, he said, Beane and her colleagues will remain a phone call or an email away, and perhaps even be on-island in the days ahead, to help see the process through.
"She is doing a remarkable job," James said.
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