April 24, 2009 — A little before 11 a.m. Friday, Mary Moorhead called into Sam Topp's daily radio show to read out the list of Constitutional Convention delegates who had not yet shown up for the morning's plenary session on St. Thomas.
"We need you all to come out to the meeting," Moorhead said. "If anyone out there sees any of these people, please tell them to come to the meeting."
Gathered at the Small Business Development Center in Nisky Center, the 18 other delegates that had shown up for the meeting waited patiently. Moorhead's all-points bulletin seemed to have done the trick, because about an hour later, the group had actually surpassed the required quorum number.
But shortly after the meeting was called to order it began to unravel, and by the end of the day, the group had not approved even one section.
The source of contention was a revised draft document put together by the convention's attorney, Lloyd Jordan. At a plenary session held last week, Jordan worked with delegates to streamline some of the ideas and language put together by the convention over the past few months. By the end of the April 18 meeting, delegates had laid out a template for their final document, and were expected to vote on many of the sections Friday.
"The objective for today is to get everything approved," Convention President Gerard Luz James II said after banging the gavel.
But after a short prayer — which included a call from Delegate Wilma Marsh-Monsanto for the convention to put aside its differences and come together in "unity" — Delegate Adelbert Bryan voiced opposition to the revised draft, saying that it did not contain all the language previously approved by the entire delegation.
"We had plenary sessions from since last year — committees met and made amendments and proposals," Bryan said. "How are we supposed to vote on this when legal counsel hasn't produced a whole document with the language that's been approved? Where is the original document? Why are we voting on this and not that?"
Delegate Gerard Emanuel pointed that the convention had previously agreed to send all approved language back to legal counsel for editing and review.
"This is what we've gotten back," he said. "Now we have the opportunity to accept it or reject it."
But a motion from Delegate Michael Thurland to accept Jordan's revised version as the convention's working document got lost in translation, with most of the delegates confused about whether they were voting to accept the motion or simply responding to a quorum call demanded by Bryan.
Instead, the decision was made to rise out of session and go back into Committee of the Whole — where no votes can be cast — to discuss the revisions, putting the delegates back to square one.
"Fine, since we need to go back to kindergarten, let's go back," James said after the votes were cast. "I can't believe this, I really can't. We're acting like kids."
"Well, this is wrong," Bryan responded. "We have to start from the beginning."
And they did — re-evaluating, once again, language for the preamble, and following up, once again, with arguments over native rights and the definition of marriage. Interestingly, convention attorney Lisa Moorhead said same-sex couples are currently unable to get a marriage license from the Superior Court, thereby making same-sex marriage already illegal in the Virgin Islands.
Delegates also discussed putting in language that would allow the Senate to pass laws protecting local culture bearers. A section in the revised Bill of Rights about labor also came under heavy debate, along with a section on property. Marsh-Monsanto argued that a recently passed tax increment financing law will allow public land to be taken away and given to outside developers, and asked that delegates support language stating that private property can only be taken if there's a substantial and direct benefit to the public.
With only two sections down — and still no votes taken — St. Croix delegates began to pack up around 4 p.m. and prepare to catch flights back home. The session was adjourned, and two more sessions were scheduled for May 6th and 7th.
Delegates have until the end of May to finish up their draft.
Present during Friday's session were delegates Douglas Brady, Bryan, Douglas Capdeville, Emanuel, Mario Francis, Stedmann Hodge Jr., Francis Jackson, Myron Jackson, James, Clement "Cain" Magras, Marsh-Monsanto, Thomas Moore, Moorhead, Eugene Petersen, Kendall Petersen, Claire Roker, Richard Schrader, Robert Schuster, Lawrence "Larry" Sewer, Thurland, Charles W. Turnbull, Elsie V. Thomas-Trotman, Arturo Watlington Jr., Alecia Wells and Lisa Williams.
Absent from the session were delegates Craig W. Barshinger, Rena Brodhurst, Arnold Golden, Violet Anne Golden and Lois Hassell-Habtes.
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