Local Politics
Our governor's term is up this year, and many, many candidates have announced that they are running for the position. (I've lost count, but somewhere around a dozen seems right.) Rumor has it the USVI governor is the highest paid governor of all the United States. A man who lives on our street, a current senator, is running for governor too.
Today's paper explains how to get on the ballot for those interested in running for office this fall. There are sectional/divisional positions, which really means either you will represent St. Croix, or you'll represent both St. Thomas and St. John. I can't think of any such positions other than a senatorship. Those running for the legislature need 25 signatures if you've got party support, otherwise 50 are required. For a territory-wide position, you need 50 signatures if you're running with a party, otherwise you need 100 (50 from each section). A little different than those 3,000 signatures everyone needed to get on the California gubernatorial/recall ballot in 2003. I'd run but, of course, in my current line of work I can't be involved in politics. One of the perks for the senators is a government car -- on both St. Thomas and St. Croix.
There is still a movement to create a Supreme Court for the territory, but there's a big dispute about whether it should be on St. Thomas, where the capital is - or if it should be on St. Croix, where the economy could use the boost. The Legislature passed a bill to have it built on St. Croix, but the governor recently filed suit to have it built on St. Thomas instead.
In other exciting news, the Fifth Virgin Islands Constitutional Convention is scheduled for July 2007. The Virgin Islands have yet to draft their own constitution though Congress have given them permission to do so. Instead, the law of the land here is the Revised Organic Act, passed by Congress in 1954. Dave and I won't qualify to be convention delegates though as delegates will need to have been residents for at least three years.
Today's paper explains how to get on the ballot for those interested in running for office this fall. There are sectional/divisional positions, which really means either you will represent St. Croix, or you'll represent both St. Thomas and St. John. I can't think of any such positions other than a senatorship. Those running for the legislature need 25 signatures if you've got party support, otherwise 50 are required. For a territory-wide position, you need 50 signatures if you're running with a party, otherwise you need 100 (50 from each section). A little different than those 3,000 signatures everyone needed to get on the California gubernatorial/recall ballot in 2003. I'd run but, of course, in my current line of work I can't be involved in politics. One of the perks for the senators is a government car -- on both St. Thomas and St. Croix.
There is still a movement to create a Supreme Court for the territory, but there's a big dispute about whether it should be on St. Thomas, where the capital is - or if it should be on St. Croix, where the economy could use the boost. The Legislature passed a bill to have it built on St. Croix, but the governor recently filed suit to have it built on St. Thomas instead.
In other exciting news, the Fifth Virgin Islands Constitutional Convention is scheduled for July 2007. The Virgin Islands have yet to draft their own constitution though Congress have given them permission to do so. Instead, the law of the land here is the Revised Organic Act, passed by Congress in 1954. Dave and I won't qualify to be convention delegates though as delegates will need to have been residents for at least three years.
posted by Kendra at 12:47 PM
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