May 6, 2008 — After deciding last month to keep the July 27 deadline set up for the Fifth Constitutional Convention, delegates on Tuesday voted to ask the Legislature to give the body until next March to complete a final document.
"It is evident now that we need more time to complete this document," Delegate Mario Francis said during Tuesday's plenary session, held at the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Center on St. Thomas. "We want to take our time and do it properly."
Francis' motion raised concerns for several other delegates, who said they had hoped to have the constitution back in the territory by March 2009 for a final vote.
"There had been a suggestion before that March 31 should become, in V.I. history, known as Constitution Day," said Delegate Douglas Brady. "But that can only be done if the constitution goes into effect that day, or if people vote to approve the constitution."
Later in the meeting, it was suggested that the deadline be extended to mid-November 2008, which would give the delegates about a year from which they were sworn in to complete the process. Hours of squabbling over the timelines killed the idea, and delegates voted 12 to 8 to approve the March 2009 date.
Voting in favor of the motion were delegates Adelbert Bryan, Francis, Stedman Hodge, Myron Jackson, Gerard Luz James II, Wilma Marsh Monsanto, Mary Moorhead, Kendall Petersen, Claire Roker, Robert Schuster, Lawrence Sewer and Alecia Wells.
Voting against the motion were delegates Craig Barshinger, Brady, Gerard Emanuel, Lois Hassell-Habtes, Francis Jackson, Richard Schrader, Elsie Thomas-Trotman and Lisa Williams.
The additional time would give the convention a chance to launch a campaign to educate the public about what is included in the constitution and the importance of voting for it, delegates said.
The motion to ask the Legislature to extend the deadline was also amended by Petersen, who asked that the years 1733, 1848 and 1878 be written into the constitution as national holidays. Transfer Day would also be recognized as Constitution Day, he said.
Exact dates to go along with each year were later approved by the delegation, along with a motion mandating that rough drafts from each of the convention's standing committees be submitted by July 1.
The delegates also approved a motion to pay all outstanding debts — including member stipends and unspecified reimbursements — from a $200,000 appropriation recently passed by the Legislature. The appropriation has to be approved or vetoed by the governor by Friday, according to James.
The convention has about $43,657 left in its operating budget, said Francis, the delegation's treasurer.
Meanwhile, Bryan used some of his speaking time during the meeting to attack East Indians.
Pointing to a reporter sitting in the room, Bryan said the East Indian community in the territory has been given its own local radio show on Sundays, and "emigrated" to places like Guyana and Trinidad as indentured laborers, instead of as slaves. He also commented on the number of East Indian shop owners on Main Street.
Monsanto objected to the context of Bryan's tirade and later left the room.
Reading from the convention's code of ethics, James explained that delegates should conduct themselves "at all times" in a manner that reflects "respectfully on the Fifth Constitutional Convention."
Bryan responded that the code's language "means nothing."
"That statement is so empty I can almost say anything in here," he said. "That ethical conduct thing is a joke. It's just in there for style."
At the last plenary session in April, Bryan pointed to a white reporter attending the meeting and shouted, "You better watch out — we're going to drive you people out of here."
Absent from Tuesday's meeting were delegates Violet Anne Golden, Clement "Cain" Magras, Thomas K. Moore, Charles W. Turnbull, Arturo Watlington, Rena Brodhurst, Arnold Golden, and Eugene Petersen.
Editor's Note: Ananta Pancham is an East Indian Virgin Islander.
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