Jan. 28, 2003 – Leaders of the V.I. Republican Party are in the nation's capital this week for a series of Republican National Committee functions running Monday through Saturday.
State chair Jim Oliver, national committeewoman Lilliana Belardo de O'Neal and national committeeman Holland Redfield are to meet with President Bush at the White House on Friday, according to a release.
Along with Belardo and Redfield, five other Virgin Islanders are to attend a luncheon with Vice President Dick Cheney: George Blackhall, Republican Territorial Committee vice chair; Vincen "Beef" Clendinen, committee treasurer; Molly Mills-Fuchs; Sam Baptiste, former executive director; and Lawrence Boschulte, St. Thomas-St. John Board of Elections chair.
Blackhall also was to attend the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
On Friday, all of the Virgin Islanders are to attend the party's Northeast Region breakfast to discuss the Northeast Leadership Conference set for May 15-18 at Carambola Beach Resort on St. Croix.
Belardo was named to the RNC's Rules Committee, which will be instrumental in charting plans for the 2004 Republican National Convention.
At a Republican Territorial Committee meeting on Saturday, Oliver announced the appointment of Robert Acosta as assistant to the executive director. At that meeting, the committee certified nine new members: Celia Clendinen-Tonge, Susan Davis, Linda Gardner, Robert Kosick, James Martin and Elissa Runyon in the St. Thomas district; and Robert Acosta, Samuel Baptiste and Maria Santiago on St. Croix.
The next territorial committee meeting is set for March 8.
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