Home Commentary Op-ed Source Manager’s Journal: Governor DeJongh

Source Manager’s Journal: Governor DeJongh

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In less than four weeks, John DeJongh Jr. will officially be a “lame duck” governor. Most of his two terms has been spent dealing with the fallout from the worst financial and economic crisis in 70 years, along with the impact of a devastating local event, the Hovensa closing.

With rare exceptions – North Dakota and its energy boom come to mind –deJongh’s colleagues elected at the same time have all governed through an extremely difficult period.

But I believe that it is accurate to state that no other chief executive, none, has faced a set of challenges as daunting as those that deJongh has. Especially for St. Croix, there has been no other jurisdiction that has taken such heavy blows with such limited resources.

Being governor of a small place means being buffeted by social and economic forces beyond your control. There was nothing that the Virgin Islands could do to avoid the impact of the Great Recession. Economic forces, rather than any policy option, drove the refinery closing. The decline of the U.S. Congress into banana republic dysfunctionality and corruption is not a development that any governor or delegate can change. The tail does not wag the dog.

But, in addition to these forces, deJongh confronted a set of local challenges that are unlike those in even the most screwed up state on the mainland. These include a bureaucracy that with few exceptions, Human Services comes to mind, has been in a state of advanced decay for decades, a decay that measurably advanced under his predecessor.

Then there is the Virgin Islands Senate, a legislative body so riven by factions and posturing that its members appear to not even know that they should be embarrassed. A jolt as stunning as the forthcoming decertification of the Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital does not appear to be sufficient to shake them out of their deluded view of reality and “gimme” attitudes.

The governor has had to deal with this “Let’s throw sand in the gears” bunch from day one. Like their narcissistic peers in the United States Congress, the senators have never been able to subordinate their own desires to the public good, and, like the Tea Party in the U.S. Congress, their default position is always opposition, in particular opposition to responsible actions proposed by Government House.

Finally, on the local level, the governor has had an electorate mired in passivity and pessimism. For his opponents, no good deed would go unpunished or un-distorted. For most Virgin Islanders, no good deed or positive effort would even be noticed or acknowledged.

On the mainland, facing difficult, but not as difficult, circumstances, governors have taken different paths. Some have seen depressed economies and voter anger as an opportunity to press conservative social causes, slashing taxes, restricting abortion, cutting programs for poor people and restricting voting rights. They have deepened divisions in an already badly divided country and created big problems for their states down the road.

Other states’ governors, California’s comes to mind, have governed with great responsibility. They have avoided wedge politics and taken a range of difficult steps, often angering core constituencies to achieve stability and minimize the damage being done by the recession.

These governors searched for the “least worst” choices when there were no good ones available. They will leave behind a foundation for future growth and the rebuilding of communities ravaged by recession and poverty. There are not that many of them, but deJongh belongs in this group.

The V.I. governor’s critics will totally reject this view. They will point to this or that bad thing that he has done. They will invariably have had a better solution, a simple one. As H.L. Mencken said, “For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” On the mainland, these usually involve bombing something or giving someone rich a tax break. In the Virgin Islands, it typically requires cutting slack for some favored constituent or group.

Governing is the art of achieving what is possible. It is about getting things done, often under adverse circumstances. And in difficult times, it involves choosing between bad and worse. It is an imperfect art, and it is left to those who never make executive decisions to pretend that there is a happy solution out there, even though they can never name it.

DeJongh has been good at making these hard choices, very good, and Virgin Islanders have been fortunate to have him as governor at an extremely difficult time. It was his bad luck to govern during such a period. We can only imagine how he would have moved the territory forward in good times, when responding to disasters was not a full-time job.

13 COMMENTS

  1. You’re making excuses for DeJongh. You have been assimilated into the Island mentality of “overlook.” I voted for Dejongh. Prior Governors, less intelligent than DeJongh, have skated with fabulous wealth. The corruption, nepotism and cronyism continued, unabated. You need look no further than the failure to prosecute certain people and some of the utterly unqualified individuals appointed to Agency heads (and hundreds of other positions). Prosecutions only occur against what appear to be absolutely lost causes – the sacrificial calf. Others remain in their six figure positions, criminals serve their sentences and come back to work for Government. But you still make the excuses, as if it’s just “O.K.”.

  2. It does not matter that our governor cannot control certain forces. Many will still hate the governor despite all his effort to save the government from collasping. As stated, no good deed goes unpunished. A cynic like Local always sees a half-empty g;ass. It is easy for the pessimists to criticize but notice they never have solutions, just conspiracy theories. They would love to see the governor get jail time because they think every government official is corrupt. Do they ever produce evidence of corruption? Can they propose any viable solution? Can they find anything positive about this governor? Local and others are just haters! They can not do better because it is simply their natures to be negative. John P. de Jongh did his best but it will not be enough for the haters.

  3. “like the Tea Party in the U.S. Congress, their default position is always opposition, in particular opposition to responsible actions proposed by Government House.”
    ——-
    Hey Frank, lay off the Kool Aid and snap out of it. The Tea Party and Congress are not like and have nothing to do with what is going on here. The House in Washington has passed more than 350 bills which sit on Harry-the real obstructionist-Reid’s desk. He will not bring any of them up for a vote because it would be hard to blame the GOP and that “Do nothing Congress” if the truth was known. Try spreading a little TRUTH instead of the tired misinformation spewed by a failed Democratic administration.
    ——-
    I know that truth to a Kool Aid drinking liberal is like a crucifix thrown into the face of a Vampire: Intolerable.

  4. No, I felt the whole guard-house and fence issue in Mafolie was a waste of time, but great political fodder for those that would’ve elected someone else. Who was it last time? Kenneth Mapp? A solution would have been to cut government waste, enforce the voter’s position on limitation of number of legislators, maybe even stop the government largesse. Dejongh was better than the alternative, no doubt, but the game of nepotism and cronyism has continued unabated. Nobody hates, just observes. True haters wouldn’t have voted for Dejongh. Negative? No. Just a loss of optimism over the years when you see the continuing shenanigans. The entitlement attitude continues.

  5. Sitting on 350 bills which either strip an unemployed person of any help or dignity, impeach the President, sue the President, call the minimum wage a ‘livable wage’, do everything you can to stop people from voting,do what can be done with partisan Judges to make sure the vast majority of poor have no access to health insurance, give your fealty to the Koch Brothers at the expense of the Country they swore to uphold and deny the fact there are people living in the US who don’t know where their next mouthful of food is coming from.
    These are the bills Harry Reid is ‘sitting’ on. What about the appointments stacked up like cordwood that Bohnhead will not bring to the floor. Especially those of economic importance in the Cabinet Position.
    All of the above is reason enough to draw comparisons to our legislature, who’s only reason for being a legislature is to find fault with the Governor and do their best to hamstring every effort on his part to think toward the future.
    Mafoliegate is completely made up. It has been so long since we have had a married Governor with school age children we can’t fathom how much it would cost to have the Governor live in the Governor’s Mansion. Mafoliegate would be peanuts compared to the cost of upgrading the mansion.
    On that note, name one bill that came out of the legislature that helped the taxpayer. Is it the one where government employees can take 2 years off, maintain seniority and have their insurance paid for by us, the taxpayer? You know who pays for the Senators largesse? You and I pay for it.
    The GERS is going broke, but they’ve loaned money which was never returned, gave ‘Bonuses’ and have made foolish decisions based on the idea we, the taxpayers, will bail them out.
    I could go on and on regarding this legislature and its lack of intestinal fortitude, But I want to finish by thanking Governor DeJongh for being there when we most needed him. If he had not pursued Diageo, our bonds would be rated Junk, like PR and Detroit. He had to do it in spite of the STX Senators.
    I can name a hundred difficult decisions the Governor had to make and did so. I can think of a hundred difficult decisions where the Legislature ignored the urgency or got in the way.
    Who knows, Hovensa may have been sold if they had not interfered and now that there is a possibility, the Crucian Senators want all the revenue for 20 years. They act like they had anything positive to do with the outcome of the refinery.
    History will show we had a strong,forward thinking and intelligent Governor, just when we needed one.
    Thank you Governor.

  6. So Harry Reid is sitting on only the “bad bills” sent in by the GOP. LOL! Listen to yourself. Drunk on Kool Aid and being made a fool of by the ugly Reid. Harry Reid and Nancy “we have to pass the bill to see what’s in it” Pelosi are laughing at you, Kenny. They are counting on you to pass on their narrative. Here’s another lie coming outta the DNC about the GOP budget cuts stopped the CDC from inventing an Ebola vaccine. The Truth is that the House gave them more money than Obola asked for in January. They gave them MORE money than asked for. What do liars do? They lie. What do fools do? They believe them.
    ——–
    Although, I agree with you on the Governor’s tough decisions.
    ——–
    http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4a0_1413306037&comments=1

  7. Yeah, I don’t think so. The goal of the TP’rs is obstruction and “my way or the highway.” The silly “kool aid” response is all you’ve got, marching to the new corporate facism and spouting the party line that has changed America substantially by putting most of her assets in the hands of a very few people. And fools? Fools goosestep to the orders of their corporate masters, unknowingly and unwittingly continuing to enrich the chosen few. Not unlike what the V.I. voters seem to do a the other end of the spectrum. Crumbs for all.

  8. “Fools goosestep to the orders of their corporate masters, unknowingly and unwittingly continuing to enrich the chosen few.” LOL! Kool Aid? LOL! You’re beyond the Kool Aid, Local, you’re in the tank! And I love this: “marching to the new corporate facism and spouting the party line that has changed America substantially by putting most of her assets in the hands of a very few people.” Barrump! Barrump! Get off your a$$ and work for your money and don’t worry about what the other guy is making. As evidenced by your post, I know you’re not smart enough to invent the iPhone so get your mind off their wallet. Earn your own and stop whining. You sound like an angry child. And we know that Truth to a child minded liberal is like a cross being thrown into the face of a Vampire: Intolerable. . . . . “Crumbs for all!” LOL! Rich, very rich! “Crumbs I say!” I’m surprised you didn’t use the “let them eat cake” line.

  9. Balance, grasshopper. You, and most of the tea party minions, are the ones that sound like angry children, doing and reciting exactly the words put in your mouth by multinational corporations set on one thing. More profits. I do fine, a registered Republican that feels the TP is the worst thing that has happened to the party. There’s a difference between wanting reasonable parity, working hard and helping people, and just mouthing what you’re fed by people with a single goal – further enriching themselves. I’m watching Stateside mid term politics right now, and much of what my party is doing is embarrassing. A lot of outright lies – I’d say about 4:1 compared to the Democrat’s malarkey- but it helps hang onto the TP vote. It’s the GOVERNMENT, of, for and by itself, not any particular party these days, and its spiraling out of control. With your partisan help, of course.

  10. Angry? All the Tea Party wants is less government, less government in people’s lives and less (wasted) taxes. Yea, that’s really angry. You’ve bought the narrative. There’s nothing more I can say. You see, I’m old enough to remember a different time. When the government was in the background and not in my face trying to control the way I live my life. A free-er time. Not this time.

  11. Once again, balance. Checks and balances. Government spending and largesse is out of control. The Gov’t. at all levels is self-protective, of, for and by itself. You yourself have “bought the narrative” that if you haven’t got anything else, resort to name calling. Republicans spend just as much as Democrats and it continues to expand. If, for example, fines and regulations on poisoning the environment aren’t high enough and strong enough, there’s $$ in dumping. When things are profit driving, fines are factored into the decisions to dump or destroy. On the other end is the patent waste (in the V.I. in particular) in cronyism and the protection of the Gov’t employees. If you buy the malarkey from either end of the political spectrum, well, balance.

  12. You’re welcome. The Source is an ongoing he-can-do-no-wrong Dejongh supporter. At the other end of the spectrum, the Daily Caller articles a couple years ago have never been proven, and seemed to have died the death of bad rumours. You still got to wonder. If the Virgin Islands gets much deeper, maybe it is time for Stateside factors to come into play from a Federal perspective and take down some of the worst actors. Instead of just hitting a sophomoric legislator that got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. He clearly had guidance, but not enough instruction in the fine art of politico/financial self enrichment. I warned him to his face prior to his first election at a “soiree” at Botany Bay. And he went ahead and did it anyway.

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