The V.I. Supreme Court once again knocked Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen off the ballot for the St. Croix Senate race, in an opinion issued Friday evening, even though early voting began on Tuesday.
The court ordered Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes to "immediately recall all ballots with Hansen’s name and replace them with ballots omitting her as a candidate, or to otherwise remove Hansen’s name from the ballot, such as by covering her name with an adhesive sticker." [Supreme Court Hansen Order]
St. Croix Board of Elections Chair Adelbert Bryan sued earlier this year to force Hansen off the ballot, arguing Hansen’s three convictions for willful failure to file income tax were crimes of "moral turpitude," rendering her ineligible to serve. The V.I. Supreme Court ruled her ineligible in late August. Gov. John deJongh Jr. then pardoned Hansen, saying her candidacy should be judged by the voters.
DeJongh also petitioned the V.I. Supreme Court to rehear the case, and that court declined.
Hansen herself and a group of St. Croix voters separately brought suit to have Hansen returned to the ballot. U.S. District Judge Wilma Lewis issued orders directing Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes to put Hansen back on the ballot. (See Related Links below)
Bryan filed a motion to remand the case to V.I. Superior Court and seeking Fawkes be held in contempt of court for not following the Supreme Court’s pre-pardon order, and instead following the federal court’s post-pardon order. Bryan argued, among many other things, that his motions were grounded entirely in local law, without a federal question and so should be heard by local courts. He also moved to have the pre-pardon local court order to have Hansen removed from the ballot enforced.
Bryan’s attorney, Emile Henderson III, argued the Superior Court is required to enforce the Supreme Court’s previous order to take Hansen off the ballot, and said the governor’s pardon did not change that, even though it restored Hansen’s civil rights.
Instead, they argued Hansen was not eligible at the time she filed her papers so the papers were defective.
Attorneys for Fawkes and Hansen both argued that V.I. law gives candidates three days to file corrected papers. Henderson responded that the law only gives an automatic right to correct defects in the nominating papers, not eligibility. Hansen was ineligible at the time she filed because of the later Supreme Court decision saying she was ineligible, according to Henderson. The pardon may restore Hansen’s civil rights going forward, but not at the time the papers were filed, Henderson said. Because she was not eligible at the time, the papers are defective. Because the question is not about the papers but about eligibility, there is no right to correct them.
Brady ruled against Bryan.
Friday’s Supreme Court opinion overturns Brady’s decision and finds that Hansen did not have an automatic right to appeal, and that the District Court erred in its opinion ordering Hansen back onto the ballot.
Bryan also asked that Fawkes be held in contempt of court for following the District Court’s order to place Hansen back on the ballot, instead of Superior Court’s order to keep her off.
"Courts have not spoken with a single voice as to whether the issuance of two conflicting orders by two separate courts, in which one court’s order cannot be followed without violating the other court’s order, serves as a valid defense to the imposition of sanctions, whether for contempt or otherwise," Chief Justice Rhys Hodge wrote for the Court. But the Superior Court did not address Bryan’s claims of collusion between Fawkes and Hansen, Hodge wrote.
The court ordered the case remanded to Superior Court "to make the factual findings and legal conclusions necessary to determine whether Fawkes should be held in contempt."
Hodge said disputes between district courts and state supreme courts have an automatic right of appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and this case may well end up there.
Justice Maria Cabret wrote a separate opinion, partially concurring and partially dissenting. Cabret said she agreed with the legal reasoning of the majority up to the point of ordering the change to the ballot so late in the process, after voting has begun.
"So even though a month ago I would have joined the majority in again ordering that Hansen be removed from the ballot, I cannot do so now at the risk of disenfranchising those voters who have already cast a ballot for Hansen," Cabret said.
VI Watchdog
Brilliant ruling; all 63 pages of it! What a lesson in jurist prudence. Enough for a semester class. What a revelation of the deceit and trickery by Hansen and Fawkes! And what a display of the legal incompetence of Lee Rohn, the sloppiest Attorney in STX. The ruling is posted on the website of VI Supreme Court for all to read. Chucky is off the ballot, yay! Chucky should not even be sitting in the senate right now.
Rupert Ross and Raymond Williams, candidates for the re-election to the Board went to court two years ago to stop a recall for illegally placing Chucky on the ballot. Let this be a lesson to you Rupert and Raymond. I hope that no one votes for you to keep manipulating the election system. We are cleaning up corruption. By the way Rupert and Raymond, where is the 1.7 $million dollars missing from the Election System during your tenure with Rupert as Chair? What does Chucky know about the Election System that would keep you two defending her?
Thank you Bert Bryan. Everyone is on your side with this one. Your unceasing efforts to make sure we get electoral justice has paid off. Those last few believers in deJongh are now aware of his corrupt disposition because you forced DeJongh to reveal his crookedness with Chucky’s pardon.
Shame on you Judges Brady, friend of deJongh. And shame on you Wilma Lewis. Both of you deserve to be removed from the bench. I hope the Third Circuit is apprised of your judicial misconduct.
Shame on Curtis Gomez for hiding from us the Maryland income tax records of Basil-the-thief-Ottley, who if he were eligible would have posted his 5 VI tax returns for all to see. Judge Gomez, your judgeship term expires on Jan 1, 2015. I guess you need Donna’s help to get re-nominated, using the Delegate Christiansen who you just favored, and using the deJongh who is the delegate’s supporter in this election. I hope someone files a complaint about him with the Third Circuit Court.
No community can prosper if corruption is present. We are living the results of corruption right now. And we don’t need more of the same.
Some people don’t look in the mirror.
She never accused the accuser.
If Alicia can’t be in office then Bryan should also not be in any office.
We need to stop doing these things to each other and help each other to progress.
These are reasons we are not moving forward.
Wow
I hope you can do the same for yourself and family.
I guess it’s ok to break into stores after a hurricane or to shoot someone in the back and everything is okay.
I guess it’s okay to look down at people because of where they are from.
A trained former police shoots in the back.
A trained former police went to thief.
These cases need to reopen.
On again, off again, on again, off again . . .LOL! I like that Bert, the angry racist, Bryan was the major player in, what was it, oh yea: Moral Turpitude! LOL! He shot his SON! What is wrong with everyone? Suffering from “Bert Brain.” Neither of these two should be in the news anymore OR the government. Bert Brain and Chucky Syndrome – get over it! Heal yourselves! LOL!
OH YEA, Place the “adhesive sticker” over Hansen name and do it with a dark colored sticker making sure to cover the circle. Now the Bert-o-matic DS200 will record a vote from every ballot for Hansen!! Election will be considered fraud. New election called. Lots of court cases and tax money spent. I bet Chucky gets a lot of votes anyway.
VI Watchdog
Thank you Rhys Hodge and the Supreme Court for your wise decision. Notice these naysayers cannot say that your ruling was wrong.
If Chucky pays up the $180,000.00+ of unpaid taxes she owes to the VI Govt we would have enough money to reprint the ballots and with money left over. This woman has been illegally sitting in the senate for two terms! And she will scream how many benefits and how many laws she has passed to help people all the while with other people’s taxes. She and her fake College degrees which she fraudulently tried to use when she ran for governor and her losing lousy lawyer Lee must not be able to help her anymore. And Raymond Williams who was in the land swindling thieving office of the Lt Governor and the arrogant Rupert Ross will soon be exposed. I hope Fawkes is given a stiff sentence to be served under the jail. And cursing Bert Bryan will not make Chucky into a decent upstanding citizen. Bert Bryan, whether you love him or you used to hate him, you have to admit that at least for today and the future of no corrupt elections, Bert is a hero. At least today.
Chucky is a crook. Plain and simple. And if she had not been charged with her husband and others for trying to defraud the people out of millions in the fake Global contract they would not have unearthed her tax evading felony which was the original charge. And if that means that Chucky has to lose and her uneducated children who never show up to their $56,000 jobs at the Dept of Health in Stx then so be it.
Ding Dong the witch is gone.
Vi watch dog, you are not worth it. Listen to yourself on how you describe things.
You need to grow up and get some common sense.
I see that you support murder.
I see that you support racist people.
I feel bad for you to the fact that you are ignorant.
I don’t vote for chucky but I can simply see that you should not be attacking someone over and over.
The public needs to now push for murder on Adelbert Bryan.
Waste of skin just like you.
You are full of hate and people like you, need not to be trusted.
It seems like you are capable of anything.
You never know who can be the one to help you or your family today or in the future.
Get some sense and make it useful.
I’m done with wasting time with you.
The VI is certainly not immune to corruption however, the impact is definitely amplified because of it’s size. I urge all citizens to do their due diligence prior to the casting of any vote. I also urge all citizens to educate themselves on the history and power of political machines. All elections are critical however, we are at an all time high in terms of corruption. It runs deep. It travels high. Judges are no exception!
caribbeantongue
Forget about your hatred for Chucky and glory for the demon on the BOE. Justice is blind. Just look at the facts. Early voting has began. BOE approved the ballots with Chucky’s name. A federal judge ordered the supervisor to place her name on the ballot. She was given the #10. The recent ruling does not say she is ineligible to run for office, it does say her name cannot appear on the ballot. if she is an eligible candidate, why should her name not be on the ballot? Further, the ruling does not say her name cannot be written by the voter. The local law to refile her nomination was applied. Many voters have already bubbled the candate’s name and many others want to vote for her. What is the intent of the ruling? Is it intended for voters to spoil their ballots by writing the candidate’s name incorrectly? We know that all the masses may not be able to legibly write Alcia “Chucky” Hansen on their ballots. Who are being punished? Obviously those voters that have to write in Chucky’s name are being disenfranchised because they are not being treated equally. This is the most blatant example of election tempering and violation of the constitutional rights of the people. The U.S. Attorney General needs to investigate the two judges for misconduct. Such abuse of power should not be tolerated. The governor’s silence on this matter is chilling. So it is up to the people to demand justice!
Bert is a hero? He’s a racist and a killer. He killed his own son. Is that what heroes do? Kill their children? If you think that a shameless con man like Bert is a hero then it speaks more to who YOU are than that angry racist killer. He is a conniving fool who continues to fool his fools.
G.R. says and the plot thickens…….only in the United States Virgin Islands…….a total laughingstock for the congressmen and senators in Washington, D.C. and the rest of the nation…….LOL and LMAO…….
G.R. signing off…….
G.R. says to look at ghostrider_2 comments…….