It’s always something when a Governor leaves and a new one comes
in. A few years ago, the exiting office holder agreed to a
below-market lease on land across from the old barge dock on St. John.
Almost under cover of night, Our Market was built and opened, and few
people knew what had happened and how scarce parking land had suddenly
disappeared.
The latest stunt is Gov. Charles Turnbull’s proposal to the VI
Senate that it approve pay raises. Not to look gift horses in the
mouth, the Senators agreed to vote themselves a $20,000 pay raise,
boosting their annual pay to $85,000. The Governor’s salary was nearly
doubled, to $150,000 from $80,000, and is retroactive to October 1st,
which means Turnbull will get a going away catch-up check and that his
retirement benefit will also be higher than it would be otherwise.
E-mails to the St. John Source were critical of the last-minute pay
raises. "The former governor … and the 26th so-called Legislature
have proven to be even more despicable that even the most critical of
us have stated," writes Paul Devine, a St. John resident. "This latest
11th-hour pay raise and the benefits they will accrue will be a lasting
testimony to an era of mishandlings, greed, inability and corruption," the Source reported."
Here’s an idea. Gov. deJongh should refuse the raise, or earmark
the bulk of the $70,000 boost to go to charity or a public works
project.