Yes, I'm running for delegate. Well actually , I'm running to be a delegate. The governor has signed into law Act 6688 which calls for the convening of the fifth Virgin Islands Constitutional Convention. The convention is going to be comprised of thirty delegates. Thirteen from the district of St. Croix, thirteen from the district of St. Thomas/St. John, and four elected at-large. I am very much interested in being one of these delegates and participating in the process of writing our constitution.
The delegates will be elected at a special election to be held on the second Tuesday in February 2006. So yes, I am declaring my intentions very early. That is because the delegates to this convention need to be well prepared if they are to accomplish this task in the limited time frame made available to them. I have already started to do my research; I have read the National Civic League's Model State Constitution from cover to cover. The next step is for me to do some research into the progress made at the previous conventions.
Why is this so important to me? The adoption of a constitution is the ultimate act of self-determination of a people and a sign of political maturity. That was the case when the Constitution of the United States was written. That was also the case when all other states of the Union adopted their constituition. As a Crucian patriot it is a goal of mines to see my people exercise this same act of self-determination and demonstrate that we are in fact politically mature.
A constitution is important because it is written by delegates elected by the very people who will live under its laws. The current Organic Act that governs the Virgin Islands was written on behalf of the Congress of the United States and was given final approval by the Congress, not the people of the Virgin Islands. Whenever we desire to make a change in the fundamental laws of the land, we are required to seek Congressional approval. That is why we end up with piecemeal solutions to our structural issues. The desire to reduce the size of the Senate, to elect the Attorney General, to create electoral sub-districts, to establish municipal government, numbered seating, to create a Supreme Court, etc. These are all better discussed and analyzed within the framework of a constitutional convention because they are all constitutional issues. In the coming weeks and months I will be sharing with you my opinions on how these issues fit into a well crafted constitution. By February 2006, I hope to have my own draft constitution.
Now for my colleagues who are doubtful as to the possible success of a constitutional convention, I will admit yes, we have been down this road four times before. We tried in 1965, 1972, 1978, and 1980 with no success. But that last convention was in 1980, 24 years ago. I was still a toddler not yet in kindergarten. We tried four times in the space of 15 years and did not try again for 24 more years. In March of 2006, it would have been 26 years since the last convention. We will have matured a lot since then. The socio-economic patterns have changed significantly since then. Most importantly, this delegation will probably have a number of fresh new faces. We will get this done and I want to be there to make sure it gets done and gets done right!