The Home Journal

The chairman of the Virgin Islands Unity Party took issue with Governor Gordon who sent a bill to the legislature during the recent special session to "confirm and validate" the code. This is not enough, Mr. Hill stated.

Mr. Hill declared: The legislature must pass the new Virgin Islands Code in the proper formal manner required by legislative procedure, and thus forever lift the cloud of uncertainty and illegality from this most important body of laws. Valdemar Hill declared Friday night in a speech over radio station WSTA. "On the last day of the special session up came Mocko Edwards of the Interior with richly embossed copies of the so called Virgin Islands Code. He walked among the Senators handing out the volumes as if he had been Santa Claus bringing them the treasured Christmas gift they had dreamed and yearned for all year. Sure, the printing, the format and the brick red hard-cover and gold printing is excellent. But this is one time we cannot judge the book by its cover. Because, what is between the pages of these covers is not law."

"Unity Party Senators said so from May 15, 1957. But it took Governor Gordon until almost the end of the recent special session to realize that they were right. After being pressured from above along with perhaps some judicial persuasion, he sent an amendment to the Code to the legislature which sounds quite innocent, but is dynamite. The amendment was to "confirm and validate the Virgin Islands Code."

Listen to those words carefully, "to confirm and validate the Virgin Islands Code."

Continued on page 4
Valdemar Hill
In Radio Speech

(The following is the full text of the speech delivered over radio station WSTA Friday night by Valdemar A. Hill, president of the Virgin Islands Unity Party. The radio series of programs is heard every Friday night at 6:45.)

Tonight I have the opportunity to chat with you again. Well, it is now twelve days before Christmas. Everybody is getting ready for the holiday season, each of us in our own way. But you will agree with me that the old Virgin Islands spirit of Christmas is not with us any more. Times have changed and so have customs and conditions. But we have to make the best of what we have.

Talking about Christmas, over in St. Croix they are getting ready for the Christmas Festival. According to newspaper and radio reports and letters from friends, they are really going all out this year to have a good time. Naturally, hundreds of St. Thomians are going over to celebrate with their Crucian friends and family. So if you have no other plans, make sure to get your reservation now on Caribair to go to St. Croix for the Christmas Festival.

Of course, as the old saying goes, without powder you can't shoot. And so it is with Christmas. Without money you can't celebrate. If our Government was running as it used to a few years back, scores of women would have been busy from the first of December weeding the catchment areas, roads, and cemeteries, and thus making some money to celebrate the Christmas holidays. But this year, up to now they have not been taken on by the Public Works Department.

Now, if our Legislature had provided the money for this work during the regular session in April to June, they would have been at work now. Again, if the Governor had not been so bullheaded, and had called the special session when he was asked to do so by the Unity Party they also would have been working now. But as usual, true to the bungling of the present Administration, the Governor chose to call the session at such a late date that the women will get very little work before Christmas. And then, we are not sure that they will get their money in time. But, my friends, that is all part of the changing times which we, Virgin Islanders have to endure.

Well, we have another visit from the Secretary of the Interior, the Honorable Fred A. Seaton. You will remember that he visited us last December when he came down to accept the land in St. John from Mr. Rockefeller for the National Park. We are glad to have the Secretary with us, but as usual we are sorry that his visit will be so short. He is here only to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Virgin Islands Corporation. There are so many matters of interest to the welfare of the people that the Secretary should look into personally, that it is a pity he can't stay a week or two with us. After all he will be on official business, he would be helping the people of the Virgin Islands, and he would be getting away from the snow-storms on the mainland.

The St. Thomas Citizens Committee had requested a conference with Mr. Seaton on such important problems as airport development, water supply, and the proposed 300 unit public housing project. However, the Secretary informed the Committee that his schedule is so tight he wouldn't have time for the conference. He has been good enough, though, to assign Mr. Anthony T. Lausi, Director of Territories, to meet with the Citizens Committee. This is better than nothing at all - or maybe it is nothing at all. It all depends on how you want to look at it. I am sure you know my viewpoint without mentioning it.

My friends, in preparing for this chat with you tonight, I came across a definition of a legislator, which I think could be used for our Senators. Goes as follows: "A legislator must be sensitive to the problems of the area in which he lives. He must have sufficient knowledge - or know where to get it--to challenge the opposition, as well as the executive and administrative officials. He must be adept in the ways and means of the legislative procedure."

You notice in the definition that he must have sufficient knowledge to challenge the opposition and the executive officials. This means that he must not be a rubber stamp for the administration, but be ready to oppose its policies when they are against the interest of the people he represents.

VALDEMAR A. HILL

Suppose you take time out in your own mind to measure the coalition senators with this yardstick. Yes, I have the same answer that you got- they just don't measure.

But the part of the definition which fits my chat with you tonight perfectly is the last sentence which goes as follows: "He must be adept in the ways and means of legislative procedure." This means he must not only know the ways and means of legislative procedure, be familiar with them, but he must know how to apply them skillfully in order to obtain his objectives for the benefit of the people, and to protect their rights.

RAILROADED BILLS

The coalition senators are woefully lacking in this ability to apply the ways and means of legislative procedure. In fact, often times they have simply forgotten the rules of business and railroaded bills thru the legislature.

Take for instance, the case of the socalled Virgin Islands Code. On May 15, 1957. after cooking up a scheme to humbug the minority members during the morning, at two o'clock that day President Aubrey Anduze demonstrated his inability to follow legislative procedure to a surprised gathering.

Wilfully and maliciously ignoring the Rules of Business, soon after a quorum was established, he demanded the roll call vote on the Virgin Islands Code, although the bill was still under discussion and open for amendments from the floor. Immediately, Senator Earle B. Ottley raised a point of order, which the president promptly ignored and continued to have the bill shouted through to passage.

Realizing that where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise, the five minority senators walked out before their names were called on the roll. Those five senators whose names will go down in our history for their courage and foresight are Earle B. Ottley, Walter I. M. Hodge, Percival H. Reese, Joseph A. Gomez, and Weymouth Rhymer.

These men knew that the President had committed one of the worst errors of legislative procedure. So they immediately signed affidavits before a notary public notifying the Governor, the United States Attorney, and the President of the Legislature, that they were not present when the Code bill was voted on, and that there was no quorum, so the bill was not legally passed.

You may ask why did they take that action. That's a good question. They wanted the Governor to be advised ahead of time that the document which would come to his desk signed by the president and legislative secretary and looked like a bill properly enacted was a phony and was illegally passed.

However, Governor Gordon in his glee for having accomplished the great feat of getting the Virgin Islands Code enacted, only could think of the pats on the back and congratulations he would get from Interior officials. So he promptly ignored the affidavit which was handed to him personally by a Senator in the presence of another Senator, and signed the bill.

On the last day of the special session up came Mocko Edwards, of the Interior with richly embossed copies of the socalled V. I. Code. He walked among the Senators handing out the volumes as if he had been Santa Claus bringing them the treasured (Continued on page 8)
Valdemar R. Hill
In Radio Speech

Christmas gift they had dreamed and yearned for all year. Sure, the printing, the format, and the brick-red hard-cover and gold printing is excellent. But this is one time we cannot judge the book by its cover. Because, what is between the pages of those covers is not law.

Unity Party Senators said so from May 15, 1957. But it took Governor Gordon until almost the end of the recent special session to realize that they were right. After being pressured from above along with perhaps some judicial persuasion, he sent an amendment to the Code to the Legislature which sounds quite innocent, but is dynamite. The amendment was to "confirm and validate the Virgin Islands Code." Listen to those words carefully, my friends, "to confirm and validate the Virgin Islands Code."

At last the Governor was publicly acknowledging the fact that the Code was only words printed on paper, but it was not law, because it was not enacted according to legislative procedure. I took time Out to look up the meaning of the words "confirm" and "validate" in an Oxford Dictionary. "Confirm" means "To make valid by formal authoritative assent". So when we confirm a document it is to give it the clothing of formal assent which it did not have before. "Validate" means to "Render and declare good or adequate in law." So, Governor Gordon was telling his "helpful majority" in the Legislature that they must now "make good and adequate in law" the railroad job they botched up on May 15, 1957, during the regular session. What the Governor did last, he should have done first. But that's just like him anyhow, always putting the cart before the horse. Before signing the Code into law after he had been put on notice by a strong minority that it was not legally passed he should have asked the Legislature during the same regular session to confirm and validate their action. No. He didn't do that, he was working for stripes from the Interior Department. Now, he himself, has ripped them off. 2 We know that the coalition Senators would be glad to hide their ignorance of legislative procedure by passing the Governor's proposal to "confirm and validate the Virgin Islands Code." But that is not enough. Far from enough. The important thing is for them to retrace their steps. pass the Code in the proper formal manner required by legislative procedure, and thus forever lift the cloud of uncertainty and illegality from this most important body of laws.

The reason for this is not to penalize them for their ignorance. That will come when the people vote in St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, next election. The reason is to safeguard the rights and welfare of the people whom they represent.

You know, it is dangerous for the majority in any legislature to play around with the Rules of Business. They can do a lot of harmful things before the people who voted for them know about them. For example, they can railroad bills to levy high and confiscatory taxes, to sell important and essential government property for a song, to ratify contracts for government work which is wasteful and unnecessary - to do anything. That is why Rules of Business are provided for such a body - so that the minority may have a say in such matters.

Your Unity Party Senators, along with Senator Hodge, had the courage to stand by their convictions and by their years of legislative experience. They were abused, ridiculed, and branded by local newspapers and their political opponents. But as Fate would have it, Governor Gordon, himself, came to their rescue by requesting that the Code be confirmed and validated. If the Code had been passed legally and in the proper manner from May 15, 1957, would it be necessary for him to request confirmation and validation at this late date after it has been printed in book form? Why hasn't he sent all the appropriation bills and other bills passed during the regular session for confirmation and validation? Why did he pick out only the Virgin Islands Code?

The answers to these questions are obvious, and I do not need to labor the point.

My friends, your Unity Party Senators will continue to give you that kind of courageous service despite political odds. They will stand on their conviction in your interest and welfare at all times, challenging the opposition as well as the executive and administrative officials when necessary. Yes, they will stand up by the definition of a legislator as I outlined at the beginning of this talk. I will repeat it now: 'The legislator must have sufficient knowledge - or know where to get it - to challenge the opposition as well as the executive and administrative officials. He must be adept in the ways and means of legislative procedure.' Measure your Unity Party Senators by this bushel, and you will not find them wanting.