  Zulu_warrior Member Username: Zulu_warrior Post Number: 3018 Registered: 10-2003 |
Democrats tap deJongh-Francis for the Government House race By Megan Poinski and Christine Lett Virgin Islands Daily News September 10, 2006...As he got out of his car and walked toward the throngs of supporters in the gravel lot near Percy's Bus Stop on St. Thomas on Saturday night, Democrat gubernatorial candidate John deJongh received the victor's welcome that he has been waiting for since 2002. Some supporters wrapped deJongh in crushing hugs. Some joined him in victory dances. He received hundreds of pats on the back. Towels and signs waved in the air, and armies of people in deJongh T-shirts cheered him on. "Now this is what you call a victory!" deJongh said as he took the stage. DeJongh and running mate Gregory Francis decisively won the Democratic nomination to be the territory's next governor and lieutenant governor in Saturday's primary election. With 7,041 votes, according to Saturday night's unofficial count, deJongh received 52.28 percent of Democrats' votes. Second place finishers Lt. Gov. Vargrave Richards and Roy Jackson received 3,894 votes - 3,147 fewer than deJongh and Francis and 28.9 percent of the total ballots cast. Edgar Ross and Senate President Lorraine Berry finished third, with 2,524 votes - 18.7 percent of the total. Although 516 absentee ballots still need to be counted, deJongh's lead was large enough to seal his victory on Saturday night. DeJongh said that his win in the primary had to do with his message - "Together We Can!" - resonating with the voters, as well as voters having a better idea of who he is. DeJongh is no stranger to gubernatorial voters; he placed second in the 2002 gubernatorial race, when he ran as an independent. He received almost 25 percent of the total vote but ultimately was bested by incumbent Gov. Charles Turnbull. At their St. Thomas headquarters, deJongh and his wife, Cecile, thanked their supporters and urged them to keep working - the campaign is not yet over. He congratulated his opponents for running a good race and thanked the territory's Democrats for coming out and voting. The Democratic party is founded on unity, deJongh said, and he urged his supporters to unite with those who campaigned with Richards and Ross to help ensure a November victory. "We have to embrace everyone," deJongh said. "We want to bring everyone into this fold. Embrace them, take them in, and make sure they are part of us." After making a quick appearance at his St. Thomas headquarters, deJongh and his wife took a chartered flight to St. Croix to continue the celebration with Francis, his wife Cheryl, and their supporters on the big island. Saturday night, Francis was glad that everything worked out so well. This is an indicator that the people are looking for good leadership, he said. "Now we want to bring all of the people together and make a change in the Virgin Islands," Francis said. At the deJongh-Francis St. Croix headquarters at the Sion Farm Shopping Center, the party got started early with campaign supporters and well-wishers flocking to the storefront office soon after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Trays of food lined tables underneath a tent just outside the headquarters entrance. Hundreds of deJongh supporters filled the center's parking lot - some sitting in lawn chairs and other mingling in and out of the office with drinks and food in hand. By the time the early tallies started rolling in and deJongh and Francis were clearly holding on to a strong lead, the DJ began blasting calypso music and the crowd started dancing and cheering the campaign slogan, "Together We Can!" Many Democratic candidates also made their way to the deJongh-Francis headquarters to celebrate. The Democrat gubernatorial candidates finally arrived at the St. Croix headquarters around 10:45 p.m., and both thanked their supporters for their hard work. DeJongh and Francis will go on to face independent candidates Kenneth Mapp and Almando Liburd and Sen. Adlah Donastorg Jr. and Cora Christian in November's General Election. Both the Richards-Jackson and Ross-Berry teams set up their St. Croix campaign headquarters at the Villa La Reine Shopping Center. As the votes were tallied and announced Saturday night, the offices and parking lot that had been bustling with people and music quieted down and slowly emptied out. Richards, who arrived at the headquarters with Jackson shortly after the votes were counted, said he called deJongh to wish him well - "which was the right thing to do." Both he and Jackson encouraged their supporters to put aside the bitter loss and put their full support behind the Democratic candidate for governor. "We cannot continue to fuss," Richards said. "We have to support people. Until we get there, we will have major challenges." Richards said he and Jackson ran an "upright" campaign and stood above the fray with integrity, focusing on real issues and objectives. He said voters were faced with two Crucian candidates for governor and that may have split the vote at the polls. In addition, his team lacked the "financial wherewithal" to run a massive campaign, he said. Jackson also said that their campaign had operated on a "shoestring budget." He added that he and Richards may have started campaigning too late. The deJongh camp had been campaigning actively for more than a year and had made tangible in-roads on St. Croix. In a brief speech before supporters, Richards said he was grateful for their passion and dedication to his team. "I think we ran a clean campaign - maybe too clean - and I think we set a high standard," he said. Ross and Berry watched the count from their headquarters at the La Reine Shopping Center with a small group of supporters. The team spent Saturday visiting every poll in the territory beginning on St. John, then St. Thomas and finally on St. Croix. In the end, Ross said the result "was a little surprising, but I accept it." Ross, a retired Territorial Court judge and Frederiksted native, said he could not pinpoint any one reason he and Berry placed third - it could have been that the deJongh-Francis team was more organized or that only loyal Democrats voted in the primary. "This team has been criticized for not being true Democrats or for not being true to the Democratic party - me not being a true Democrat and Berry not being true to the Democratic party," Ross said. Berry was upbeat after the long day of poll visits and a motorcade. After the final result, Berry left without speaking to the media to catch a flight to St. Thomas. A campaign worker said she would be available at another time. Berry said in an earlier interview that she would be disappointed, but not upset, if she had lost. "I think we would have to do more to educate people about the power of the vote and about the issues that women and families are facing," she said. Berry served 24 years as St. Thomas senator before deciding to run for a higher office. Although she wanted to run at least four years before, she delayed the move to encourage women to enter politics, she said. "It has been a very good experience, and I will write my memoirs," she said. "It was an extraordinary challenge for me over the years." The three gubernatorial teams competing for the Democratic nomination helped draw more voters to the polls than most primaries. Of 36,158 eligible voters territorywide, 14,338 - close to 40 percent - cast votes in the primary, according to unofficial results provided Saturday night by the V.I. Election System. Officials were not able to provide voting breakdowns by district or by party affiliation. Those numbers were up from the 11,205 voters - a third of the 33,590 eligible voters - who participated in the 2004 primary. In the 2002 primary, 30 percent of the 33,964 eligible voters turned out. - Aesha Duval and Lynn Freehill contributed to this report. | ||
Zulu_warrior Member Username: Zulu_warrior Post Number: 3019 Registered: 10-2003 |
John P. deJongh, born on November 13, 1957, is the eldest of three sons of John P. de Jongh, Sr., and Delores Webb de Jongh. John also has two sisters, Judy McCoy and Mary Frate. John attended Sts. Peter and Paul School on St. Thomas until his parents divorced. As a single parent, his mother, Delores, raised John and his brothers, Stanley and Sydney, while working as a social worker with the Detroit Public Schools. John graduated from Catholic Central High School in 1977 and went on to Antioch College where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1981. While at Antioch, John held work-study jobs in Houston, Philadelphia, Detroit and St. Thomas, and he also completed an urban study program in the United Kingdom, the former Yugoslavia and Holland. Immediately after college, John returned home to the Virgin Islands. His first job was with Tri-Island Economic Development Council. While at Tri-Island, John developed and successfully obtained grant funding for the re-development of historic structures in Savan and Frederiksted. Subsequently, John was hired by Chase Manhattan Bank and selected to attend its Credit Development Program in Puerto Rico. During his six years at Chase, John became the first Country Consumer Manager responsible for all consumer banking products in the U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and St. Maarten. Under John’s leadership Chase installed the first off-site ATMs, increased home mortgage lending, as well as personal loans, and changed the bank’s focus to consumer lending in the BVI. In 1986, John married Cecile René Galiber of St. Croix, daughter of the late Dr. Andre Galiber and Edith Rose Lewis Galiber. Though John’s time at Chase was extremely positive, he was drawn to public service. Governor Juan Luis appointed him to the Industrial Development Commission in 1984, and later reappointed him. John was the youngest Commissioner of Finance when appointed to the position by Governor Alexander A. Farrelly, a position once held by his grandfather, Percy de Jongh. As Commissioner from 1987 to 1990, John was central in drafting legislation establishing the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority and serving as its first Executive Director. He also helped draft legislation establishing and funding the Capital Improvement Program, and the Affordable Housing Program. He also oversaw the completion of the Leroy Quinn Building on St. Croix and wrote the GAAP Conversion, the work plan for the Government’s financial reporting. As Chairman of the Governing Board of the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (1988-1992), John oversaw the execution of bond offerings that were essential in providing funding for new power generating units on St. Croix and St. Thomas and for the underground power cable servicing St. John. He ensured the smooth transition when the water system was transferred from the Department of Public Works to WAPA, and initiated the Alva MacFarlane Scholarship Program, which has allowed numerous Virgin Islanders to further their education in engineering and related fields. From 1990 to 1992, John also served as Executive Assistant to Governor Farrelly, a position that his father, John de Jongh, Sr., had once held during earlier Administrations. As Executive Assistant to the Governor, John coordinated and implemented gubernatorial policy throughout executive branch departments and agencies. While serving as Executive Assistant to the Governor, he also held the position of Director of Finance and Administration of the V.I. Public Finance Authority. In 1993 John reentered the private sector, as a Senior Managing Consultant for Public Financial Management, Inc., the largest public finance advisory firm in the United States. As Co-Manager of the firm’s Strategic Municipal Consulting practice. John helped develop and implement Five-Year Plans for the cities of Philadelphia; New Haven, Connecticut; and Washington, D.C., all of which dramatically improved their financial standing. Most recently John served as President and Chief Operating Officer and Director of Lockhart Companies Incorporated. He oversaw its expansion of the real estate portfolio and negotiated its purchase of two property and casualty insurance companies and a premium finance business. During this time, John also served as President of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, where he worked to ensure private sector competitiveness for small businesses and employee stability and growth in the job market. John also served as President of the Karen Ingeborg Lockhart Foundation and as a trustee of the Government Employees Retirement System. He recently served as Chairman of the Virgin Islands Economic Recovery Task Force, which produced The Five Year Strategic and Operating Plan, as well as Co-Chair of the Cruise Ship Task Force, which negotiated the Long Term Operating Agreement with members of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association. In March of 2000, John was chosen Rotary II’s Person of the Year. In 2003, John along with his good friend Desmond Skeete, established Chilmark Partners, LLC to do financial advisory work in the Eastern Caribbean. They have undertaken engagements in the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Barbados involving real estate, banking, and insurance. John continued his active public service as a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands. He served as Foundation President for three terms, during which time the agency substantially increased its mini-grants program and scholarship awards to Virgin Islands students, and initiated an annual study that highlights the economic conditions of children and families in our community. John also served as the first Executive Director of the V.I. Democratic Party. He currently also serves as a trustee of Antilles School. http://www.dejonghfrancis2006. com/ |
