V.I. Democrats in disarray
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Election 2010 has come and gone. The taste of victory has been bitter sweet. Why is that, one may ask? Your candidate won. Well, my candidate ran against three other candidates for the opportunity to represent the territory as the incumbent Democratic governor.
Yes, he won and he did so convincingly. What is mind-boggling is that none of the other teams since losing on Sept. 11 supported the incumbent governor. The day before the Nov. 2 General Election, Gerard Luz James pledged his support, and it was conveniently provided without the attached recognition of his name to the political ads.
Politics surely does make strange bedfellows. Having been in many campaigns before, I had seen it all. but I was shocked to witness a former governor, who was once the titular head of the Democratic Party, joining arms with another former governor and former cabinet member to campaign against the incumbent Democratic governor.
A political party, according to Webster's Dictionary, is "a political group organized to promote and support its principles and candidates."
What principles of the Democratic Party was that former governor trying to promote? Was it the principles of disunity and disloyalty? Or was it the politics of strange bedfellows?
What this has taught me about Virgin Islands politics and the Democratic Party is:
- The Democratic Party has no principles or purpose.
- The party provides no support to its candidates.
- The party is nonfunctional.
- The Democratic Party needs to be reorganized in all areas.
Additionally, I believe that the leaders of the V.I. Democratic Party should at the very least try to do some of the following:
- Candidates running under the party's banner must register with the party and will pay registration fees and/or party dues before allowed to run for elected office.
- Candidates using the party's banner will be sanctioned for any negative actions or infringement committed when running for elected office.
- All candidates must campaign from one central headquarters.
- Contributions to the party and to individual candidates campaigning under the party's banner will be consolidated to one account for the good of the party.
- The party will provide a consolidated schedule with activities and program to highlight and bring all its candidates to the voting public.
The majority of voters in the Virgin Islands are registered Democrats. Yet during the gubernatorial election it was difficult, if not impossible, to hear a majority of Democratic candidates vying for a legislative seat say they support the incumbent governor.
What is wrong with the Democratic Party leadership? Where have they gone wrong? What can they do?
The leadership of the Democratic Party needs to come together to promote or organize a convention or a general membership drive, inviting all possible candidates who are registered Democrats to unite and select or determine who will represent the party. This process needs to take place six to eight months before the election.
Once that has been accomplished and candidates have been selected or elected, the Democratic Party through its various subgroups will determine and prepare a schedule of activities to support the election of its candidates.
A united Democratic Party will be a powerful and immovable force. Its stability and likeability will improve when the electorate begins to see it as a well-organized party.
The better we are organizing, the harder it will be to infiltrate and cause disunity among candidates as well as senators. Imagine the party winning so many seats under this adverse condition. We can become the most powerful political organization once we organize ourselves; however, we must make every effort to reach all segments of the society.
As president of Caribbean Democratic Alliance and a member of V.I. Restore Hope and People for Progress, I pledge to work with the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands if it is serious about making some of the positive changes required to move these Virgin Islands forward and into the 21st century.
I look forward to the metamorphosis of the Democratic Party where it can emerge as the party that cares and looks after the welfare of all the people of the United States Virgin Islands.
- Woodrow Greene lives on St. Thomas.
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