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.