STX Senate Candidate Raymond T. James Esq. Calls for Municipal Government to Give STX Greater Control Over Its Economic Future

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St. Croix - Raymond T. James Esq., Republican candidate for the Senate in the District of St. Croix is calling for a municipal government that will give St. Croix greater control over its economic and infrastructure priorities while preserving the unity of the Virgin Islands.

“The Virgin Islands is one Territory, but our islands do not have identical economies, assets, infrastructure needs or opportunities,” Mr. James stated. “One Virgin Islands does not require one economic strategy.”

Republican candidate James said the centralized structure established under the Revised Organic Act of 1954 makes it difficult to develop and execute parallel strategies tailored to islands with different circumstances.

“This is not a criticism of any administration,” Mr. James said. “It is a structural challenge. A Governor must govern the entire Virgin Islands, while the Legislature and territorial agencies must balance priorities throughout the Territory. St. Crois, St. Thomas and St. John have different assets and, in many instances, require different development strategies.”

Mr. James noted that municipal government has historical precedent. Before the Revised Organic Act of 1954, the Virgin Islands operated with separate municipal councils for St. Croix, St. Thomas-St. John. The Act replaced those structures with the centralized territorial system in place today.

“More than seventy years later, I believe we should examine whether greater local self-government can better position each island to address its particular economic circumstances and opportunities,” Mr. James said.

Senatorial candidate James also pointed to St. Croix’s former Hess/HOVENSA refinery and related industrial infrastructure, as perhaps the clearest example of the island’s different economic circumstances.

“St. Croix has significant stranded and underutilized assets and infrastructure of a scale and character different from those on the other islands,” Mr. James said. “Our challenge is to turn those assets into productive assets once again and connect them to a long-term economic strategy for St. Croix.”

Mr. James said recent issues involving the proposed airport public-private partnership (P3) and the future of the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack provide additional examples of why St. Croix needs a stronger institutional voice in decisions affecting its economic future.

“The refinery, our airport P3 and our racetrack are very different issues, but they illustrate the same underlying challenge,” Mr. James said. “Decisions involving these assets can affect employment, transportation, tourism, investment and the economic direction of St. Croix for decades.”

Mr. James said these examples demonstrate the difficulty of asking one centralized government to simultaneously pursue different development strategies for islands with different economic needs. 

“A territorial administration has to consider the needs of the entire Virgin Islands,”: Mr. James stated. “A municipal government would provide St. Croix with an institution whose continuing responsibility is to identify, advocate for and pursue the priorities that are particularly important to St. Croix.”

Mr. James said the current commitment of billions of dollars in federal investment to rebuild and strengthen Virgin Islands infrastructure make the issue even more important. 

“The federal government has committed billions of dollars to rebuilding and strengthening infrastructure throughout the Virgin Islands,” Mr. James said. “That is an extraordinary opportunity, but it raises fundamental questions for St. Croix: Who establishes our priorities? Who determines which projects are most important to the future of the island? Who decides how these investments fit together? And who has the continuing responsibility to ensure that today’s federal investment will support the St. Croix economy we require twenty or thirty years from now?

Mr. James said a municipal government could provide St. Croix with a permanent institutional voice in establishing those priorities, while allowing the central government to continue performing responsibilities that properly belong at the territorial level.

“The objective is not more government,” Mr. James said. “The objective is better government, greater accountability and moving appropriate decisions closer to the people.”

Mr. James said his proposal rests on two principles: Economic self-determination and Local accountability.

St. Croix should have greater ability to pursue a sustained strategy involving its industrial assets, airports and ports, agriculture, housing, infrastructure and other opportunities unique to the island. At the same time, residents should be able to identify the officials responsible for local priorities and hold them accountable.

Mr. James outlined a two-pronged approach: 1) Advocate for meaningful municipal government through the ongoing Virgin Islands constitutional process and. if necessary, 2) Pursue the objective in a legislative manner and seek congressional authorization.

“If the constitutional process does not adequately provide for municipal government, if elected, I will pursue the objective legislatively and support seeking whatever congressional authorization may be necessary,” Mr. James stated.

“If congressional action becomes necessary, we should not ask Congress to design municipal government for us. We should ask Congress to give the people of the Virgin Islands the authority necessary to determine the appropriate structure of local government for ourselves.”

“Our islands can remain united as one Virgin Islands, while recognizing that each island’s economic paths do not always have to be identical,” Mr. James concluded. “For St. Croix, municipal government is about giving our people a meaningful voice in determining our own economic future.”

Raymond T. James, Esq.

Republican Candidate for the Senate

District of St. Croix

U.S. Virgin Islands