electing our Governor right now and the only reason you defer it is the conflict with a presidential election? Mr. STEIN. There should be some election reforms, also. One of the proposals I make is that the Governor be on a separate ballot, or at least listed separately from the senators who run that same year. It would appear to me a bloc vote would be much more indicative of the electorate if the Governor was listed separately from those running for the legislature at the same time. Mr. MORTON. I do not know whether you heard the exchanges we had concerning other elected officials. How would you feel about extending the election process considerably further down the line from the Governor in terms of local officials? Mr. STEIN. I would be all for it. I think they will tend to make a cleaner and more efficient government and people will be able to indicate whether or not they are doing a good job. Mr. MORTON. Brings the government a little closer to the people? Mr. STEIN. It does very much. Mr. MORTON. I enjoyed reading your testimony. Mr. WHITE. At this point will you identify, insofar as we have talked about factions in the Democratic Party, whether you identify with one of these factions? Mr. STEIN. I ran in the last election on the coalition ticket. Mr. WHITE. That would be in the Donkey Democrat? Mr. STEIN. Yes, sir. Mr. WHITE. Thank you very much. Mr. CAREY. I thank you very much, Mr. Stein. The next witness will be Maj. Phillip R. King. STATEMENT OF MAJ. PHILLIP R. KING, PRIVATE CITIZEN Mr. CAREY. What is your occupation, Mr. King? Mr. KING. I am Phillip King, self-employed. I am not a member of any political party and have no political affiliation. Mr. CAREY. Proceed, Mr. King. Mr. KING. Gentlemen, I urge this subcommittee and the U.S. Congress to exercise its duty to this territory and to the U.S. taxpayer who is increasingly called upon to subsidize the territory. I urge far more than a short hearing. Only after an extensive professionally conducted investigation of insular government practices will Congress be able to legislate intelligently and in the best interests of the people. I hope to direct your attention to the most expensive and lavishly staffed local government under the American flag. I ask that you equate these costs with the minimal and substandard services afforded the public. I charge you to examine the yearly Federal expenditure of $52 million in this territory; to question the wisdom of such an expenditure without the Federal controls normally exercised over Federal funds. I urge that Congress uncover and examine facts, initiate corrective measures, demand accounting of Federal funds and grant greater autonomy only when it will clearly benefit the people. It is doubtful that a small group of ordinary citizens, with little time to document ills, can provide adequate and intelligent advice in 83-749-67-pt. 1-25 a 1-day hearing. We can only hope to stimulate your interest and offer cooperation in detailed examination of the facts. I would like to say, sir, I am speaking as a former investigator of 10 years. I feel that Mr. CAREY. In what capacity? Mr. KING. An investigator for the Air Force. Mr. CAREY. In the Inspector General's department? Mr. KING. OSI, Air Attaché's Office, with several different intelligence units. Mr. CAREY. Major King, how long have you resided here in the Virgin Islands since you retired? Mr. KING. Three and a half years, sir. Mr. CAREY. You are now a registered voter and resident of the Virgin Islands? Mr. KING. Yes, sir, I am. I registered as an Independent. Mr. CAREY. You are aware, of course, that there was a continuing examination of the affairs of the Virgin Islands extending beyond the purview of these 1-day hearings, and we have in the island a comptroller appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the comptroller Mr. KING. I am well acquainted with the functions of the comptroller general. I believe if attention were paid to this one you people would have investigated without anyone asking you. Mr. CAREY. Who should listen to the comptroller? What has he said that would cause you to believe he is saying some things that should be listened to? Specifically what is he suggesting? Mr. KING. For the 3 years I have been on the island I have been reading excerpts from his statements in the Daily News of course. I have no reason to believe that the excerpts are not completely true and factual. I know that in my acquaintance with other Federal agencies, if the irregularities that have been perpetuated here had been done with other Federal funds there would have been detailed examination. Mr. CAREY. Which irregularities of Federal funds? Would you be specific? Mr. KING. I am here only to urge an investigation, sir. Mr. CAREY. You say Mr. Bove spoke out with regard to irregularities in the use of Federal funds. If this is common knowledge, can you give us information as to what you refer to? Mr. KING. Not a single instance. I do not think a month has passed where it has not been published in the paper, a statement of his that would bear investigation. Mr. CAREY. Of Mr. Bove? Mr. KING. Yes. Mr. CAREY. Specifically on what point? Which Federal funds? Mr. KING. Since every function of this government enjoys Federal funds, any examination of any government books involves Federal funds, so that whenever Mr. Bove writes a report of examination of an agency, department of health, the airport, whatever it may be, you have Federal funds involved. If this same funding had gone to a State, a grant-in-aid, something of that nature, very close Federal supervision is exercised. I have seen it for 21 years. I find that the same degree of Federal supervision of Federal funds does not occur on this island. Mr. CAREY. This has been said before the committee before. There has been a detachment on the part of the Secretary of the Interior and the Office of the Territories with regard to the affairs of the Virgin Islands. It would be one of the purposes of this committee to see that that detachment does not continue any longer. The gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Morton. Mr. MORTON. I have no questions. I yield to the gentleman from Utah. Mr. BURTON. I have no questions. Mr. WHITE. You have probably saved some of these statements that were in the Daily News. I presume you have. Mr. KING. I am speaking specifically of the Daily News. Mr. WHITE. Would you provide this committee with those excerpts of the newspaper so that we can have these for study in Washington? Mr. CAREY. It will be the purpose of the chair to secure from the Secretary of the Interior the full report from the comptroller. Mr. WHITE. What I am interested in is what he said in quotes. His quotes may be different from the report. If they are I would like to find out from the comptroller whether he has made these statements. Can you provide those to the committee, sir? Mr. KING. I believe Mr. Melchior offered to provide a year's newspapers. I believe Mr. Bove's reports are a matter of public record. Mr. WHITE. Will you see whether you can secure these? He will provide us with editorials. If you see that he provides us also with these quotations, I would appreciate it. Mr. KING. May I have the authority to go directly to Mr. Bove? Mr. CAREY. We cannot extend this authority. Mr. WHITE. You presented today, quotations in the Daily News. I would like to see those quotations so we can match these against the reports of the Interior Department and also determine whether or not they are factual. Mr. KING. Since Mr. Bove's reports are public property would your committee have any objection to my going directly there rather than wading through papers? Mr. WHITE. I want to see what is in the paper. We can get those reports but we cannot get the statements in the paper. These are what I would like to see. Mr. KING. I was trying to quote Mr. Bove's quotes. My only source is the newspaper and that is incidental. Mr. WHITE. You did not see the report? Mr. KING. I saw quotes. Mr. WHITE. If you will get those quotes, I will appreciate it. Mr. KING. I will attempt to. Mr. CAREY. Thank you for coming forward. (According to committee rules, the editorials published in the Virgin Islands Daily News were received, made available to the members for their consideration, and returned.) (Following is a letter from Mr. Melchior, publisher of the Daily News, including a list of all the editorials from August 1966 to the present time:) THE DAILY NEWS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, August 15, 1967. Mr. CHARLES LEPPERT, Jr., Assistant Counsel, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. LEPPERT: In accordance with my statement to the subcommittee on Territorial and Insular Affairs and in compliance with your request of Aug. 10, I am pleased to send under this cover a collection of editorials, covering our comments on government operations here from August, 1966, to the present time. For the sake of completeness and adequate sampling of our editorial policy, I am sending all of our editorial material for the year's period. However, those specifically referring to insular government operations are so designated by a blue check at the top of the column and further identified by an accompanying date list. As a special request, if any given material is to be quoted by the committee, I ask that it be used within the context of the full editorial. Also, since these are copies from our files, I should appreciate the return of the data when the commmittee has examined them. Sincerely, Enclosure. ARIEL MELCHIOR, Publisher. Editorials-critical or commendatory of Virgin Islands government operations |