ST. CROIX — Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach announced today that he has asked Governor Albert Bryan Jr. to rescind wage increases granted to him and the governor due to questions about impartiality following the appointment of the former Public Officials Compensation Commission chair to a Cabinet position.
Roach said that although he has made no criticism of the work of the Commission, the appointment of its chair to a high-level Cabinet position has tainted the work of the Commission and now raises questions about its impartiality, according to the lieutenant governor’s statement.
While recently in the Pacific region on a United Nations-sponsored trip, Roach said he learned through the media of Haldane Davies’ appointment to head the Bureau of Economic Research. He said the governor never consulted him about his decision to appoint Davies, who served as chair of the Commission, as BER director. Roach said such an appointment raises questions about the integrity of the Commission’s salary recommendations.
“Had you and I consulted about this appointment, I would not have agreed to such a move, as it taints the work of the Commission and now makes the wage increases appear an instance of quid pro quo — wage increase for job appointment,” Roach wrote to the governor.
Despite the governor’s appointment of Davies to head the BER, the law prevents Davies from currently holding the position.
The term of each Commission expires upon submission of the salary recommendations. The Commission’s report was transmitted via email on August 13, 2024 to the governor, Senate president, and chief justice of the VI Supreme Court. According to Act No. 7878, no member of the Commission is eligible for appointment to public office so long as the person is a member of the Commission and for two years thereafter. Therefore, Davies would not be eligible to serve in public office until August 13, 2026.
Further clouding the Commission’s report is the apparent illegal appointment of Asiah Clendinen-Gumbs. Pursuant to Act No. 7878, the Commission is to be composed of nine members, none of whom is an official or employee of the VI government, or of any department, agency, or any autonomous or semi-autonomous instrumentality of the VI government with the exception of the University of the Virgin Islands. The governor, Senate president, and chief justice shall each appoint three members. Despite the law banning government employees from being eligible to serve on the Commission, Bryan appointed Clendinen-Gumbs, an employee of the Government Employees’ Retirement System who served as secretary of the Commission.
The Commission recommended raises amounting to $199,005 for a dozen executive branch officials including the governor and lieutenant governor. The Commission recommended to increase the governor’s salary to $192,088 from $150,000, and the lieutenant governor’s salary to $168,231 from $125,000. The 31st Legislature approved Act No. 7878 to create the Commission on May 19, 2016. Roach, who served as a senator at the time, voted in support of the measure.
Roach said he supported the legislation because he believed that it was an acceptable means of removing the authority from the legislative and executive branches to determine their own salaries.
“As far as I was concerned, the Commission did the task that was before it without any interference from either you or me,” Roach wrote to the governor. “In fact, I had only one single interaction with the Commission after it was formed which was via a Zoom meeting in which the members essentially interviewed me about the job of lieutenant governor.”
Roach, in his letter to the governor, indicated that he felt the wage increases were appropriate and would clear the way for higher salaries in the executive branch, and eventually all branches of government. He pointed out the government’s ability to attract and keep the best talent has been compromised by the relatively low salaries offered in the territory.
“Thus, although I have before consented to the wage increases, I am afraid that this circumstance makes me now unwilling and unable to accept an increase in my salary,” Roach wrote. “In fact, I am asking you to take the necessary steps now to rescind the wage increases and restore our salaries to the previous levels.”
The lieutenant governor wrote to the governor that he believes implementing the raises would further erode the public trust in government. He noted that while trust lost may not necessarily be restored by the recission of the wage increases, he believes rescinding the raises is a step in the right direction.
