Country: Virgin Islands USVI
Virgin Islands Dependency status: "organized,
unincorporated territory of the US with policy relations between the Virgin
Islands and the US under the jurisdiction of the Office of Insular Affairs,
US Department of the Interior."
-Factbook
Virgin Islands Geography Location:
"Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic
Ocean, east of Puerto Rico."
-Factbook
US VI News
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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/ Virgin
Islands
VIRGIN ISLANDS News:
20080413
-
 Alphonso
Jackson
-  Money
-  Politics
-  Government
-  Law
-  Enforcement
-  New
Orleans -  Louisiana
- Virgin
Islands - "Housing
chief ignored looming crisis." ... "In late 2006,
as economists warned of an imminent housing-market collapse, [Republican
President Bush's] housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson repeatedly insisted
that the mounting wave of mortgage failures was a short-term "correction.""
... "He pushed for legislation that would make it easier for federally
backed lenders to make loans to risky borrowers. He issued a rule that
was criticized by law enforcement because it could increase the difficulty
of detecting and proving mortgage fraud." ... "As Jackson leaves office
this week, much of the attention on his tenure has been focused on investigations
into whether his agency directed housing contracts to friends and political
allies. But critics say an equally significant legacy of his four years
as the top housing officer was gross inattention to the looming housing
crisis." ... "They contend that Jackson ignored warnings from within his
agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose inspector
general told Congress that some of the secretary's efforts were "ill-advised
policy" and likely to put more families at risk." ... "During Jackson's
tenure, foreclosures for loans insured by HUD's Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) have risen and default rates have hit a record high." ... "A federal
grand jury is investigating whether he lied to Congress about his involvement
in contracts and whether he steered millions of dollars in government work
at the Virgin Islands and New Orleans [Louisiana] housing authorities to
friends." -By Carol D. Leonnig contributed to by Julie
Tate -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes
20080210
-
 Barack
Obama
-  Hillary
Clinton
-  John
McCain
-  Mike
Huckabee -  Washington
-  Nebraska
- Louisiana
-  Illinois
-  New
York
-  Kansas
- 2008
Election - "Obama
wins big in Wash., Nebraska, La." ... "[2008 Election
Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama
swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state
Saturday, boosting his slim delegate lead over [2008 Election Democratic
Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination." ...
"The Illinois senator also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing
his best night of the campaign." ... "The Democratic race moved into a
new, post-Super Tuesday phase as [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate John] McCain flunked his first ballot test since becoming the
Republican nominee-in-waiting. He lost the Kansas caucuses to [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] Mike Huckabee, gaining less than 24
percent of the vote." ... "Huckabee also was named by NBC News as the apparent
winner of an extremely close Louisiana primary race." ... "His Kansas defeat
aside, McCain also suffered a symbolic defeat when Romney edged him out
in a straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting
across town from the White House." (1, 2)
-AP -MSNBC
20071115
-
Alphonso
Jackson
- Criminal
- Corporate
- Federal
-
 Housing
- Politics
- Law
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
-  Georgia
- Virgin
Islands -  SC
- "A
Helping Hand." ... "By all accounts, Housing Secretary
Alphonso
Jackson is a tough, hands-on manager who gets what he wants. "He's
not flying at the 50,000-feet level," says a former senior official in
the Housing and Urban Development Department. "He is definitely into the
weeds." Yet when it comes to dealing with contracts at HUD, Jackson insists
he never gets involved -- "I don't mess" with contracts, he said in a sworn
interview with federal investigators last year. But his record as secretary,
and as deputy secretary before that, suggests otherwise." ... "Behind the
scenes, Jackson has helped to arrange lucrative contract work running into
the hundreds of thousands of dollars for friends and associates who went
to work at HUD-controlled housing authorities in New Orleans [Louisiana]
and the Virgin Islands, according to people familiar with his actions.
Indeed, one of Jackson's good friends, Atlanta [Georgia] lawyer Michael
Hollis, appears to have been paid approximately $1 million for managing
the troubled Virgin Islands Housing Authority. Before landing at the authority,
some sources said, Hollis had no experience in running a public housing
agency." ... "Jackson's past efforts to aid his friends are causing him
no end of headaches. For several months, a federal grand jury, Justice
Department prosecutors, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation], and
the HUD inspector general's office have been exploring Jackson's role in
contracting decisions at the housing department. According to people familiar
with the investigation, federal agents are focusing on Jackson's relationship
with one friend in particular, William Hairston, a stucco contractor
from Hilton Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina.]" ... "In interviews several
weeks ago with National Journal, Hairston acknowledged that Jackson
had helped him land a lucrative job around January 2006 at the Housing
Authority of New Orleans, or HANO. HUD and a former HANO official have
said that Hairston was paid about $485,000 for working as a construction
manager at HANO during an 18-month period. As it turns out, new information
uncovered by National Journal suggests that Hairston was paid even
more than that. HSD, a Georgia company that was affiliated with Hairston,
was paid $186,280 under a direct contract with HUD, federal procurement
records show. A HUD document identified Hairston as a representative of
HSD." ... "Federal investigators are digging deep into Jackson's relationship
with Hairston, a sometime golfing buddy of the secretary's. According to
the people familiar with the inquiry, federal investigators are also reviewing
allegations that Hairston did work on Jackson's vacation home in Hilton
Head." ... "Simply put, investigators are exploring whether Jackson lied
when he said he did not get involved in HUD contracting. Federal criminal
investigators would not comment on their inquiry." ... "At least four associates
of Jackson have benefited from contracts awarded at the New Orleans and
Virgin Islands housing authorities." -By Edward T.
Pound -NationalJournal
20060308
-
 Gordon
Smith - Money
- Politics
- Virgin
Islands -  Vacation
- Lawmakers
-  Idaho
-  Oregon
-  Montana
-  Wyoming
-  Missouri
- "Virgin
Islands Donors Invest In Key Senators." ... "Concern
is mounting that Senate support for the [United States] U.S. Virgin Islands'
efforts to reopen a tax loophole is being won with more than $235,000 in
campaign contributions." ... "Five senators identified by USVI [United
States Virgin Islands] representatives as allies in their campaign - Senator
[Mike] Crapo, a Republican of Idaho; Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican
of Oregon; Senator [Max] Baucus, a Democrat of Montana; Senator [Craig]
Thomas, a Republican of Wyoming, and Senator [James] Talent, a Republican
of Missouri - have each received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign
contributions from scores of USVI residents in the last year, according
to filings with the Federal Election Commission." ... "Lobbyists for the
USVI said yesterday that the donations resulted from fund-raisers held
by the lawmakers during trips to the Virgin Islands." ... "As The New York
Sun reported last week, the USVI is currently campaigning for Congress
and the Treasury Department to loosen restrictions imposed in 2004 on the
territory's Economic Development Commission - a program designed to spur
investment in the territory with tax incentives for individuals and businesses."
... "As the Sun reported in 2003, the program's tax breaks were taken up
by some of America's top money managers - including Richard Driehaus and
Jeffrey Epstein, who keep high profiles in Chicago and New York but declare
the USVI as their place of residence for tax purposes. The EDC [Economic
Development Commission] loophole allowed some wealthy Americans to dodge
almost 90% of their federal income tax bills." ... "According to FEC [Federal
Election Commission] records, Mr. Driehaus last year donated, as a USVI
resident, $2,000 each to the campaigns of Messrs. Crapo, Thomas, and Baucus."
... "Mr. Baucus received $66,500 from 52 USVI contributors. Mr. Crapo last
year received $39,000 from 27 USVI donors. Mr. Thomas received $21,000
from 16 USVI donors, and Mr. Talent received $38,600 from 30 USVI donors.
Mr. Smith raked in $47,000 from 48 donors. The numbers were first published
in the St. Thomas Source." ... "Contributions to Mr. Smith, in particular,
have drawn fire from a Democratic interest group, the Senate Majority Project.
The group, which notes that the USVI was Mr. Smith's fourth-largest donor
base by geography after Oregon, Washington, and Virginia, alleges that
Mr. Smith's support for reducing the EDC residency requirements contradicts
past efforts to keep American business from moving to more tax friendly
locales like Bermuda." ... ""Gordon Smith took a trip down to the Virgin
Islands, and came back with $47,000 and a new position on offshore tax
havens," the Executive Director of the Senate Majority Project, Mike Gehrke,
said in a press release from the group." (1, 2,
3)
-By
Meghan
Clyne -NYSun.com
20060305
-
Gordon
Smith - Virgin
Islands - Law
- Politics
-
 Massachusetts
- Oregon
- "Virgin
Islands Are at Center of Dispute on Tax Break." ...
"The United States Virgin Islands and several wealthy financiers who own
homes there are working to persuade Congress to drop a new requirement
that at least half the year be spent in the islands in order to get a tax
break intended to spur their economic development." ... "The economic development
program allows an effective federal income tax rate of just 3.5 percent
for bona fide residents of the Virgin Islands. It has drawn wealthy Americans
from the mainland and kindled an economic boom." ... "But the program,
whose benefits have been available for decades, has also allowed some homeowners
who spend little time in the islands to avoid federal taxes estimated at
$400 million. At least one person, who lived in the islands less than one
month a year and nonetheless claimed the program's benefits for income
he generated selling insurance in Massachusetts, has pleaded guilty to
tax fraud." ... "In response, the Virgin Islands Tax Working Group, which
represents people who benefit from the break, paid $200,000 last year for
lobbyists, according to records compiled by Political Money Line, a nonpartisan
campaign finance tracking service. At least one senator, Gordon H. Smith,
Republican of Oregon, has been saluted in the islands at a fund-raiser
on his behalf attended by several beneficiaries of the program." ... "Chris
Matthews, a spokesman for Senator Smith, who sits on both the energy committee
and the Finance Committee, confirmed that the senator attended a fund-raiser
for him in the Virgin Islands last year. Mr. Matthews said Mr. Smith had
subsequently chatted with some of his colleagues about his concerns that
the tighter regulations were hurting law-abiding businesses." -By
Stephanie
Strom -NYTimes
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