Virgin Islands’ Senators Are the Lawmakers of the Land

The Virgin Islands senators?

No. It isn’t the baseball team. It’s the 15-member unicameral legislature of this unincorporated U.S. territory.

The 11 men and four women meet in an historic 1874 lime-green building with white shutters affectionately called “The Green Barn” by islanders.

“We’re elected lawmakers with rights and powers similar to those held by legislators in the 50 states,” explained Bingley G. Richardson Sr., 51. “Like Nebraska, we have only one house--the Senate.”

Richardson, a freshman senator, owns and operates the 65-foot, 90-passenger ferry boat Bomba Charger that runs between St. Thomas Island and the nearby British Virgin Islands.

Richardson is black, as are eight other senators. Eighty-five percent of the 100,000 Virgin Islanders are black. Six members of the Senate are white.

Traditionally, there have been one or two white senators. Six is a record.

“This is a small place with a small population. People here know each other,” Richardson said. “People listen to issues during political campaigns. If they like what you stand for they vote for you regardless of whether you’re black, white, purple or pink.”

In Second Term

Allan P. Shatkin, 40, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., has been a resident of the Virgin Islands for nine years and is in his second two-year term as senator. He is a music teacher at a local junior high school.

“If people voted for you based on the color of your skin, I would never have been elected to office in the Virgin Islands,” said Shatkin, a white. “What’s important here is how you respond to issues, your commitment to the community.”

Danish cannons guard the entrances to the Legislature building on the shores of quaint Charlotte Amalie, population 12,000, capitol of the Virgin Islands.

The cannons were left behind by Denmark in 1917 when the U.S. purchased St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John along with 50 small islands in the archipelago located 60 miles east of Puerto Rico for $25 million.

From 1874, when the building was completed, until 1917 it served as a barracks for the Danish marines. From 1917 to 1931 it was a barracks for the U.S. Marines and it was used as a high school from 1931 to 1954.

Since 1954, when Congress created the unicameral legislature, it has been the home of the Virgin Islands senators.

Howard University Degree

Iver A. Stridiron, 41, an attorney in his fifth year as a senator, is president of the Senate. He received his law degree from Howard University in Washington and served as a trial lawyer with the Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.

Lt. Gov. Derek M. Hodge served one term in the legislative body from 1984-86. Even though he was a freshman senator at the time, Hodge was elected president. Gov. Alexander A. Farrelly, 63, America’s only black governor, served two terms in the islands’ senate.

Ruby M. Rouss, 62, a World War II WAC who served on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s staff in Europe, was president of the Senate in 1980. Her election made her the first black woman ever to head a legislative body in America.

Virgin Island senators receive $35,000 a year. The Senate is in session throughout the year at the call of the governor or the president of the Legislature.

“Senators are very close to the people,” said Gladys Bensen, 50, who has been an administrative assistant to the senators for the past 16 years. “Every morning at 8, when the doors are opened, people are waiting to see their senator, to see if the senator can help find them a job, find them an apartment or resolve some kind of problem.”

Night, Weekend Work

Freshman Sen. Robert O’Connor, 41, from the island of St. John, population 3,000, said since he was sworn in on Jan. 12, he has worked as late as 11 at night and often on weekends.

Unlike other legislative bodies, this one isn’t organized along party lines. The majority is made up of five Democrats, three Independents and a member of the Independent Citizens Movement. The minority is made of four Democrats, one Republican and one Independent.

“We don’t go by party line. We go by philosophical differences,” explained Holland L. Redfield II, 44, minority leader and the senate’s only Republican.

As an unincorporated territory of the United States, the Virgin Islands has only those powers the Congress may give. Congress tends to treat the islands the same as it does a state.

Can’t Vote for President

Although Virgin Islanders are American citizens, they do not vote for the President or vice president. They vote for governor, lieutenant governor, delegate to Congress and 15 territorial senators by district.

The congressional delegate may vote in committee but not on the floor of Congress. Virgin Islanders pay U.S. income taxes but all taxes collected remain in the islands.

There are no elected mayors or other municipal officials. The governor is elected every four years and heads the executive branch. Senators, elected every two years, belong to the legislative branch.