It's 2026, another election year, and the League of Women Voters is here again on WTJX TV to interview candidates seeking elected office in the US Virgin Islands.

Our goal with these programs is to help you, the voter, make well-informed choices for your precious votes.

My name is Diana Joshua Woods, a member of the League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands.

Today, we are speaking with two candidates for the position of senator in the St.

Croix district.

Candidates, thank you for being here.

Please introduce yourselves only with your name, political affiliation, and ballot number, starting with you, Senator Frederick.

Senator Hubert Lorenzo Frederick, Democrat, St.

Croix District, number 22.

Greetings.

I am Elizabeth Hansen Watley, your independent candidate, no affiliation with any party, on the District of St.

Croix.

My number is number six, your senatorial candidate.

Thank you.

Let's learn more about you on two points.

First, please state how your education, your professional experience, and relevant accomplishments have prepared you for the position of senator.

Also, state how you think this makes you stand out amongst all the other candidates.

You will have 60 seconds each, starting with you, Ms.

Hansen Watley.

Greetings again.

I have a background in governmental experience.

I worked at the Law Enforcement Planning Commission.

I was a liaison for the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Program, who worked closely with YRC and the Cottage.

I also have a background in working at the Department of Health.

I was the first appointed health surveillance officer under the Bureau of Epidemiology, and I was happy to be able to do that.

And I was also the chief of staff in Senator Hansen's office, where I learned how to draft and research legislation.

So, there's a multitude of things I've been able to do, and I believe that has allowed me the experience needed to start working on the first day, and I look forward to representing you, God's willing.

Thank you.

Now, Senator Hubert, why should voters return you to the Senate?

Thank you for that question, Diana.

I think I would be a wonderful choice, being a freshman senator, being on the job for 20 months now, working on the legislation that I've either primarily sponsored or co-sponsored.

I think these legislation are going to be impactful over the long run and cause a lot of relief to the citizens of the Virgin Islands.

My record is clear.

No corruption, no improper anything, just clean, clear, and hard work, and I will continue to do that.

So, I'm asking for your vote and support for one more term.

Okay.

Thank you, Senator.

So, to Ms.

Hansen, why should you be selected to replace those who are currently in office or to fill an empty seat?

And what special talents do you bring to complement what is already there?

You will have 60 seconds to respond.

Well, first, being able to have governmental experience is important when you're talking about being able to go in and function as a senator.

I do already have a relationship with the seated senators.

I've been in those walls since I was a little child and growing up.

I also have been able to, again, have a background in research and drafting of legislation, along one of the longest to do it, and the longest serving St.

Croix senator.

Being able to also know, on the other hand, what it is to work in the private sector, being a business owner as well, a marketing and promoting professional, having engagement with youth and seniors.

I believe all of these things are important when you're trying to push legislation forward to improve the quality of life of Virgin Islanders.

So, I believe that I have the skills required to do this job without the downtime and to hit the ground running, because I do believe that we do not have any more time to waste.

Thank you, Ms.

Hansen Watley.

Now we will move on to some talking points on the major issues.

To ensure that you each have equal time to answer questions, our timer will let you know when your 60 seconds to respond are up.

If there is a difference of opinion, you are encouraged to make a rebuttal for 45 seconds on those questions identified.

After rebuttals are made, the candidates will have 45 seconds to address them all.

We ask for respectful treatment of each other.

Your interactions will certainly say much to the viewers about what to expect of your behavior as a senator in the legislature.

Candidates, as we begin, will you affirm that you have not been privy to our questions in advance in any way?

Senator Hubert Frederick, will you affirm?

Yes.

And candidate Hansen Watley, will you affirm?

Yes.

Thank you.

Now let's talk.

This a question.

You both will have 60 seconds to respond, starting with you, Senator Hubert Frederick.

We start with the elephant in the room that's stomping on everything, WAPA.

Let's be frank.

Don't you think there is more to WAPA's colossal failures besides a lack of money?

So, let's identify other factors you think contribute to this horror story, and then explain how, as a senator, you will address these concerns besides money.

You may still include financial issues as a minor point if you wish.

You have 60 seconds to respond, Senator Frederick.

Thank you very much for that question.

WAPA has been the elephant in the room in the 20 months I've served as a junior senator, and I can tell you, we have done a lot to assist WAPA financially, but there are other issues WAPA is dealing with.

One is the purchase of equipment that's not functioning as it was designed to function, and that's something that they didn't anticipate, and so it's causing a colossal problem for them.

It's a $70 million investment in some equipment that's been underperforming, and I don't know how we ended up in that situation.

That's not a legislative issue.

That's just the engineers and the expert making a selection on some equipment and the board agreeing with it, and it turned out that they were faulty.

And so, they're trying to rectify that.

The bright news is that we have additional resources to throw at building a new facility on St.

Croix and St.

Thomas.

Okay.

Thank you, Senator.

Candidate Hansen Watley, would you like me to repeat the question?

No.

I'm ready to go.

Yes.

WAPA has been a plaguing issue for many years, and there's a few things that I believe the legislature can do to address the problem.

First off, I do believe we need to readdress having a board for WAPA and our oversight.

If I'm elected, one of the things I would like to do is be more tedious in tracking what WAPA is doing on a day to day.

One of the issues that we're having, even with the audit, is we haven't fully understood what are the findings of the audit so that we can address the matter.

Also, purchasing outright equipment that we see is not working.

We have no fail-safe for that issue, is another problem that we have.

And so I believe the legislature does have oversight powers that they need to use to be able to curtail what's going on at WAPA and not leave it up to the board all the time to make changes.

Can I rebuttal?

No, sir, this is not a rebuttal section.

But we will move on.

Our next topic is the impact of our demographics.

This question will be to candidate Hansen Watley.

What impacts do you see resulting from continuing onward migration and an aging population on our future?

Are strategies addressed in your platform to address these impacts?

Explain them.

You will have 60 seconds, and we will have 45 seconds for rebuttal.

So, in my platform, which is about 13 pages long, I do address the migration- Okay ... that is going on with Virgin Islanders leaving to the mainland.

Many of my friends, former coworkers, and classmates have had to leave, not because they want to leave paradise, but because they have young people that they live with or elderly individuals who need healthcare, who need a stable educational system.

And so one of the things that I want to do is bring a career-driven plan that starts from the eighth grade, where we put children on a career track to be able to spark that interest in them to stay at home and become entrepreneurs.

And I can elaborate on that, and I encourage you to look at my platform to get more of the details on that.

But the migration will continue as long as we don't address the basic necessities of healthcare and education here in the territory, in addition to a lot of other issues.

Thank you, candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Fredericks?

I think migration works both ways.

I left when I was 17 after high school, and I returned when I was 40-something, wanting to share some of my successes being away.

So, it happens both ways.

There's always people coming and going.

It's just not one way.

Most of the dramatic decline in our population this time was due to the storm, Hurricane Maria, and so we're now recovering.

That's why we were awarded the $24 billion, to help rebuild our community so that people could come back home.

You still have structural issues you need to deal with.

Our economy is weak.

We still need to get small business up and running.

We still need to make sure that we don't penalize them tax-wise because they're struggling.

Because this is not what we do.

What we need to do is create jobs.

Jobs create opportunity.

Opportunity creates more home ownership, creates more opportunities for everybody across the board.

So, there's a plethora of things that still needs to be done.

There are steps that we need to be taken.

We have to complete these projects first, and that would be the key and the driver that we need to attract young people back home.

Okay, time.

Okay.

Would you like to say anything additional, Ms.

Hansen?

Yes, I do agree with the senator that it works both ways.

However, we have an innate- Okay ... issue with having infrastructure issues that are causing a lot of people that don't want to leave to have to leave.

We should not have to try to figure out if we want to have a livelihood and a safe living environment, if we want to leave or go.

It should be if we want to take a vacation, that's fine, but not a necessity.

And so we have to get back to basics and make sure that we strengthen our infrastructure and have great oversight to make sure that we don't have this waste when it comes to the finances that we have acquired.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Hansen Watley.

So moving on, education.

With student academic achievement below standard and school infrastructure crumbling, what do you see as the key issues the legislature must tackle to address these problems?

And which solutions do you intend to champion in particular?

We will start with Senator Fredericks.

Thank you very much for that question.

We're currently tackling some of the same issues that was just mentioned.

Schools crumbling, we've always had that as a problem.

We can't seem to get, no matter what we do as a legislature, to get the Bureau of School Construction, which is a newly formed bureau that deals strictly with construction and maintenance, we can't seem to get them up and running and doing what they're supposed to do.

And that was an initiative that came through the legislature.

That's a problem.

We need to get our young people involved in subject matter that they're interested in.

We need to get more STEM-oriented programs, academic programs, so they could focus on high-paying jobs.

We just shouldn't educate just to educate.

Educate for a career that pays the kind of wages that you need to live in places like the Virgin Islands.

And so my initiative is to focus on those professions and careers that pay well, so our students will be happy with the outcome, the decision they made to become engineers and doctors and whatever it is, mathematicians and scientists.

Those are critical degrees that we need here.

We even need them here, but they're needed all over the world, and they could find jobs anywhere.

So, I encourage everyone to really focus on careers that pay well.

Okay.

Candidate Hansen Watley, would you like me to repeat?

Sure.

With student academic achievement below standard and school infrastructure crumbling, what do you see as the key issues the legislature must tackle to address these problems, and which solutions do you intend to champion in particular?

Well, first off, I do believe in it takes a village to raise a child, and so we need to strengthen our community support.

We used to have a situation where in every housing community, there were activity centers where the youth could go and get resources.

I was a beneficiary of that.

I learned many skills at the Kennedy Rec Center and others.

And that's one of the areas we need to start giving support in the neighborhoods and not having to force children to come out of their neighborhoods to get that support.

In addition to that, I know that we are building new schools, but we have to be smart about the way that we build and consider the fact that we need to be in a better place for environmental safety and productivity.

We had our new school at the Richards built.

However, we saw pictures of the ceiling having beautiful designs.

However, the children are getting wet.

So, we have to be mindful of making great decisions that make sense.

Thank you, candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Fredericks, would you like to rebuttal?

There's no question that some of the design that I've seen so far, they're modernistic.

They're definitely open concept, bringing the outside in and the inside feel like the outdoors, and that's fine.

I don't know how much this is going to impact test scores, but I do agree that our students deserve the best environment for academic learning.

So, I'm not going to knock that.

It's a gift we got from the federal government, so let's utilize it.

My issue more is how do we maintain those schools that we're building?

We have not made any provision to reserve any money to start putting aside for maintenance, and it's going to be quite expensive.

Estimates shows from 6% to 12%.

Where are we going to get that money from?

So if you have a $250 million building, that's going to run you between 12 and $20 million.

And so we're going to have to come up with that, and that's just one project.

Thank you.

We move on to economic stimuli.

This question will be for candidate Hansen Watley.

With a significant population decline, our tax base has plunged, worsening all our woes.

What economic stimuli or strategic approach to increase the tax base would you advocate as a senator?

I'll read it again.

With a significant population decline, our tax base has plunged, worsening all of our woes.

What economic stimuli or strategic approach to increase the tax base would you advocate for as a senator?

You have 60 seconds.

Well, I believe one of the things that we can do is encourage more people to become business owners legitimately, and that has a lot more to do with educating them on how to legitimize their business.

At the Department of Tourism, a lot of people have approached me about that.

I have to give kudos to the DLCA, who has improved their system in being able to get more people into becoming business owners and being documented.

However, we do have a lot more work to do, and I believe if we can implement that in a high school setting where younger individuals who have these great ideas to become business owners can be able to leave high school with a knowledge of becoming a business owner, that would help us tremendously.

Thank you.

Senator Fredericks?

Well, I'll say straight up, we need to stimulate our economy.

It's very straightforward how that's done.

I have a master's degree in planning and economic development.

The first thing you want to do is find out what asset do you currently have.

What do we have as a territory that attracts more economic development?

One, tourism.

We have that asset.

We need to exploit it even more, maximize it.

Secondly, we have the South Shore Trade Zone.

We need to start on that.

It needs to get built out so that companies could start operating out of there.

All we have right now is just dirt and trees.

That needs to be built out.

Warehouses need to go there so we can start getting companies to come.

They want to come, but they're not going to do all that construction work.

That's supposed to be for the government.

And so we lack the money right now, but we need to start.

We have a lot of ships out there.

We have a deep harbor.

We need to invest in the blue economy to start repairing those ships.

That's a lot of money.

That's a lot of jobs.

That's a lot of opportunities.

And we've got the Transshipment port.

Again, the Panama Canal is right there.

We should be able to utilize that.

Okay.

Thank you, Senator Fredericks.

Now we move on to affordability.

The cost of living in the U.S.

Virgin Islands was always high and has skyrocketed recently.

In fact, an AARP survey, 70% of these families lamented the little support the government agency provides for family care.

I have two questions.

This question will be for Senator Hubert Fredericks.

First, what factors do you see have contributed to this?

And second, how will you assist families, especially those struggling with elder care?

Great question.

I just went through dealing with my mom.

She just passed, but we were taking care of my mom, and it was very challenging, and it's very costly, clearly.

But that is something we all need to prepare for.

This is not just a government issue.

It's a household issue.

We age, and so we need more as we get older, and so we all have to start planning and preparing ourselves for when this happens.

The government is doing what it can do, which is to provide as much assistance where it's possible.

The Department of Human Services does provide some Meals on Wheels and also some daytime care.

But ultimately, it's your family, your family members, so you're going to have to find ways to offset this inflation that we're all dealing with.

It's across the board.

Okay.

Thank you, Senator Fredericks.

Candidate Hansen, would you like to respond?

Absolutely.

While we do understand that the world is changing and so the world is feeling this inflation that's going on, especially in the United States.

We're seeing gas prices going up.

We're seeing the cost of food going up and so forth.

What it means for the territory is that we're going to see a lot of things spike because we have to import.

But I do believe that as a government, we can strengthen some of the systems that are already in place.

We spoke about human services and so forth, but we need to create an environment where we have more support staff going into those fields.

And so I believe, again, we need to go back to encouraging younger individuals who are coming out of high schools and even at the junior high level to put them on a career path to fulfill the needs and vacancies of certain programs so that we don't have the issue of scrambling to find those sort of resources, and we can make them homegrown.

Thank you, Candidate Hansen Watley.

Now, going back to affordability, Candidate Hansen Watley, what is your strategy, if elected, to increase support for struggling families, particularly in meeting the high cost of elder care in the U.S.

Virgin Islands?

Definitely think that we need to target the support systems and, like I said, the structure of support systems and human services.

But also tap into those other entities in the private sector that provide the same services and have more of a collaborative situation where we can partner, public and private partnership, to make sure that we have that support.

Being the daughter of an aged Virgin Islander myself, I understand the struggles.

And while we can say that families are responsible, we just know that many of them cannot afford it.

And what happens to seniors that don't have family members?

They do exist as well.

And so we have to think outside of the box.

Many states provide these services with governmental support, and we need to target that area and not leave it as some secondary plan and kick it down the road.

We just don't have the time to do that.

Mm-hmm.

Senator Fredericks, would you like a 45-second rebuttal?

Sure.

There's no question the government should streamline more resources so we could in fact provide more help to some of those agencies that actually provide some assistance to families that are struggling.

So that's one thing we could do, pare back on some priorities elsewhere and reallocate funding accordingly.

But it doesn't take away our responsibility.

You still got to take care of yourself as best as you can.

We're here as a government willing to help as much as we're able to and capable to.

So I think definitely reshuffling some numbers and finding opportunities where they exist, collaborate with some nonprofits, clearly, and definitely, I could see coming up with some more assistance financially, but from what we currently have.

We can't create any more.

Thank you, Senator Fredericks.

Now we move on to healthcare and hospitals.

The AARP Virgin Islands has noted that the government's failure to reach the 17% Medicaid match has prevented many seniors and Medicaid-eligible minor children from receiving critical care.

AARP VI survey found this to be a major concern for its members, their families, and the community at large.

Further, our hospitals are then called on to absorb the cost of treating such patients from their already strained budgets.

How should the priorities in your budget recommendations address this critical failure to meet the Medicaid matching requirement at the level that address these concerns?

We'll start with Senator Fredericks.

So let me be clear.

Medicaid is a federal program, and we administer it here.

We are a territory, so unfortunately, we don't have the same Medicare match as the states do.

That's the law.

So we will always be behind when it comes to providing the same level of care with the funding that we have.

We get funded less than they do in the States.

So the government can't afford to pay the difference.

Our local government, we just don't have the resources.

But this is an issue that the board, the hospital board, needs to address.

It's not a legislative action that we could take.

We could always give the hospital more money if we find it, but they're a semi-autonomous agency.

They could generate revenues.

They need to bill more.

They need to do what they need to do, cut costs where it's necessary, grow the revenues of the hospitals.

That's their task.

They're semi-autonomous.

But in the meantime, we will continue to do what we need to do, make sure that we're providing as much assistance as we can.

Thank you.

Candidate Hansen Watley, would you like me to repeat?

Yes, please.

Okay.

The AARP VI noted that the government's failure to reach the 17% Medicaid match has prevented many seniors and Medicaid-eligible minor children from receiving critical care.

AARP's VI survey found this to be a major concern for its members, their families, and the community at large.

Further, our hospitals are then called on to absorb the cost of treating such patients from their already strained budgets.

How should the priorities in your budget recommendations address this critical failure to meet the Medicaid matching requirement at a level that addresses these concerns?

I believe that Senator Frederick is correct in saying this is a federal program.

However, we do have access to a representative in the Congress person that would be representing the territory and having them, in conjunction with the first branch of government, collaborate in talking to our federal partners about giving us a fair shake.

I believe that we need to advocate to be treated just like our counterparts on the mainland.

We fight those fights.

We go to war first, and we serve our nation.

And so it is only right for us to request that we are treated fairly and equally to our counterparts.

Thank you, Candidate Hansen Watley.

We're moving on to youth violence.

This question will be to Candidate Hansen Watley.

To what do you attribute the violence we see in the community, especially among our young males?

How does your platform address this major concern for our community?

Well, I must say that the violence that we're seeing, while it is disheartening to many of us and concerning, we have to understand, if we continue to ignore our young people, we are going to reap what we sow.

We can't leave them without any attention, any proper preparation to be a functional contributor to the society and expect them to be able to just go out and be great.

And so this is really the fallout of us ignoring young people and just talking a good talk and not investing in them, creating a career track for them, making sure that we track those individuals even when they graduate.

Make sure that we talk about having access to having an undergraduate degree from our university on the back of the government.

However, we don't encourage it.

The numbers are very low.

And so there's a lot of areas that we need to target to make sure that our young people are prepared, and so that we don't have idle young people out here trying to seek some sort of revenue by getting into crime.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you, Candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Frederick?

I personally believe we need to distract them from violence.

I'm a big proponent of the gun violence initiative that we have.

We have to let them know that it's a problem, meet with them in their setting, and see if we could infiltrate some of the challenges that they have to get them to see that there's other alternatives.

We need to continue with our push for athletics and other programs that help young people get distracted from going on the streets.

Clearly, when I was a young person, I remember, had the same options.

I could've gone good or bad.

It was my choice, my support staff, my church, my family, my friends.

So it's also a personal decision.

But we, as a community, we still need to provide the environment for them to succeed, so I will continue working on pushing the things we need to do to distract them from violence, best possible, most efficient way to do it.

Okay.

Thank you, Senator Frederick.

We move on to budget priorities.

This will be for you, Senator Frederick.

With budget shortfalls, how will you set funding priorities when departments present their annual budget requests to the legislature?

Great question.

I just had the opportunity to do it.

I wrapped up over two months of budget reviews, and it was not fun.

Actually, I did it last year, my first term and my first year, and now I did it again on the second year.

And I could tell you, we were a lot more given last year than we can be this year because we have a large budget shortfall.

Our priorities to the agencies are still the same.

We give you as much as we can based on your need, how you've utilized the funds in the past, what your staffing needs are, what your department performance is.

Because you're not going to get a really strong budget if you're not performing.

We might as well take that money and put it somewhere else where we could get the best bang for our money.

But right now, the budget that we just got through, the 30 budget bills we just passed, that is the best we have for right now based on the collections we're receiving.

Thank you, Senator Frederick.

Candidate Hansen Watley?

Can you reread the question?

Oh, absolutely.

With budget shortfalls, how will you set funding priorities when departments present their annual budget requests to the legislature?

Well, budget priorities for me would be within the healthcare area, education, and safety, so VIPD to start with.

Of course, then, primarily we'll go into areas with human services.

But the way I would do it is first, we have to do a better job of assessing our budget and not over-projecting numbers and also working closely with post audit to make sure that we get it right, and we pass a balanced budget to be able to have the government operate the way that it should operate.

And so those are the areas that I would make sure that I scrutinize as a senator to make sure that we don't have an issue where we're operating from a deficit.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Candidate Hansen Watley.

We're going to move on to disaster recovery.

This question will be for, starting off with Senator-- with Candidate Hansen Watley.

What do you see as the best way to restructure disaster recovery given that there will be a complete turnover in the project's executive administrative control?

Secondly, what role should the legislature play in the new recovery approach expected under a new administration?

I believe that we need to look at legislation that speaks to managing and monitoring grants.

We get a lot of federal funds, and we hear about funds being sent back or misused, and one of the things that we're lacking in this government at this time that we used to have were a number of grant monitors and managers.

I was a grant monitor myself for the Law Enforcement Planning Commission, and we were stickler for making sure that we track the numbers and also assist those agencies and entities that partnered with us to make sure that they stayed on track.

And so places like the Synchro Foundation was utilized to make sure that if an entity did not have the staffing that they needed, that they had the extra support from the governmental side with public-private partnership to make sure that they did not fail.

And so we have to step up and understand that if this is going to be the majority of the monies that we're using, we need to make sure that we monitor, um, and manage properly.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Hugo Frederick, would you like to respond?

Sure.

So your question spoke to the transition of the management or the control of the disaster recovery departments, right?

Mm-hmm.

Under a new administration, clearly, that's an executive branch function.

It's not a legislative function.

The next governor is going to make the determination of what they want to do.

We currently have a super PMO system in place, which was to combine a lot of the big projects so they could be done quicker, faster.

But I don't see a role in the legislature as it relates to that process.

The monies have already been allocated.

I think if we get involved in it in some kind of way, it might slow it down even further.

So I would strongly suggest no one even attempts to mess with that.

We're on a roll.

We have a short three-year deadline to get this money spent, so we can't afford to mess with that.

Okay.

Thank you, Senator Frederick.

I do believe that the legislature plays a role in that matter.

I believe that one of the things that we have to look at is oversight.

We know that on a federal level, HUD froze our monies because of a lack of oversight, and reporting, and being able to manage those funds.

And one of the things that the legislature is tasked to do is make sure that we monitor what is going on.

You don't just pass legislation or pass a budget and not monitor what's happening.

And in the absence of that oversight, things like this happen where we stand to lose a number of monies and also control of funding.

And so we have to make sure that the legislature steps up to the plate and makes sure that we have good oversight over the monies that come into the territory to make sure it's being expended well.

And if not, what do we do to change what we're doing as far as monitoring those funds?

Thank you very much, candidate Hansen Watley.

We're going to move on to waste management.

This question will be for Senator Hubert Frederick.

As a small territory that imports most things, waste accumulation is a big problem.

Is the Waste Management Authority still the best solution, or should we go back to Public Works?

Are there any other ways to tackle waste in the VI?

What can you do as a senator to address these issues?

I sit as an ex officio member on the PSC, the Public Service Commission, and that's the entity that would approve a rate for waste management to charge for solid waste collection.

The problem is we've been doing it for free as a government in our entire history.

We've never paid for individual collections.

And so now we're at this point now where we're challenged financially, so we have to lean on the public to pay their fair share.

You're the ones generating the waste, so it's nothing new.

We like to compare ourselves to the States.

Well, in the States, everybody pays for solid waste collection.

So I think a low fee is reasonable.

Waste Management Authority has suggested it.

Whether it's Public Works or Waste Management, it really doesn't matter at this point to me other than it needs to be done so we could get the revenues to actually do the work and be in compliance with the landfill as soon as possible.

Okay.

Candidate Hansen Watley, you have 45 seconds to rebuttal.

Sure.

I believe that we need to consolidate the Waste Management Authority, and put them back into Public Works.

Public Works is in existence across the nation, and they do the same thing, more or less, and it worked fine for us in the past.

What we need to do is strengthen Public Works and then have them hire the staff that they need, and that would save the government a whole lot of money, from paving roads to garbage collection and so forth.

And I do believe that the people of the Virgin Islands have spent enough money giving to this government, and it is only fair that we put them back in Public Works so that they can do what they're supposed to do like they do all across the nation.

Thank you very much, candidate Hansen Watley.

So now we're going to move on to new legislation.

We'll start with candidate Hansen Watley.

What new legislation do you want to create as one of your top priorities, and why?

I'd like to create a legislation, first of all, to put young people on a career track.

The government can decide where the areas are required for our people to need service, whether it's healthcare, police, and in agriculture as example, where they are signed up to go on a career track.

Whether they follow it after they graduate or not is up to them, but they'll be certified and ready to go into those areas that we're lacking people to work right now.

One of the areas that I have targeted in my platform has been agriculture and aquaponics, which we created here on the island of St.

Croix, where I believe that from the eighth grade, you can start to train those individuals so that by the time they graduate, they're certified with the technology, and we're able to make them licensed entrepreneurs in that area, have the government put a stipend aside to build a solo project where we build it up and not wait for them to get that going.

Thank you, candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Frederick, same question.

I'm embarrassed by that.

I have a list of legislation that I currently have that have been passed.

Some have been passed, some are currently in bill form right now.

And to be one of the-- One that's very consequential is the economic zone, where I would like to be able to have the economic zones be targeted in different parts of the island so that if we have a need for a company to locate somewhere in the island outside of the economic development zone, they'll get the same benefits so we could get the revenues we need.

Additionally, there's an accountability bill that I think is going to be helpful for us with a lot of the issues that we're having with the semi-autonomous agencies, where these boards seem to not do their proper oversight.

And so when these semi-autonomous agencies run into trouble, then they lean on us saying, "So, what are you going to do to help us?"

And that's their board responsibility.

That's why you have a board of directors.

So this accountability bill will hold them accountable to what they're supposed to do and get the things done that they should.

Thank you very much, Senator Hubert Frederick.

We're going to move on to committee assignments.

This will start off with Senator Frederick.

Mm-hmm.

Which legislative committee do you look most forward to joining, and why?

What contributions could you bring to that committee that will make you a valuable member?

That's a simple one.

So I'm the chair right now of the Economic Development and Agriculture Committee.

We've had nine committee meetings since I've been in office as a chair, and we just got through wrapping up a very consequential economic summit, Economic Development Summit at UVI, which was phenomenal.

We had all the key stakeholders that received part of that $24 billion in funding that we had.

We had them right there in the room interacting with nonprofits, local companies that were looking for opportunities to be a part of that buildout.

See, in order for us to get growth, we need to make sure everybody shares.

It has to be from the top down.

It can't just be big companies come in here, take the money, and run.

So that summit was designed specifically to address that issue, and we've had a lot of positive reviews, and additional work is forthcoming because of that.

Thank you very much, Senator Frederick.

Okay.

We have another question.

This will go to candidate Hansen Watley.

In your opinion, what significance does the Epstein case have for the US Virgin Islands?

Do the legislature's lack of attention signal a failure in its oversight of corruption at the government level?

If significant, what will be your approach as a senator?

If not, explain how you will address these concerns raised.

I believe that it is important and significant.

To be tainted based on the operation of certain individuals, I believe was unfair.

However, it's real life.

We're a tourist destination, and so we're easily tainted, and it's a hard work to rub the stains off.

We could talk about other historic situations that took place that continue to plague the Virgin Islands.

But what I would say is, I believe that the legislature could step up.

But in addition to that, what I think is important, it is a lesson for us to pay attention to those that we do business with and the things that we allow.

The legislature just passed legislation to allow for Water Island to be used for over 99 years, after something that took place on Epstein Island.

And so I believe doing things like that may open up opportunities for foul play.

However, it's again oversight.

Thank you, candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Frederick?

It sickens me that that even happened.

I am definitely not happy with how we allow a predator to come to our territory and have the access that they had.

Unfortunately, that's not the only case where someone with money shows up on the shores and everybody flocks around for some handouts.

I hope it never happens again.

I hope we're a lot more prudent in making sure that we vet people who come into our territory that's trying to give out gifts and monies and toys and turkeys.

I don't know if anything right now could happen.

There's been penalties, lawsuits, payouts.

So at this point, I think it's just we learn from our past now, and we could go forward knowing that, be careful.

You can't stop people from doing what they're doing, but we could be more aware.

So that's where I stand on.

And in reference to the 99-year lease, it's a lease agreement that was in place before.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Senator Hubert Frederick.

Can I rebut?

Go ahead, candidate Hansen Watley.

While it was a lease that was in place before, we know that the mapping of how much of the land that is now in the lease is much larger than it was before, and if you look at it on a map, it almost looks like the entire island of Water Island.

So, we have to be very careful about the things that we are doing because 99 years, none of us will be here.

And so we cannot foresee what could possibly happen except for to utilize our past experiences, such as what took place at Epstein Island.

Can I rebuttal?

My only thing that people need to understand is remember, this is a lease agreement.

The property will still revert back to the Virgin Islands government, and this is a $3 to $440 million investment.

That's why you need a longer amortization period to make it make financial sense.

That's the only reason it's that long.

We just did a 199-year lease to a museum.

So, that's not unheard of, but that's why it's 99 years.

Your regular mortgage is 30 years, and that could be for a $300,000 house.

So, it's just finances why it was 99 years.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Senator Hubert Frederick.

So I just have a quick follow-up.

So regarding the Epstein, so Hubert Frederick, you're currently in the Senate right now.

Mm-hmm.

So my question would be, why didn't you call for a hearing, an oversight hearing when this occurred?

I just got in there last year, so I had nothing to do with that.

I don't control the legislative agenda, but this is something that happened years ago.

And so my question is, what do we do now other than learn from it and move forward to keep reliving that whole era?

I had nothing to do with it.

I never got anything from it.

So we know who all got money.

It was published.

We know who got paid out.

So I don't see the reason to beat a dead horse.

It's more of a political thing right now than anything else.

But we know now what to do.

When you see people come in here with money and they're throwing it at you, make sure you vet them.

That's the lesson to learn from this.

Mm-hmm.

Senator Hansen.

We're speaking it into God's existence.

Okay.

What I would say is that in addition to learning from what took place with Epstein, is that as a legislature, what you could do is find out with the monies that were given to our government as part of a settlement agreement, that it's utilized in a way that benefits those who were harmed and those who could potentially be at risk to be a part of something like what is going on in trafficking, and this is going on around the world, and to make sure that we protect our shores with those monies.

And it was.

So time is almost up for discussions with two candidates seeking a Senate seat in the 37th legislature.

So I will ask you one final question.

It'll be a topic of your choice, what we have not discussed throughout this session.

So we will start with candidate Hansen Watley.

You have 60 seconds.

You can discuss any topic and explain your approach to addressing it as a senator.

One of the topics I want to talk about is one that's been plaguing the island of St.

Croix in particular, lack of water in the Frederiksted area and a lack of clear answers as to addressing this problem long term.

Now, my father is well-seasoned here on the island of St.

Croix, has been here his entire life.

He used to be the director of utilities and sanitation at the Public Work Department, and I spoke to him about the lack of water in Frederiksted, the lack of resources and tanks that we used to have access to.

He's never seen where this issue has taken place, and so that's concerning to me.

The other thing is making sure that we're prepared.

We are a destination that has a lot of hurricanes, and we don't have any hurricane shelters, and I think that's one of the things that should have been included at any new building of any schools, as those are the areas that we used to utilize as hurricane shelters.

And we have to stop telling people shelter in place when they have breached roofs from nine years ago.

Thank you, candidate Hansen Watley.

Senator Frederick?

I think right now we have a money problem, and we have to find a way to fix that issue quickly.

We need the best and brightest minds out there in the community to be part of our institution.

We're losing two senior senators on St.

Croix who were well-versed and very familiar with what's going on and experienced.

One is a lawyer, one was a former police commissioner.

The people we put in, we need to make sure they add value immediately so that we could continue the work that we're doing.

The legislature is the first branch of government, and it should lead, and we need leaders in there to push forward.

We have to grow the economy.

That's the first point of order, and I need more help to help me push those agenda.

People need jobs.

People are complaining about the high cost of inflation.

That's not going to go away.

So we need to make sure we could grow this economy.

And I spoke about the Southshore Free Trade Zone.

I spoke about the transshipment.

I spoke about the blue economy.

These are things we could do right away to get this economy going, and that's imperative.

With money, we could do all things.

Thank you, Senator Frederick.

We now invite each candidate to make a closing statement of 60 seconds, starting with Senator Hubert Frederick.

I'd like to thank the people of the Virgin Islands, specifically St.

Croix, for their confidence in allowing me to serve as a public servant in the 36th legislature.

It's been a wonderful experience.

It's ongoing.

This has been my 20th month.

I'm still learning a lot, still getting a lot of work done.

Sometimes I know it seems like we're not moving fast, but remember, it's public policy we're doing.

We're creating the rules for the game, and it takes a long time to make sure you perfect the rules so that everyone has a fair chance, and it's a level playing field so that anybody could succeed in our economy.

I hope and I pray that I'm successful, and I humbly ask for your vote and support, number 22 on the ballot.

And remember, the best and the brightest usually gets it.

It's a team.

We need a strong team.

So St.

Croix, let's go.

Let's not fall behind on this one.

We got to win.

Thank you, Senator Hubert Frederick.

Thank you.

Candidate Hansen Watley?

Yes.

Greetings again.

I am Elizabeth Hansen Watley, number six on your ballot for the district of St.

Croix.

And I want to tell you, if you're looking for someone who's prepared to work on day one, that is me.

I have been in the institution as a chief of staff and chief researcher in the former senator's office.

I have governmental experience.

I am currently your assistant commissioner at Department of Tourism.

I'm also a business owner, an entertainer, and I understand your plight.

At this time, we have no time to waste with anybody with training wheels and trying to figure this thing out.

I believe that the time is now to make the decision that counts the most.

For those of you who are still on the fence about getting out there and voting or registering to vote, just please keep in mind that it's not about self, it's about community.

Talk to your friends, family, and loved ones and let them understand the importance of this moment right now.

We have to get it right, and I look forward to serving you with God's blessings and your good graces in allowing me to be your senator.

Thank you, candidate Hansen Watley.

The League of Women Voters hope this program has helped you, the viewer, to better choose among the candidates this election season.

But we also encourage you to read their platforms and attend their events to further evaluate the candidates and have them answer your questions.

We thank WTJX, the candidates, and you, the viewer.

This program has been recorded for viewing on the WTJX Facebook and the League of Women Voters Facebook page until the election.

Be sure to let others know so they, too, can view the program if they missed it.

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Keep well.