Politics

Senate Cancels Friday's WAPA Hearing After Failed Attempts to Reach Consensus With Sen. Carla Joseph

Freshman Senator Carla Joseph was not pleased that the Committee of the Whole hearing on the V.I. Water and Power Authority was held Tuesday. She was nettled because her committee, which has jurisdiction over government operations and consumer affairs, had scheduled a WAPA hearing for Friday. The senator expressed her displeasure by using her entire 10 minutes during the first round of questioning on Tuesday, when testifiers were under oath, to read two letters she had sent to key testifiers instead of asking questions. Thirteen senators signed a petition — Senator Steven Payne is recovering from Covid-19 — to hold the Committee of the Whole hearing Tuesday. Ms. Joseph did not. Community members were unimpressed at what they saw as petty behavior, and they shared their dissatisfaction with the deportment online. After reading the two invitation letters into the record, Ms. Joseph said, "While I respect my colleagues signing onto the petition, I didn't sign it because I saw that we ...