Mapp Sends 12 Nominees To Senate For Approval

Governor Kenneth Mapp has sent 12 nominees to the 31st Legislature for approval, Government House has announced.

The list includes most of the governor’s picks to lead various government departments, including the departments of education, health, human services, the Virgin Islands Police Department and more.

The step is the final one before each nominee officially becomes the head of their respective departments.

See the full list below:

1. Pedro Cruz-Commissioner Designee for Sports, Parks and Recreation
2. Vivian Ebbesen-Fludd – Commissioner Designee for Human Services
3. Milton E Potter – Director Designee for Personnel
4. Eugene Farrell – Director Designee for Fire Services
5. Gustav James – Commissioner Designee for Public Works
6. Beverly Nicholson-Doty – Commissioner Designee for Tourism
7. Carlos Robles – Commissioner Designee for Agriculture
8. Devin Carrington – Commissioner Designee for Licensing and Consumer Affairs
9. Marvin Pickering – Director Designee for the Bureau Internal Revenue
10. Sharon McCollum – Commissioner Designee for Education
11. Valdamier Collens – Commissioner Designee for Finance
12. Lawrence Olive – Director Designee for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles

No information was given on when the Senate’s process of vetting the nominees would begin, and Government House did not make available comment from the Governor.

Not included on the list of names is Terri Griffiths, Mapp’s choice for acting Attorney General, as her position is only temporary, sources tell VI Consortium. She will be replaced once the governor finds a successor for former Judge Soraya Diase-Coffelt, who resigned her position as acting Attorney General last Thursday, after spending two weeks on the job.

Sources told VI Consortium that Diase-Coffelt resigned, in part, because Mapp’s Chief of Staff, Randy Knight, wanted Griffiths to join the team at the Department of Justice. Diase-Coffelt, however, adamantly opposed the idea.

Soon after Diase-Coffelt’s resignation, Griffiths was announced as acting Attorney General.

Griffiths notably represented then-gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Mapp during the 2014 Nov. 4 General Election in a civil suit filed Oct. 30 in Superior Court against Elections Supervisor Caroline Fawkes, St. Thomas-St. John District Board of Elections Chairman Arturo Watlington, Jr., Joint Boards of Election Chairman Alecea Wells, and St. Croix District Board Chairman Adelbert Bryan to prevent the Board of Elections from stopping voters from scanning their ballots in the DS200 voting machines.

The Superior Court ruled against Mapp; however, on appeal to the Supreme Court, Mapp won the case, granting voters the right to place their ballots into the DS200 machines. Fawkes was  ordered to make the machines available to voters for the Nov. 18 run-off election.

According to Griffiths’s LinkedIn profile, she established a law firm, Griffiths Law, in 2006 on St. Thomas. It also reveals the various firms the longtime attorney has worked for over the years.

The Mapp administration’s announcement of Griffiths’s appointment was accompanied by a biography of the lawyer. It reads:

“Attorney Griffiths has practiced law in the USVI since 1996 and has a strong background in Complex litigation, including, fraud, white collar crimes, toxic tort, government relations including zoning, and has handled numerous IRS tax controversies. She has served as a staff attorney for a federal judge in the state of Florida, and a probation and parole officer in three states (IL, SC, and MO).

“Attorney Griffiths is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where she received her B.S. & J.D., Administration of Justice where she graduated Cum laude. Attorney Griffiths received her Master of Law (LLM) and Taxation degree from University of Florida – Fredric G. Levin College of Law Master of Laws (LLM), Taxation. Attorney Griffiths is a welcomed addition to Governor Mapp’s administration.”