‘Chucky’ Hansen Defends Candidacy, Files Petition Asking That Bryan Be Barred From Matters Involving Her (Updated With Correction)

ST. CROIX — The conference room at Gertrude’s Restaurant began to fill up at about 10:20 a.m. today, as ardent Alicia Hansen supporters came ready to listen and cheer on their candidate, who they believe has been maligned by the Democratic Party in an apparent attempt to derail her candidacy.

By the time Mrs. Hansen, whose birth name is Alden Alicia Pickering, arrived, the crowd — about two dozens — erupted with loud salutes, some screaming, “Chucky is back!”, while others yelled chiding words at who they’ve dubbed “the haters.” In little time, Mrs. Hansen was ready to go, introducing herself as “Alicia Chucky Hansen,” emphatically signaling to her challengers that she would not simply roll over and accept defeat.

“There is no other than Alicia Chucky Hansen,” she began, moving on to thank her supporters for their relentless passion and unwavering stance. “I want to say to you that we knew that when we decided to join this race, we were fully aware that the opposition would try something — anything — to try to block us from being on the ballot.”

Far from done, however, is Mrs. Hansen’s fight. She said she had retained attorney Lee Rohn to battle her cause in court, and would take whatever legal avenues there were to be on the November General Election ballot.

The former senator, revealing that she had never met her biological father, also tried to explain the controversy surrounding her names, stating that her adopted parents, whose last name was Hansen, took her from a young age and gave her their surname. She cited Virgin Islands Code, stating that the law makes clear that a candidate does not need to have on the ballot his or her name listed as is on the birth certificate; one could either use their moniker and surname, or legal first name and surname, not both. This very issue was discussed at a June St. Croix Board of Elections meeting. Mrs. Hansen noted that the law also makes clear that the name one registers as, is the name that must be used. What she did not state, though, is that that name first must be accepted as legal. In dispute is whether Alicia Chucky Hansen is legal at all, since Mrs. Hansen’s birth name, which she petitioned the Superior Court to change in July, remains Alden Alicia Pickering.

Mrs. Hansen then pointed to her husband of 40 years, and said she had the marriage certificate to prove it. Taking her word for it, Mrs. Hansen’s legal name — barring any changes that she might have made at that time — should have been Alden Alicia Hansen after receiving her husband’s last name. The senator also provided a certification document from Miguel A. Rodriguez, special assistant to the secretary of education in Puerto Rico, which she says backs up her claim that she had been called Alicia Hansen after being adopted.

That document, however, lists Mrs. Hansen as Alicia Hansen Calendario.

Pressed after her talk for clarity, Mrs. Hansen reiterated what she said from the onset: that from her adoption, she had been known as Alicia Hansen, even though her birth paper said Alden Alicia Pickering.

Just Wednesday, the St. Croix Board of Elections voted to remove Mrs. Hansen from the November General Election ballot. They also voted to request an investigation into Mrs. Hansen’s eligibility to be a candidate, contending that the issues surrounding her name were to be carefully looked at by the Department of Justice, more pointedly Attorney General Claude Walker’s office, which would then determine whether Mrs. Hansen had committed fraud and should be permanently banned from this year’s ballot, or whether she should be allowed to run.

Voting to override Supervisor of Elections Caroline Fawkes’s decision and remove Mrs. Hansen from the ballot were members Glenn Webster, who made the motion, Barbara Jackson McIntosh, the board’s vice chairwoman, Roland Moolenaar and Mr. Bryan. Voting against the motion were board members Raymond J. Williams and Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal, the board’s chairwoman. Member Lisa Harris-Moorhead, who was present for most of the meeting but stormed out following some friction with Mr. Bryan, was absent.

Mrs. Hansen also petitioned the St. Croix Board of Elections against Mr. Bryan asking that he be recused from any matters concerning her candidacy, because of long-held bias against her, the documents allege.

A motion made by Mr. Williams following the successful vote to remove Mrs. Hansen from the ballot, also blocked Mrs. Fawkes from sending St. Croix ballots to be printed before being authorized by the board; a move aimed at stymieing any move by the supervisor of election to ignore the board’s decision.

The vote represented a major turn in this year’s election, and comes at a time when Mrs. Hansen was beginning her campaign run in earnest, erecting large signs across the island, while taking aim at some opponents, including Senator Kenneth Gittens, chiding the second-term Democrat for some of his election reform measures. Mrs. Hansen had also taken to the airwaves on Saturday to lampoon Mr. Bryan, suggesting that the former senator and current Joint Board of Elections vice chairman had willfully shot his son in the back, and that Mr. Bryan had shot pregnant livestock.

St. Croix board members openly debated the matter of Mrs. Hansen’s candidacy at today’s meeting before the vote, concurring that there remain issues with her name. The meeting lasted about three hours.

On July 12, Mrs. Hansen filed in Superior Court to have her name legally changed from Alden Alicia Pickering to Alicia “Chucky” Hansen. In her petition, Mrs. Hansen told the court the name change was to “make all of my documents consistent with the name I’ve been known as for all my life, that is reflected on my United States passport, and that the public is familiar with as a senator and politician for the last 25 years.”

But the petition did not address why a name that the same petition does not recognize as her legal name has been used for so many years.

The Democratic Party had taken to task Mrs. Fawkes, asking that she verify whether Mrs. Hansen, who has filed to run for a Senate seat in the General Election as an independent candidate under the illegal name Alicia “Chucky” Hansen, should be allowed to run, or whether she should be disqualified. Mrs. Fawkes said Mrs. Hansen was qualified. But in an amendment to today’s motion to remove Mrs. Hansen from the ballot, made by Mr. Bryan, the board also voted to determine whether Mrs. Fawkes had used due diligence when she determined that Mrs. Hansen was eligible; the implication being Mrs. Fawkes could be terminated if found wanting.

Correction: September 3, 2016

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Mrs. Hansen had filed suit to have Mr. Bryan be recused from matters involving her. Mrs. Hansen petitioned the St. Croix Board of Elections and did not file suit in court. The story has been updated to reflect the correct information.