{"id":22164,"date":"2015-05-11T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T11:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=22164"},"modified":"2015-05-11T11:07:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T11:07:06","slug":"congressman-bill-shuster-accused-of-fixing-six-pack-law-for-vi-to-receive-campaign-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=22164","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Bill Shuster Accused of Fixing ‘Six Pack Law’ For VI To Receive Campaign Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013 The six-pack law is called \u201can obscure regulation\u201d with no connection to Bill Shuster\u2019s home constituency in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Yet Shuster, the powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was willing to work with former Gov. John de Jongh to get a law passed that doubled the number of passengers allowed aboard uninspected commercial charter yachts from six to 12.<\/p>\n

The question is why? According to Politico<\/a><\/span>, the answer is simple: money. The online news source said the same month that Shuster championed the six-pack law for the territory, he received $33,000 in campaign contributions from people he mostly had never met before.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was instrumental in making that deal happen,\u201d said Pash Daswani to Politico, president of Lucky Jewelers and head of the India Association of the Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n

Politico said Daswani attended a meet-and-greet with Shuster and de Jongh in 2013 at which the need to change the six-pack regulation was discussed. Just days after the bill passed the House, Daswani gave Shuster $500.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for policymakers to raise money from individuals and corporations who have \u201cvested interests before Congress,\u201d Politico wrote, but relaxing a rule that affected only the Virgin Islands and the way contributors from the territory connected the two was.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Shuster) came down to the Virgin Islands and gave a talk,\u201d about the boat regulation, said Steve Lammens, President of Custom Builders<\/a><\/span> on St. Thomas, who cut a $1,000 check to the congressman, his first contribution to a federal candidate. \u201cThat was it. A one-time deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lammens said he \u201cwas given information\u201d that Shuster\u2019s panel had authority over the six-pack rule.<\/p>\n

Noah Bookbinder, president of the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the case appears to be \u201ca naked example of policy being made because money is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does seem like a fairly stark example of an official being influenced by something other than what is in his constituents\u2019 interest and what\u2019s in the public interest,\u201d said Bookbinder, whose group was the first to bring their concerns to Politico.<\/p>\n

Shuster\u2019s spokesman, Casey Contres, said the Pennsylvania lawmaker\u2019s fundraising is not linked to his work on legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo assert otherwise is simply not the truth,\u201d Contres said. \u201cHe raised money for his leadership PAC in the (Virgin Islands) which helps support and maintain our Republican majority. He is always grateful to those supporters from Pennsylvania\u2019s 9th congressional district and across the country who believe in his vision for ensuring that the federal government maintains its role in the transportation and infrastructure needs of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contres added that while Shuster often travels to the Virgin Islands with his family for a one-week vacation, he does not have an interest in the maritime industry there and doesn\u2019t personally benefit from the legislation.<\/p>\n

The Passenger Vehicle Safety Act passed in 1993 and limited to six the number of paying passengers that can be carried aboard uninspected vessels less than 100 tons.<\/p>\n

When the law first went into effect, the territory lost many charter yachts and millions of dollars in revenue as the maritime industry moved to the British Virgin Islands and its less stringent inspection standards.<\/p>\n

For years the territory\u2019s leaders had pushed for an exemption to the six passenger restriction, known as the six-pack law, for the Virgin Islands to help resuscitate the local marine industry here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013 The six-pack law is called \u201can obscure regulation\u201d with no connection to Bill Shuster\u2019s home constituency in Pennsylvania. Yet Shuster, the powerful chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was willing to work with former Gov. John de Jongh to get a law passed that doubled the number of passengers allowed aboard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":14163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,3,11,191,147],"tags":[1793,1900,1901,1902],"yoast_head":"\nCongressman Bill Shuster Accused of Fixing 'Six Pack Law' For VI To Receive Campaign Cash - V.I. 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