{"id":50065,"date":"2017-03-08T22:40:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T22:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=50065"},"modified":"2017-03-08T22:46:01","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T22:46:01","slug":"senator-jean-forde-says-he-regrets-salary-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=50065","title":{"rendered":"Senator Jean Forde Says He Regrets Salary Comment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. THOMAS &#8212; Senator Jean Forde on Wednesday issued a statement expressing regret for stating that if he was being paid anything less than $85,000 annually, that he would not seek reelection because he was making &#8220;much more&#8221; before becoming a senator.<\/p>\n<p>The comments, laid bare by The Consortium in both <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/politics\/senator-jean-forde-says-he-would-not-accept-a-pay-cut\/\" target=\"_blank\">written<\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/virgin-islands-2\/watch-jean-forde-defends-85000-salary\/\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a><\/span> news reports, set off a firestorm among Virgin Islanders, who received Mr. Forde&#8217;s comments as offensive and without empathy for residents who have been working government jobs for years, but have yet to receive salaries that match their worth.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fviconsortium%2Fvideos%2F1212879998826236%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will tell you straight up, that if this job was paying $20,000 less, I would not run for it,\u201d Mr. Forde said on Thursday. \u201cBecause 1) I was making more than that \u2014 as a matter of fact, it is a lateral move for me. 2) It\u2019s because that my efforts, my energy of what I have put in, that I am giving the money\u2019s worth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, however, Mr. Forde did an about-face, stating that he would share in the sacrifices if senators were to take a pay cut.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In a recent town hall meeting on the island of St. Croix, when I was asked whether I would take a $20,000 pay cut, I answered immediately and may have given the impression that I am insensitive to our economic plight,&#8221; Mr. Forde admitted. &#8220;This is the furthest thing from the truth and I regret having offended anyone or disappointed anyone with my statement. In fact, I recognize that I am indeed a member of this community and will willingly share all necessary sacrifices that have to be made\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Forde said that he will remain vigilant in advocating for higher salaries for teachers and will continue to fight for working people and retirees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to thank my fellow Virgin Islanders for their continuous support including those who have expressed displeasure with my comments,&#8221; Mr. Forde added. &#8220;This job is one of great responsibility and I am honored to be in the position that I am in. I do not take my job lightly as my decisions and actions affect everyone in our community. Be assured that I will continue to work in the best interest of the people. I thank you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During the town hall on Thursday, the audience had started to mumble when Mr. Forde revealed his stance on the salary matter, a sign of dissent among constituents.<\/p>\n<p>He continued: \u201cI know this might not be popular to say\u2026. But I\u2019m telling you that I think that I am worth what I\u2019m being paid.\u201d The senator said if he\u2019d accepted the current salary of $85,000 and thought that he was not deserving of it, \u201cthen I would be guilty of some degree of fraud. And I have never defrauded this government,\u201d \u00a0he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd this is not a popular position to take,\u201d Mr. Forde went on, \u201cbut I can tell you that I could not afford to make less than what I\u2019m making.\u201d The dissent among residents attending the town hall was palpable, with mumbles turning into outright audible denunciations of Mr. Forde\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Forde said his aim was to empower individuals, and pointed to his landmark legislation <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/business\/mapp-signs-minimum-wage-increase-bill-law\/\" target=\"_blank\">of minimum wage increase<\/a><\/span>. \u201cI believe in empowering people,\u201d Mr. Forde said resolutely, but the audience was in an uproar by then, with the moderator attempting to restore order.<\/p>\n<p>The senator then pivoted, suggesting that the community\u2019s call for a reduction in the pay of lawmakers, amounted to teaching the territory\u2019s youth that they are not worth high salaries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have got to be very careful as we send our children off to become educated, and we tell our children that 1), Your parents are not even worth the salary that they\u2019re making, therefore you simply can\u2019t even make that kind of salary,\u201d Mr. Forde said, which again provoked the audience\u2019s ire. \u201cI am saying that I am worth my salary, and if the salary was less, I\u2019m not going to run for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When given the opportunity to respond, a resident rebuked Mr. Forde.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of us in here are not getting paid and haven\u2019t been paid \u2014 especially a lot of retirees \u2014 what we are worth, and they still owe retirees back money, retro, that no one talks about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ST. THOMAS &#8212; Senator Jean Forde on Wednesday issued a statement expressing regret for stating that if he was being paid anything less than $85,000 annually, that he would not seek reelection because he was making &#8220;much more&#8221; before becoming a senator. The comments, laid bare by The Consortium in both written and video news [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[228,11,191,8,2474,147],"tags":[4617,4641,3713,121],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Senator Jean Forde Says He Regrets Salary Comment - V.I. 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I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senator Jean Forde Says He Regrets Salary Comment - V.I. 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