BRIBES, BACKLASH & BACK TO THE PORT

Dean Plaskett is returning to the Port Authority. The incoming governor still has an appointment to explain.

Apparently, the road to restoring confidence in government includes a detour through a federal bribery conviction.

Dean Plaskett had taken leave from the Virgin Islands Port Authority and planned to resign ahead of the incoming Plaskett–Potter administration. His move into the incoming team was as its transition chief of staff, an appointment intended to help prepare the administration to take office. Following public backlash over that selection, the Virgin Islands Consortium reports that he is returning to VIPA instead of proceeding with his planned resignation. Whether he has formally relinquished the transition assignment remains unclear. (viconsortium.com)

There is also a family connection. Dean Plaskett has been identified in reporting as Governor-elect Stacey Plaskett’s cousin. That relationship deserves attention when assessing how she chose someone to help prepare her administration for office. (virginislandseverything.com, vifreepress.com)

Being related to the governor-elect does not establish that someone received a position because of the relationship. It does make a clear explanation of the selection considerably more important. Particularly when the person selected has already been convicted of abusing public office.

In February 2008, a federal jury convicted Dean Plaskett, the former commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources, of bribery and two counts of obstruction of justice. The bribery conviction concerned a $650,000 contract awarded to a shell company, within a wider scheme involving approximately $1.4 million in government contracts. The obstruction convictions involved attempts to create and backdate documents to falsely support work never performed. (justice.gov)

He received a nine-year prison sentence and a monetary judgment exceeding $1 million. That record has a direct bearing on how the public assesses his suitability for another position of trust. (viconsortium.com)

Stacey Plaskett’s initial defence was that “he has served his sentence,” and that his experience and ability to contribute should count alongside his past. (viconsortium.com)

They should. People need opportunities after prison. An administration still has to explain why a particular person is suitable for a particular responsibility. The public can support rehabilitation while expecting more from a senior appointment than confirmation that the sentence is over.

Dean already had a second chance in public employment. The Port Authority lists him as Territorial Director of Facilities Management. He already held a management position before being chosen for an additional responsibility close to the incoming governor. (viport.com)

Her fuller explanation is revealing. Speaking to the St. Thomas Source, Stacey Plaskett said she asked him to take the transition position because she expected “unvarnished truth” from him. She also pointed to his leadership of her campaign. The Source reported that the transition positions are unpaid. (stthomassource.com)

A governor needs advisers willing to speak honestly. But personal confidence in a cousin and campaign leader does not tell residents how his record was assessed, what alternatives were considered or what safeguards apply. Those are reasonable questions for an administration asking the territory to trust its judgment.

Calling the assignment temporary does little to settle them. A transition is when an incoming government begins deciding how it will operate. Its appointments reveal something about the standards residents can expect once the inauguration is over.

Plaskett has promised ethics legislation on January 4, including measures intended to strengthen the independence of the attorney general and the Department of Justice’s White Collar Division. Those proposals could matter. The public should examine the details when they arrive. (viconsortium.com)

In the meantime, the administration can explain an appointment it has already made. It can clarify whether Dean remains transition chief of staff and publish the standards used to assess people with previous corruption convictions.

Returning to the Port Authority changes his employment plans. It leaves the governor-elect’s original judgment open to scrutiny.

The family relationship makes that explanation more necessary. A promise of higher standards has to survive the first occasion those standards become inconvenient.