In politics, politicians often say one thing and do another. Thus, astute observers watch the hands, not the mouth.
This has been true of VICC's claims about transparency and public participation. During the last 22 months, its public commitment to public participation and transparency has been unhinged from its behavior. Consider my October 6, 2026 public records request co-addressed to VICC's President and VICC's Public Education and Information Committee Chair:
From: 'J.H. Snider'
Sent: Tuesday, 06 October 2026 14:55:07
To: visixthconstitution@gmail.com <visixthconstitution@gmail.com>; 'Stedmann Hodge' ; 'Patricia Welcome'
Subject: VICC public records request via electronic mailVIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
DATE: October 6, 2026
TO:
The Honorable Stedmann Hodge Jr.
President, Sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands
Email: 'Stedmann Hodge' and visixthconstitution@gmail.comThe Honorable Patricia Welcome
Public Education and Information Committee Chair, Sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin IslandsEmail: 'Patricia Welcome'
RE: Public Records Request pursuant to 3 V.I.C. § 881 (Examination of Public Records)
Dear President Hodge and Chair Welcome:
Pursuant to Title 3, Chapter 33, Section 881 of the Virgin Islands Code (3 V.I.C. § 881), I hereby submit this formal request for copies of public records in the possession, custody, or control of the Sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands (VICC) and its committees.
Under 3 V.I.C. § 881(a), "public records" include “all records and documents of or belonging to this Territory or any branch of government in such Territory or any department, board, council or committee of any branch of government.” As presiding officers and committee leadership of an official governmental body convened under territorial law, you and your designated staff serve as the lawful custodians of these public records.
I am formally requesting the prompt examination and reproduction of the following six (6) sets of records:
Public Record #1: Pursuant to Rules 12 and 17 of the Rules of the 6th Constitutional Convention, a copy of the email(s) or any written correspondence providing USVI media with public notice of the Sept. 14, 2026 public meeting of VICC’s Committee on Public Education and Information. This should include all email correspondence with Ananta Pancham and Janeka Simon concerning the September 14, 2026 meeting, including the correspondence that led Ananta Pancham to begin her article on the Sept. 14, 2026 meeting with the following “Editor’s Note”: “An earlier version of this story stated that no public notice was issued for Monday’s meeting. Convention leadership subsequently said notice was provided, and the Source has removed that reference.”
Public Record #2: As of the date VICC fulfills this public records request, a copy of all correspondence among VICC delegates and staff concerning how to respond to my September 15, 2026 request (see email below) and this request for Public Record #1. If you claim attorney-client privilege, please state that exemption explicitly.
Public Record #3: A copy of VICC’s written contract with NT Media Productions.
Public Record #4: As of the date VICC fulfills this public records request, a copy of all reports and accompanying correspondence written by an NT Media Productions employee or contractor, including Executive Producer Nykole Tyson, and distributed to either all VICC delegates or the VICC delegates serving on VICC’s Public Education and Information Committee.
Public Record #5: A copy of VICC’s written contract with VICC Advisor Richard Albert
Public Record #6: A copy of VICC’s draft constitution(s) provided to Advisor Richard Albert for his formal review.
Preferred Format and Delivery
Pursuant to 3 V.I.C. § 881(b), I exercise my right to copy these records. To minimize administrative burden and expenses, please provide these records electronically in native or PDF format to my email address at: 'J.H. Snider'.
If a file is too large for email transmission, please provide access via a secure file-transfer link.
Fees
I am submitting this request as a representative of the news media, The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse, which reports on VICC’s proceedings and USVI constitutional convention matters more generally. I seek these records exclusively for newsgathering and public dissemination, not for commercial use.
Because these documents concern the official activities of the Sixth Constitutional Convention of the Virgin Islands, their disclosure directly benefits the citizens of the Territory by informing them about foundational governance.
Therefore, pursuant to the public oversight principles underlying 3 V.I.C. § 881, I respectfully request a complete waiver of all copying and processing fees. Furthermore, because I have requested these public records in electronic format (via email or downloadable link), reproduction requires no paper, ink, or physical mailing expenses.
If a waiver is not granted, please provide an itemized invoice detailing the specific statutory basis for each charge for each of the six sets of requested public records. If total fees are estimated to exceed $25.00, please notify me in writing via email for authorization prior to fulfilling the request.
Segregability and Statutory Exemptions
If you determine that any portion of the requested records falls under one of the narrow confidentiality exceptions enumerated in 3 V.I.C. § 881(g), please redact only the exempt portion and release all reasonably segregable non-exempt material. If any document is withheld in full or in part, please state the specific statutory subsection under § 881(g) relied upon for each redaction or withholding, along with a statement of the reasons supporting that determination.
Thank you for your timely attention to this request and for upholding public transparency in the constitutional convention process.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider, Editor
The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse
On October 10, VICC's president responded in a highly professional but uncommittal manner; that is, it was a classic nonresponse response by a skilled politician. His email promptly acknowledges receipt of my public records request, doesn't outright reject any part of it, and suggests a considerate, timely review. In reality, however, his response served as political cover for a de facto rejection (see also the July 2, 2026 email to USVI's President and his non-response, copied below).
Politicians use a similar strategy when they table rather than outright reject a colleague's bill. This minimizes conflict and keeps their options open if the political environment changes. In practice, though, it almost always serves as a rejection. The twist is that, unlike tabling proposed legislation, outright rejection of a valid public records request is illegal and politically dangerous, which makes VICC's nonresponse strategy all the more prudent.
Here is the President's response:
From: 'Stedmann Hodge'
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2026 7:28 PM
To: 'J.H. Snider'; visixthconstitution@gmail.com; 'Patricia Welcome'
Subject: Re: VICC public records request via electronic mailDear Mr. Snider,
This correspondence acknowledges receipt of your October 6, 2026 email and accompanying public records request submitted pursuant to 3 V.I.C. § 881.
Your request, including the six categories of records identified therein, has been received and will be referred for appropriate administrative and legal review to determine the records, if any, responsive to your request; the appropriate custodian(s) of those records; and any applicable requirements, privileges, exemptions, redactions, or other considerations governing their release.
Because your request concerns records that may be maintained by different officers, committees, contractors, or representatives of the Convention, the Convention will coordinate its review before providing a substantive response.
This acknowledgment should not be construed as a determination regarding the availability, public-record status, custody, confidentiality, privilege, exemption, or releasability of any particular document identified in your request.
Thank you for your correspondence.
Sincerely,
Stedmann Hodge, Jr.
Acting President
Virgin Islands Sixth Constitutional Convention
On October 13, 2026, VICC's executive committee met to discuss my public records request, but I received no reply on its decision. I surmise from its subsequent actions that it decided on the following points:
- VICC has no legal obligation to provide public notice or any other timely notification of its committee meetings, a practice it adopted after Oct 13 without public announcement.
- As for the other types of requested public records, the USVI Senate designed the Public Records Act as an unenforceable public right; that is, a PR document that lets public officials comply at their discretion. The act has no compliance deadline and no meaningful penalty for noncompliance. In contrast, the Federal Freedom of Information Act requires compliance within 20 business days, and most state laws require compliance within 30 calendar days—both deadlines that have already passed on my request.
- After the requested information has no political salience, VICC or its successors may provide it to the public. VICC's president told USVI's Senate that he expects to publish the rights part of the proposed constitution after VICC's Nov. 7, 2026 plenary session. The rights section of a constitution is typically the most politically popular part. Opposition tends to mobilize around structural provisions, the meat and potatoes of a constitution.
Here is the correspondence referred to in the above Oct. 6, 2026 public records request:
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 2:35 PM
To: 'Stedmann Hodge'; Patricia Welcome'
Cc: 'Imani Daniel'; 'David L Silverman;' ''Rudel Hodge'
Subject: RE: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Dear President Hodge and Committee Chair Welcome,
Today’s St. Thomas Source includes an article about last night’s meeting with the following appended “Editor’s note”: “An earlier version of this story stated that no public notice was issued for Monday’s meeting. Convention leadership subsequently said notice was provided, and the Source has removed that reference.”
Please provide me with the copy of the email to the media providing that public notice. In addition, I would welcome explanations why:
- the St. Thomas Source claimed in the original version of its article that you had not provided it with such notice in compliance with VICC’s own rules.
- according to my research, no media published public notice of the Sept. 14 meeting yet you refused, despite requests from the public, to provide members of the public with timely public notice of the meeting.
- despite my and VICC delegate requests to include the USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse on your media list for public notices, you have not replied to those requests and continued to exclude the Clearinghouse from your public notice list.
Committee Chair Welcome, if I correctly understand your Sept. 8, 2026 email to me (see below), you have decided that your Public Education and Information Committee will take no responsibility for VICC’s public access policies and practices. That’s how I read your statement: “Notwithstanding the fact that I now Chair the Education and Public Information Committee, I do not make decisions ‘concerning public access to meeting notices, agendas, supporting materials, meeting recordings or minutes, and transcripts.’” Is that a correct reading of your email?
You have further stated that you view public access as a legal rather than political question. That’s how I read your statement: “I am not the Legal Counsel to the USVI 6th CC. In fact, the USVI 6th CC has competent and able Legal Counsel in Attorney Mark Hodge, and I will defer to him on all legal questions raised by Mr. Snider.” I exclusively framed my Sept. 8 email to President Hodge concerning VICC transparency in terms of his publicly stated commitment to transparency, which I considered to be a political, not legal, claim. Thus, I was quite surprised by your reframing my query in legal terms. Do you believe that your only transparency obligations, as chair of USVI’s Public Education and Information Committee, relate to the legal minimum required and enforceable by existing law?
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider, Editor
The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2026 2:34 PM
To: 'Stedmann Hodge'
Subject: RE: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Importance: High
Dear President Hodge,
In your last email to me, you said: “Regarding your immediate inquiry, no plenary session has been called for September 12, 2026. Notice of the next plenary session will be issued in accordance with the Convention's Rules.”
If I understand the rules correctly, under rule 12 of the Sixth Constitutional Convention, it is the responsibility of VICC’s president to distribute VICC plenary public meeting announcements in writing at least five working days before the meeting. If an executive director has been hired, the president can delegate responsibility for providing public meeting notices to that person. But in the absence of an executive director, it is the president’s responsibility. If you believe another VICC officials has that default responsibility, please let me know who that is.
In any case, the written rules don’t matter because they are unenforceable as a practical matter and treated as such, when strategically useful, by USVI public officials. All that really counts is whether public officials are genuinely committed to transparency or if their public claims supporting transparency are mere lip service.
Assuming the tentative VICC public meeting scheduled for today, Sept. 14, is still on, please email me the Zoom link and times for the meeting. If the meeting has been canceled or moved to another date, which I now presume is the case, please let me know. Please also let me know if you consider The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse to be media or not.
Thank you for your service on VICC, which is grossly underpaid given the time commitment and responsibilities involved.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider, Editor
The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2026 2:01 PM
To: 'Stedmann Hodge'
Cc: 'Patricia Welcome'; 'Imani Daniel'; 'Mark Hodge'
Subject: RE: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Dear President Hodge,
Thank you for your thoughtful and, what appears to be, sincere commitment to VICC transparency. I look forward to seeing what Attorney Mark Hodge, in consultation with the Standing Committee on Education and Public Information, come up with. If the Committee on Education and Public Information chooses not to deal with public record and meeting transparency issues, then it should change its name. Otherwise, its name would be misleading.
It’s not clear to me if VICC’s intent is to do the minimal transparency required by USVI law or fulfill its delegates’ pledge, such as yours, of transparency. If the task is assigned to Attorney Hodge, that would be a strong signal that the intent is to do the minimal amount required by law. In your new role as VICC’s president, I hope you will take personal responsibility for any public transparency policies that Attorney Hodge endorses and that VICC adopts as a de facto or de jure policy, including the delayed implementation of those policies. It seems to me that the key public transparency policies that VICC has adopted to date have been de facto rather than de jure, combined with vague promises of transparency in the future, which has already spanned 20 months since VICC’s first public meeting. Moreover, in recent months, VICC has not only made no improvement in transparency but also backslid, including apparently adopting de facto secret public meetings.
On a separate matter, I hope you will read the part of chapter 10 in my book that includes recommendations for reforming the constitutional convention process. Of those recommendations, the only formal recommendation I have made to VICC concerns explicitly including a right to constituent power.
I originally proposed this language in an email I sent to VICC’s delegates some minutes after VICC’s final plenary session on Aug. 29, 2026 to hear the two VICC advisors’ reports:
All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their benefit. The people retain at all times an unalienable and indefeasible right to change their government in such manner as they deem proper. This inherent authority constitutes the constituent power—the supreme power to make and amend the constitution—which is distinct from, and superior to, the constituted powers delegated to government offices. Because those exercising delegated powers possess an inherent conflict of interest in defining their own authority, the people reserve the exclusive right to bypass the legislature through a safety valve to initiate, propose, and ratify constitutional amendments.
I am working on revised language, which I expect to submit to VICC at an appropriate opportunity.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider, Editor
The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse
From: Patricia Welcome
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 5:04 PM
To: Stedmann Hodge'; 'J.H. Snider'
Cc: Imani Daniel'; Mark Hodge'; 'john abramsonjr'; 'John M. Canegata'; 'Usie Richards'; 'Rudel Hodge' ; 'Lilliana Belardo-ONeal'
Subject: Re: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Importance: High
Good afternoon. Received with thanks.
While I am an attorney who has been practicing law in the USVI for more than 35 years, I am not the Legal Counsel to the USVI 6th CC. In fact, the USVI 6th CC has competent and able Legal Counsel in Attorney Mark Hodge, and I will defer to him on all legal questions raised by Mr. Snider. Notwithstanding the fact that I now Chair the Education and Public Information Committee, I do not make decisions "concerning public access to meeting notices, agendas, supporting materials, meeting recordings or minutes, and transcripts".
Cordially,
B. Patricia Welcome
Attorney & Mediator
Pre-Trial Conflict Resolution Services
2127 New Street, Christiansted
U. S. Virgin Islands 00820-4744
Phone: (340) 201-6945
Email: 'Patricia Welcome'
From: 'Stedmann Hodge'
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 2:35 PM
To: J.H. Snider'
Cc: 'Imani Daniel'; 'Patricia Welcome' ; 'Mark Hodge'
Subject: Re: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Dear Mr. Snider:
Thank you for your recent email. In reviewing prior Convention correspondence, I also located your June 20, 2025 communication to then President Richards concerning public access to meeting notices, agendas, supporting materials, meeting recordings or minutes, and transcripts.
Your concerns are noted, and I recognize that you have been raising these issues for some time.
I have copied Delegate Patricia Welcome, Chair of the Standing Committee on Education and Public Information, and Attorney Mark Hodge, Convention Legal Counsel, on this response. The EPI Committee is scheduled to meet on September 14, 2026, and I believe this provides an appropriate opportunity to address the Convention's public information and records-access process as we enter the next phase of our work.
To assist the Committee, I am attaching your June 20, 2025 and September 8, 2026 correspondence as reference documents for its consideration. Among the matters that should be addressed are meeting notices, agendas, Zoom information, recordings, minutes and transcripts; access to Convention records; what constitutes a public record and when and how those records should be published; and the appropriate use of the Convention's publishing platform.
Once the publishing platform is fully operational, the goal should be to establish a centralized and consistent location where the public can access appropriate Convention information and subscribe for notifications. Each Standing Committee will continue to be responsible for its respective meeting notices and public information consistent with the Convention's Rules and whatever uniform procedures are established.
Regarding your immediate inquiry, no plenary session has been called for September 12, 2026. Notice of the next plenary session will be issued in accordance with the Convention's Rules.
I appreciate your longstanding participation in the constitutional process and your continued efforts to bring these public-access concerns to the Convention's attention.
Sincerely,
Stedmann Hodge, Jr.
Acting President
Virgin Islands Sixth Constitutional Convention
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Tuesday, 08 September 2026 08:30:48
To: 'Stedmann Hodge Jr.'
Cc: 'Imani Daniel'
Subject: RE: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Dear President Hodge,
Your Sept. 1, 2026 press release said:
“As the Convention moves into its next phase, its work will continue to emphasize transparency, collaboration among Delegates, public participation, and the orderly consideration of the constitutional proposals developed through the Convention’s Standing Committees.” [bold added for emphasis]
Please add me to your email list to provide public notice of VICC’s meetings, including the Zoom links for the meetings. Please also tell me if the Sept. 12 meeting announced at the last VICC plenary meeting will, in fact, take place.
No VICC delegate or other official responded to Secretary Daniel’s email to you below.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider, Editor
The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse
From: 'Imani Daniel'
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2026 5:42 PM
To: Usie <visixthconstitution@gmail.com>; Usie Richards
Cc: 'Stedmann Hodge Jr. '; 'john abramson jr ; Rudel Hodge'; 'Rupert W. Ross Jr.'; 'Arturo Watlington Jr. '; 'Akima Richardson'; 'Devin F. Carrington'; 'John M. Canegata'; 'David Silverman'; 'Lydia Hendricks'; 'Lilliana Belardo-ONeal';'Alecia Wells';'Patricia Welcome'; 'J.H. Snider'
Subject: Add J.H. Snider to Email List
Good day President Richards,
Between February 28, 2025 and June 30, 2026, Mr. J.H. Snider has sent at least 5 emails to you directly (that I have been Cc'd on), and over 15 emails to me regarding the lack of transparency and communication of the VICC. He is not wrong and he has explicitly asked that he be permanently added to the VICC's press emailing list.
As, by now, we should all be aware of, he owns and maintains the The USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse, which is inarguably a press-related site. Furthermore, he has been an avid participant of the Convention from the beginning.
None of this should matter. Our Convention meetings, agendas, records, Delegates, etc. should be accessible to any and everyone, regardless of their interest level. I'm not even going to get into that in this email.
Please add him to any and all emailing contact lists moving forward so that he does not have to email me before, during, and after each meeting reminding me how inaccessible this Convention is.
Mr. Snider, I do genuinely hope that this remedies your concerns.
Thank you, Secretary Daniel