Introduction
Tonight, Sept. 14, VICC's Public Information Committee held a "public" meeting. The topic of the meeting appeared to be whether to hire PR firm NT Media, run by Nykole Tyson. VICC already hired her as a contractor, so the question was whether to implement her PR proposal. Niikole's presentation apparently covered the public-facing website she has proposed for VICC to sell the convention's work. The delegates will be sent a detailed proposal separately and confidentially.
As you will see from my correspondence below and my comments in the meeting chat, I desperately tried for more than a week, without success, to obtain public notice of this meeting, including its Zoom link. I sought this information from VICC's president, the new chair of VICC's Public Education Committee, Delegate Rudel Hodge, and two other delegates. Finally, around 6: 30 pm tonight, after the meeting was well underway, Delegate Rudel Hodge sent me the Zoom link (but not the meeting's date or time). That correspondence is at the very end of this long post.
One of the things you'll observe from reading the following correspondence is that the culture among VICC delegates from the president on down is to claim to believe in transprancy--especially at some distant and undefined point in the future--but it is always someone else's responsibility to ensure that it is implemented. To pick just one of many examples, we see the president defer to the chair of the public education committee who defers to the staff attorney, who doesn't respond and who I would consider the least likely VICC official with any genuine interest in institutionalizing transparency. But this type of deflection is actually better than the norm because at least the blame is placed on an individual as opposed to some vague, unkown entity or an absolute refusal to answer the question of what the delegate means by transparency as an actual practice as opposed to a talking point for public consumption.
The following is the chat and some live comments from the delegates concerning the lack of public notice:
Meeting Chat Room Plus Delegate Responses to the Chat
J.H. Snider 7:05 PM
Why was no public notice provided for this meeting?
Imani Daniel 7:06 PM
Great question Mr. Snider!
President Stedmann Hodge said via the live, delegate-only part of the meeting, not via the chatroom: "We cannot discuss certain issues right now because of people attending the meeting."
He thus motioned to adjourn the meeting. His motion to adjourn was rejected.
J.H. Snider 7:22 PM
I'll be more specific regarding the lack of public notice: why did VICC president Stedmann Hodge fail to provide me with public notice of this meeting despite my multiple requests to him over the last week for this information? Does he think another VICC official is responsible for providing this information? If so, whom? His public commitment to public transparency is not the question here. The question here concerns only actual practice. If you think PR decisions should be addressed in an executive committee (private) meeting, please say so openly.
Imani Daniel 7:32 PM
This meeting is scheduled until 8pm on the official calendar. Was that amended at the beginning of the meeting?
J.H. Snider 7:43 PM
There seems to be a new policy effective with this meeting: private chat with participants has been disabled. If this policy was implemented at an earlier meeting I missed, please let me know when it was implemented. If the policy will be applied at the discretion of committee chairs, please state that that is the policy. [J.H.Snider's post-meeting comment: VICC committee chairs have the right to control such Zoom public participation features.]
Via the live window onto the meeting, Patricia Welcome, Chair of the Public Education Committee, moves to shift the discussion to executive session. She announces that it was agreed tonight that NT Media's presentation would be sent to the delegates.
Delegate David Silvernman asks that the chat comments regarding public notice and related matters be read into the record for tonight's meeting.
Chair Patrice Welcome replies: I’m not prepared to go there tonight. It would extend this meeting by two hours. We want to have fruitful discussions.
Jamila Russell 7:54 PM
I am truly worried about my beloved Virgin Islands.
Can’t wait to inform the greater public.
Elizabeth Hansen Watley 7:56 PM
Isn't this a public meeting???
Rudel Hodge 7:56 PM
This is a public meeting.
Imani Daniel 7:56 PM
This is terrible for public trust
Elizabeth Hansen Watley 7:57 PM
This is very interesting and disappointing.
Ananta Pancham 7:57 PM [Ananta Pancham is the publisher of USVI's Source publications]
Will the public be able to attend the working committee meeting and if so, would notice be sent for that one?
Via the live window onto the meeting, Delegate Imani Daniel supports Delegate Silverman’s motion that the chat comments be read into the record.
Chair Patrice Welcome cuts her off and adjourns the meeting.
Correspondence with VICC President and VICC Public Education Committee Chair
My correspondence with VICC President Steddman Hodge and VICC Public Education Committee Chair Patrice Welcome follows below in chronological order. Note that, despite the name of her committee, Chair Welcome refuses to address questions about meeting and records access for the public. Both VICC's President and Public Education Chair also refused to answer my questions about how I could receive a Zoom link for the next VICC meeting and when that meeting would actually be held. A tentative VICC meeting date of Sept. 14 had been announced at the last VICC meeting. According to VICC's rules, VICC committee chairs are supposed to provide public notice to the media five days before a VICC public meeting. I know that this public notice has not always been provided.
The reason I wanted to privately message in the chat (see my chat comments above) was to ask the two reporters present whether they, in fact, received notice from VICC about tonight's meeting. My guess is that President Steddman Hodge knew he was in violation of VICC's rules for not having apparently sent that notice when I informed him of that likely violation in my email to him early this afternoon. I also asked President Hodge whether he considered the USVI Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse (this website) to be media, and he has yet to answer. All this correspondence is copied below. And below that is my correspondence with Delegate Rudel Hodge, which finally resulted in my receiving the Zoom link, date, and time for tonight's meeting.
From: Imani Daniel
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2026 5:42 PM
To: 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
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: 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: 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
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 to 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: 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
Correspondence with Del. Rudel Hodge, member of the Public Education Committee
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Saturday, September 5, 2026 11:42 AM
To: Rudel A. Hodge Jr
Subject: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Hi Delegate Hodge,
At the last VICC plenary session, it was mentioned that there had been three VICC plenary sessions to discuss the advisors’ reports. I’m wondering if I missed the public notice for the 2nd plenary session dealing with government structure. These are the two public notices that I have:
- Constitutional Convention to Convene a Plenary Session Saturday, St. Thomas Source, June 23, 2026.
- VI Sixth Constitutional Convention Committee of the Whole Meeting, St. Thomas Source, August 21, 2026.
If there was a public notice for the second plenary session, please provide me with a link to it.
Perhaps the reporter was wrong and incorrectly 1) mixed up a committee session with a plenary session (that covered a committee’s work) and 2) got the order of meetings wrong.
Sincerely,
J.H. (“Jim”) Snider
From: Rudel Hodge
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2026 8:27 PM
To: J.H. Snider
Subject: Re: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Dear Jim,
To clarify your assumption, I am not a member of the Committee on Government Structure.
The meeting you are referring to was actually a Committee of the Whole for the Convention, which was held on St. Croix on June 19 for the presentation. Because I do not have access to the Zoom files or the specific public notices for that session, I am unable to provide the link you requested.
Best regards,
Delegate Rudel A. Hodge, Jr.
Sixth Constitutional Convention of the U.S. Virgin Islands
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2026 9:15 PM
To: Rudel Hodge
Subject: RE: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Thanks for replying, Rudel.
Four points/questions:
- A Feb. 24, 2025 memo for VI 6CC Group 1/Government Structure Committee—the only group 1 memo I’ve received over the last 20 months—lists two officers and four attendees, including you. You are also described as assigned to do specific work for the committee.
- You didn’t reply to the concern I expressed in my Sept. 5 email to you. Would it be correct to infer from your reply that the St. Thomas Source reporter got the three VICC plenary meeting number and descriptions wrong in her article? By inference, that seems to be what your reply claims.
- The only public meeting notice would be a newspaper notice because VICC no longer either sends out email notices or posts them on its own website. If I understand you correctly, then, you are claiming that if VICC has sent the Source a notice and the Source doesn’t print it, VICC has nevertheless fulfilled its duty to inform the public of its meetings. Is that correct? If that’s not correct, then what is VICC’s policy?
- Who currently has access to all the public meeting notices that VICC has sent out? If it’s not you, then whom?
Sincerely,
J.H. (“Jim”) Snider
From: Rudel Hodge
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2026 1:15 PM
To: J.H. Snider
Subject: Re: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Dear Jim,
Thank you for your follow-up questions. Here are the factual clarifications regarding your points:
- Committee Membership: While I actively attend Government Structure meetings and participate in the discussions, official attendance records categorize me strictly as a "Non-Member Delegate" for that specific committee.
- Reporter Accuracy: I cannot speculate on the St. Thomas Source reporter's thought process or their understanding of our specific parliamentary distinctions (e.g., confusing a Plenary Session with a Committee of the Whole), I can only speak to the official meetings that were held.
- Public Notice Policy: Under the Rules of the Sixth Constitutional Convention (Rule 12 and Rule 17), it is the responsibility of the specific Standing Committee Chair and the Executive Director to distribute meeting announcements in writing to the media at least five working days before the meeting. I am not in a position to offer a legal opinion on whether a media outlet's failure to print a submitted notice satisfies the Convention's statutory notification duty.
- Records Access: Under Rule 9 and Rule 12 of the Convention, the Convention Secretary and the Executive Director (who has not yet been hired) are the officers tasked with maintaining custody and preserving all official records, public notices, and documents of the Convention. I recommend directing your request for the comprehensive list of public notices to the Executive Director or the Secretary.
Best regards,
Delegate Rudel A. Hodge, Jr.
Sixth Constitutional Convention of the U.S. Virgin Islands
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2026 2:46 PM
To: Rudel Hodge
Subject: RE: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Thank you for your replies, Rudel.
I’m providing a link to the Feb. 24, 2025 memo I referred to. It’s the only meeting memo the government structure committee has been willing to share with me during the last 20 months, and it does list you and treat you as a full participant, although it doesn’t clearly distinguish between official delegate committee members and delegate participants—both in its list of delegate attendees and in the body of its narrative, where your participation is described. If this memo isn’t an official attendance record, I don’t know what is. I have never been granted access to other written attendance records.
I didn’t ask you to “speculate on the St. Thomas Source reporter's thought process,” only to clearly state whether its reporting was factually incorrect and in what ways it was factually incorrect; e.g., wrong about the order of VICC’s government structure meeting discussion and what type of VICC body held that discussion. Since VICC has provided no public website or email notice of its public meetings in recent months, verifying incorrect press claims is extremely difficult for the public without help from VICC delegates like yourself, especially because VICC has previously planned secret public meetings.
As you know, committee chairs and other VICC officials have repeatedly failed to fulfill the public notice responsibilities you describe and without any practical consequences from VICC, so it should be expected that interested members of the public will look elsewhere for this information.
The culture among VICC members from VICC’s president all the way down, including VICC’s rank-and-file members, officials, committee chairs, staff, and even its Public Education Committee—of which you are apparently a member—is always to claim, and thus implicitly to blame, someone else for VICC’s failure to comply with its claimed transparency and accountability values. This type of lip-service transparency strategy is a classic political strategy employed by public officials, and its use by VICC helps explain why, during the last 20 months, VICC’s de facto transparency policies have actually deteriorated.
I don’t expect you to fix this culture, as the incentives for it are just too compelling. But please email me the Zoom link for tomorrow’s VICC public meeting.
Sincerely,
J.H. (“Jim”) Snider
From: Rudel Hodge
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2026 6:25 PM
To: J.H. Snider
Subject: Re: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2026 7:01 PM
To: Rudel Hodge
Subject: RE: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Importance: High
When is the meeting!
From: Rudel Hodge
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2026 7:02 PM
To: J.H. Snider
Subject: Re: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
Right now.
From: J.H. Snider
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2026 7:03 PM
To: Rudel Hodge
Subject: RE: Link to a public notice of VICC's 2nd plenary session to discuss the advisors' reports
No one is letting me in. I’ve been trying to get in for more than five minutes.