The chairman of the Virgin Islands Republican Party issued a scathing memo late Wednesday accusing “newcomers to our party” of “undermin[ing] the well-established processes spelled out” by the party rules. In the memo, V.I. GOP Chair John Canegata said “a few voices” have caused “a controversy where a controversy need not exist.”
“This is the same group that enjoys being obstructionist on virtually everything our party has tried to do over the last four years,” Canegata said.
The controversy dogging the Republican Party of the island territory stems from the March 10 contest to elect the delegates that will represent the Virgin Islands later this year at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Who ultimately attends the convention could prove pivotal in the event of a brokered convention, when every delegate vote would count in choosing the GOP’s presidential nominee.
John Yob, a GOP operative previously based out of Michigan, had been accused by some party members of falsifying his voter registration form in order to participate in the caucus to choose the Virgin Islands’ delegates.
Yob has written a book about capitalizing on the conditions of a contested convention. He also made headlines last September, when he was working for the Rand Paul campaign and was allegedly punched by a Marco Rubio staffer at a bar.
Due to the voter registration allegations, a local elections official ruled Yob, his wife, and another couple ineligible to vote in Virgin Islands GOP caucus and thus ineligible to appear on the ballot to become a delegate. But that ruling was temporary blocked by a judge, and three of those four (John Yob, Erica Yob and Lindsey Eilon) were elected to travel to Cleveland to represent the Virgin Islands.
But their spots were put in jeopardy when Canegata said last week that they had been disqualified for not meeting the V.I. GOP’s requirements and would be replaced by alternates. In response, Yob accused Canegata of being a “dictator” who was acting “unilaterally” against V.I. party rules.
Canegata rebuffed that characterization in Wednesday’s memo.
“John Yob has made deeply offensive statements disparaging my character,” Canegata wrote. He also said he doesn’t “know John Yob well at all.”
“I haven’t said one bad thing about him. I wish him well. I just wish we could all work together,” he said.
The dispute hinges on whether the V.I. GOP was allowed to kick Yob and company out of the delegation. Canegata made the announcement that he was doing so on March 22, the same day the V.I. Superior Court agreed with the earlier court decision that Yob and the others were eligible to participate in the caucus.
Canegata had argued Yob’s group failed to confirm to the V.I. GOP within five days, as required, that they would attend the national convention. But another local party official, James Oliver, sent a letter to the delegation on March 26 in which he restarted the five-day clock for Yob and the other elected delegates to confirm that they were accepting the position.
Canegata said in his memo that Oliver had no right to intervene in the matter because he sat on the certification subcommittee rather than the dispute subcommittee.
Update: Yob responded to the memo in a statement emailed to TPM:
“Mr Canegata continues to attempt to break party rules to hand select the delegates after his preferred candidates lost at the caucus overwhelmingly. It didn’t work when he falsified the documents to the RNC in September and it won’t work this time either. The proper results were certified and I look forward to serving as a delegate in Cleveland.”
Read the full memo below:
