This afternoon, I announced that the deJongh-Francis 2010 Committee has agreed to participate in five political forums and debates prior to the November 2nd General Election. 

The de Jongh-Francis team has accepted the invitations of the following community organizations to participate in either forums, or debates, on the issues that are of importance to Virgin Islanders. These are: 

• The League of Women Voter’s “Meet the Candidates Forum” on September 30th;
• The Seventh Annual Voices that Count forums on October 4th and October 7th;
• The People United for a Better Virgin Islands/AARP debate on October 14th;
• The Great Debate on October 19th sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

The Governor and Lt. Governor look forward to discussing the issues of this campaign at these events. These forums also provide us an opportunity to review the four years of progress made by this administration as well as present the vision for tomorrow that they share with the vast majority of Virgin Islanders."

During our discussions with the Mapp-Sekou Campaign Committee it was indicated by them, and now re-affirmed in their recent press release, that they wished to have five debates. With our official acceptance of these five forums we welcome candidate Mapp and candidate Sekou to come join us and allow the people of the Virgin Islands the opportunity to decide which team is best suited to handle the important issues of today as well as lead us forward into tomorrow.