What the heck is going on with the Virgin Islands Republican Party?
This is the question posed as the title of an article by Lauren Fox on TalkingPointsMemo.com.
The heart of the issue is who will represent the Virgin Islands at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland later this year?
John Yob, a well-known name within Republican circles, would like to be one of them. Yob is the head of the prominent Michigan-based consulting firm Strategic National and has worked on multiple presidential campaigns for candidates like Rand Paul, John McCain and Rick Santorum. He also made headlines recently by allegedly ending up on the receiving end of a punch by a Marco Rubio staffer in a bar fight.
Yob and his wife Erica L. Yob, and their friends Ethan Eilon and Lindsey Eilon are attempting to represent the U.S. Virgin Islands as delegates at the upcoming convention. There are questions surrounding their eligibility that has made this a controversial situation that will ultimately be decided in a courtroom.
Fox joined Stateside to talk about the controversy.
Yob and his wife attempted to register to vote in the Virgin Islands but were initially declined on the grounds that they had not lived there for the required 90 days prior to the caucus. Fox reported that court documents show that Yob allegedly “falsified information to gain access to the polls.” Despite that, they managed to catch a break the following day.
“The day of the caucus, at 10:22 a.m., Judge Kathleen Mackay of the Supreme Court of the U.S. Virgin Islands ... issues a restraining order that gives Yob and the others the chance to vote in the election,” said Fox. “Of course, voting in the election is very important because if you are not registered to vote somewhere, you cannot be a delegate.”
The restraining order is still in place pending a further investigation, and ultimately a ruling from the courts.
With the strong possibility of a contested convention for the Republicans in Cleveland later this year, every delegate will count as the GOP attempts to choose a presidential nominee. Coincidentally, Yob recently wrote a book about the very subject entitled, "Chaos: The Outsider's Guide to a Contested Republican National Convention." One piece to this delegate puzzle is the Virgin Islands and the door is still open for Yob to have an impact.
Listen to the full interview below to learn more about Yob’s quest to become a delegate and how the caucus process works in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
