Wayne Bully Petersen Announces his Candidacy for the Senate

Hello my People of St. Croix and the Virgin Islands.

My name is Wayne “Bully” Petersen and I am running for a seat in the 30^th Legislature.

Now some of you may remember me, you gave me your vote and support in the last election.

For that I am grateful and am I asking you once again for your vote and support. And I am asking those of you who didn’t give me your vote and support in the last election to reconsider me as one of your choices for senator in the 30^th Legislature in this up and coming 2012 election in November.

I am a long time resident of St. Croix.

I am a 1972 graduate of St. Croix Central High School.

I am a Vietnam Era Veteran of the US Army.

And I am an alumni of the University of the Virgin Islands where I earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Accounting.

Some of you may also know me as an artist.

Or as a musician, the founder and leader of the well known quelbe band Bully and the Musical Kafooners.

Many of you may only know my voice as a radio talk show host and co-host on WSTX AM radio station.

I have served this community in various capacities, for example:

As a member of the Historic Preservation Commission,

 the Virgin Islands Humanities Council,

Chairman of the Advisory Council on Public Housing

just to name a few, and I have recently been selected to serve on the Citizen Advisory Council of the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority.

And finally I does volunteer and give many hours of my talent and of myself as a cultural traditional bearer when called upon by many schools and not for profit organization on St. Croix as a means as sharing our culture and giving back to the community that I love so dearly.

The five minutes that Channel 12, wtjx, have given us candidates, though I am grateful, is not enough time for me to explain my solutions to many of the serious issues that we are being confronted with in the Virgin Islands today.

But the high cost of living is among the top or if not the number one issue that is having a negative effect on the quality of live here in the Virgin Island for all of us.

The number one driver of the high cost of living is the high cost of energy.

The high cost of energy is acting like a vacuum on our economy.

It is sucking up too much our disposable income.

For individuals, it is money that can be used to buy food and clothing for your family or taking vacations to visit family in the states or bring them home to visit, or buy maybe new appliances for your home—It’s affecting the overall quality of all of our lives.

For businesses, it’s preventing them from expanding and creating badly needed employment. The high cost of energy is shutting down businesses and running them out of town.

The solutions are:

First we must adapt a new source of energy to generate the base line power at WAPA and we must move on it fast.

There have been more than enough studies and discussions on this matter and it is high time to fast forward the solution.

Another part of the solution is to give incentivized tax credits to individuals who participate in a comprehensive net metering program by installing solar panel, windmills, battery inverters or any other non-WAPA means as their main power sources of their homes and businesses and feed the excess power back onto the power grid.

 Individuals who take advantage of participating in a the program I just mention would eventually be saving the money they are presently paying to WAPA and could use that money to help them improve the quality of life for themselves and their families.

One of the last solutions to our high cost of living I would like to discuss with you is tax reform.

Every tax and fees that are levied against local businesses come back to all of us on the prices we pay for goods and services.

It is one of the drivers of our high cost of living that we must have the courage and resolve address as elected leaders and representatives.

Food and medicine and other commodities that are necessities for example, should be tax exempt.

I must admit that none of these solutions that I have presented to you in this presentation are new or have not been publicly discussed.

What have been lacking is the courage and resolve of your elected officials to implement them.

This is one of the main reasons why I have decided to run again for a seat in the 30^th Legislature.

There are many other serious and important issue that I would like to discuss with you.

So fell free during this campaign season or any other time when you see me to stop me and ask me questions.

On November 6^th, go out to the polls and vote.

Vote like you mean.

Vote for me.

Vote for Wayne Bully Petersen for St. Croix District Senator.