GOP Update: Virgin Islands Republican says Yob seeks 'banana republic coup'

Republican consultant John Yob’s bid to take over the Virgin Islands delegation to the national GOP convention sparked the strongest backlash yet when an islands activist said Yob, a Michigander, views VI as a “banana republic” where he can pull off a political coup.

Yob, who served as national political director for Rand Paul, has filed a lawsuit to block the disqualification of a delegate he is leading that pushed aside longtime islanders with GOP loyalties. While his residency remains in question, Yob’s aggressive tactics in advance of, and after, the March 10 VI caucus have ruffled quite a few feathers.

In a statement, Valerie Stiles, who describes herself as a Republican activist and “a real Virgin Islander,” said this about Yob:

There are serious misrepresentations in reports that political
saboteur John Yob and his mercenaries won Tuesday’s proceedings in
Superior Court. The case is not over. The court has not issued a
permanent ruling — let alone heard any evidence on factual issues — on
whether political saboteur John Yob and his mercenaries were real
domiciled Virgin Islanders.
John Yob’s real motives are clear. He looks at the Virgin Islands and
sees a banana republic that he can overthrow with a coup to grow his
political power and line his pockets with the cash of a presidential
candidate seeking to win what is looking like a contested Republican
convention.

Stiles has intervened in Yob’s “unprecedented” suit against the neutral, third-party supervisor of elections.

Yob

When GOP Chair John Canegata announced on Monday that the Yob slate lacked proper credentials to serve as delegates, Yob responded on Twitter: “The USVI GOP Chairman is not a dictator and can not unilaterally break the USVI GOP rules to hand select his preferred delegates.”

A controversial figure in Michigan GOP politics, Yob also tweeted a statement from a member of the Virgin Islands GOP certification committee issued a statement that disputed the disqualification of John Yob and other VI delegates. James Oliver asserted that the VI delegation cannot be certified “until all disputes are addressed by a subcommittee.”

For more on this ongoing bizarre battle, with islanders getting a taste of Michigan-style hardball politics, you can continue reading here: