Lesley Comissiong - Movements : CORE Magazine

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July 24, 2007

Lesley Comissiong
IN PLACES OF POWER

By: kaya.lah
From Our Jul - Aug 2007 Issue

Born Leslie Marie Comissiong, this political powerhouse was born and raised in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. She attended Leonard Dober Elementary School, Addelita Cancryn Junior High, and was a Chicken hawk, Class of ‘94. Her spark in the political arena occurred in sixth grade when she met former Governor Alexander Farrelly. Since that point on Leslie has excelled at the trade of politics, with emphasis on designing and winning local, state, and national campaigns.

CORE: Will you elaborate on the event that got your interest growing in politics?

LC: In sixth grade, earlier in the year Governor Farrelly came and spoke to our school. We had some safety concerns at the school, and bored at home on the summer before I went to Junior High I decided to make an appointment to see him. Low and behold, I got the appointment; I expressed my issues with the school and what could be done. Within two weeks the problem was dealt with, it was a great experience to show how government can and should work. We remained good friends until his passing.

CORE: What university did you attend and your political involvement there?

LC: I went to Utica College of Syracuse University, graduated in 98’ with a degree in Political Science .I volunteered to help my faculty advisor on some campaigns he managed in up-state New York.

CORE: You really got heavily involved on the campaign trail after you graduated…

LC: There is a funny oxymoron about my college education and what I actually did after graduation. My degree was Political Science with Concentration on Public Administration which is basically running government. There was a class on campaign management that I neglected to take during school. I interned in DC for my fourth year, and during a mandatory lecture she learned of a campaign school that the Organization of Human Rights had. I got in the school beating out 100’s of applicants from around the country and was assigned my first campaign which was U.S. Senator from Nevada, Harry Reid, and now Senate Majority Leader. Then the races were on so to speak: Gore ’00, New Jersey State, Local and County races, Governor John deJongh ’02, John Kerry’s Presidential campaign, District Attorney’s in New York, U.S. Senate race for Norm Coleman of Minnesota, and finally Governor John deJongh 2006.

CORE: Working on the larger campaigns in the states, can you and did you utilize any of the experience gained?

LC: Absolutely, politics is very much a science. In 2001 John deJongh called me to help him in his race in 2002. I was living in Minneapolis at the time, and had committed that year to work on the New Jersey Coordinated Democratic campaign. I expressed that experienced gained would be valuable because it was a state-wide gubernatorial race as well as some smaller ones. I did that and came back in February ’02. However the skills that I learned in the states were not immediately useful because the political framework in the VI hadn’t caught up yet. So for the 2006 campaign, we had ample time to collect the necessary data for voters and constituents for me to use that experience I gained in the states.

CORE: Your present position and goals for the future?

LC: I presently work as Special Assistant to Governor John deJongh. This is a jump for me; my goal was never to be a bureaucrat; which I am now. I always told myself if I was to pursue a political career it would be as delegate or governor. I’ve only been old enough to be governor for a year so we’ll see…

...my goal was never to be a bureaucrat...