Former Speaker of the House of Assembly Julian Willock has said that in retrospect the decisions he made during his tenure which were termed by many as controversial helped to establish new precedents.
Willock at the time was speaking as a guest on the local show Talking Points where he admitted that he has no regrets about the two decisions made during his time as Speaker.
The two decisions highlighted included Willock’s choice to take legal action against the then Fourth District Representative Mark Vanterpool on the legality of his resignation and his decision to take the Commission of Inquiry Lawyers to court to determine whether they were practicing legally in the territory, lawsuits which were both withdrawn prior to a ruling.
At the time of his comment, the hosts of the show were speaking on the subject of wasteful spending of taxpayers’ funds by previous government administrations.
When asked why he did not simply take the advice of the then attorney general, Willock responded by stating that the position has too much responsibility, having to represent all arms of government.
Willock’s decision to take Vanterpool to court cost the government and ultimately the taxpayers in excess of $270,000.
The second case which was brought against the COI attorneys amounted to less than $100,000 and was later ordered by the court to be paid by Willock following his failure to prove that permission was granted to take the action.