Jay Warren

Jay Calvin Warren (born July 29, 1956) is a political figure from the Pacific territory of the Pitcairn Islands.

Political roles

Jay Warren was elected Mayor of the last remaining British dependency in Oceania in the general election held on 15 December 2004, defeating Brenda Christian, who had held the Mayoralty in an interim capacity following the dismissal from the post of her brother, Steve Christian, by the British authorities on 30 October 2004, following his rape convictions. Warren was expected to take up his duties sometime around Christmas, when he was to return from Tahiti, where his daughter Darylynn Warren was hospitalized and recovering from a longboat accident in which her arm was nearly severed. Besides Darylynn, he has another child: Charlene Warren.

Jay Warren was no stranger to the post to which he was elected. From January 1 1991 to December 31 1999, he served in an almost identical capacity as "Magistrate," as the chief elected official was known prior to a constitutional revision in 1999. Previously, after a brief stint as a member of the Island Council in 1982, he had assumed the second-most influential position on the island in 1985, as chairman of the "Internal Committee." He continued to hold this office up to his election to the office of Magistrate in late 1990.

As Magistrate throughout most of the 1990s, Warren had executive, legislative, and judicial authority, serving "ex officio" as chairman of the Island Council, which doubles as the dependency's legislature and court. Following the constitutional review and the replacement of the Magistrate by a Mayor in 1999, Steve Christian was elected to the new position. Warren remained politically active, however, and served two further terms (in 2000 and 2002) as Chairman of the Internal Committee.

Warren's election to the Mayoralty in 2004 was welcomed by British Deputy Governor Matthew Forbes. "We appointed Jay as chairman of the (island's) internal committee in the period after the trials and before this election," Forbes told Radio New Zealand from his office at the British High Commission (the equivalent of an embassy in Commonwealth countries) in Wellington. "He's very experienced and I'm sure he'll make a very good mayor."

He was succeeded by Mike Warren as Mayor in December 2007.

Controversy and acquittal

On October 24 2004, Warren was acquitted of an indecent assault charge. He was the only one of seven defendants in the Pitcairn rape trial of 2004 to be found not guilty. He is the brother of Meralda Warren, who has also held political office and is one of the most vocal defenders of the islanders' traditional acceptance and practice of sexual activity from puberty onwards. Meralda Warren herself was elected to the Council on December 15, 2004 also.

Background

Warren is the eldest child of Jacob Ralph Warren and Mavis Mary Brown Christian. He has a younger sister, Meralda Warren.

ee also

* Politics of the Pitcairn Islands
* List of rulers of the Pitcairn Islands