No election? Abolish the election commission then
IT was irresponsible for the election commission to announce that there would be no election if it did not get adequate funding. An election can neither be postponed nor delayed. Moreover, there is funding but it seems that neither the administration nor the Legislature wants to make the tough decision of identifying where the money will come from. Making tough decisions, however, is precisely their job.
The people, for their part, should not wait for the election commission to educate them about the initiatives that will be placed on the November ballot. Voters should know what they are voting for or against. Call the commission, your senator or representative for more information about these initiatives, which will likely include the pension bond proposal.
Speaking of which: the government’s actual collections are way less than the administration’s projected $132 million budget and the austerity measures will not result in savings as the lt. governor recently admitted. Now even if — and it’s a big if — the government succeeded in floating a $230 million bond for the Retirement Fund, it won’t be enough if the government refuses to remit its contributions on time. This is not a hard calculation.
And how will the pension bond be paid? There is barely enough revenue to pay salaries, the government’s main priority.
These are among the questions that members of the public should be discussing regarding this and other initiatives.
Be better informed. Be a better citizen. Be a better voter.
For whose benefit?
THE House minority leader, who is supposedly with the opposition, is getting plenty of face time with the governor, travelling together to testify at hearings in Washington and now to meet with other Pacific Islands Development Bank officials in Palau to see how much money they can get from international banks.
The CNMI has made its fair share of contributions to this regional bank whose goal is to provide loans and business start-ups for the benefit of the islands. No one, however, knows what benefits PIDB has actually extended to the CNMI. All the island governments that comprise the bank’s boards are dependent on various bigger governments for their very survival and they are not, even collectively, going to be in a position to bail out the CNMI in any way, shape or form. These island governments have their own colossal problems to deal with and, in most cases, the CNMI’s dwarf by comparison. The solutions to the commonwealth’s problems, in any case, are right here.
Listen to her
TINIAN’S acting chief executive officer offers a tiny spec of hope for leadership in these islands. Here is someone who has identified the problem and offered solutions. She recognizes that the ongoing outmigration is a classic sign of social, political and economic demise. She knows that revamping the old style of governance is essential if anything good is to be achieved for her community now and in the future.
So what are Tinian’s leaders waiting for? Tinian can no longer afford to pay its five gaming commissioners half a million dollars each year for basically doing nothing. Tinian Dynasty is barely surviving. The island’s public services are already being sacrificed. Tinian’s legislators and municipal council should convene a special session and impose the needed budget cuts on the commission.
Regarding the Pacific Gardenia property
YEARS ago, the Commonwealth Development Authority took over the Pacific Gardenia and put out a request for proposals for the property. All the proposals were deemed insufficient and were declined. CDA then announced, to everyone’s surprise, that it would run the hotel. It was a bad idea and thankfully it never came to pass. Now, however, without any notice, one company will be given this choice property.
This will be, if all goes well, the first new project for the CNMI in many, many years. But the property is right on the beach so it may not be entirely accurate to say that there won’t be any environmental impact without ever conducting an environment assessment. There is known erosion occurring in that part of the island as there is along the entire west coast of Saipan.
Development, to be sure, is necessary and welcome in the CNMI but simple declarations cannot take the place of basic reporting and planning.
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