By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

Reverse thinkers

THE Legislature continues to undermine the best efforts of this administration to balance the budget and eliminate government subsidies for utilities by considering and passing head-scratching measures.
The latest piece of work comes from the House of Representatives and it is a measure to halt all copper shipments from the commonwealth. Commodity prices for items like copper are at an all-time high, fueled by staggering growth rates in China and elsewhere. But a few members of the House would like to stop all shipments of copper from the CNMI because copper thievery evidently cannot be stopped, despite the best efforts of the Department of Public Safety. The thinking must go something like: “We can’t stop copper theft, so we’ll stop the commercial sale of copper. That’ll take care of the problem.”
Too bad other problems can’t be solved with such simple formulations, but that doesn’t stop lawmakers from trying to achieve the same kind of simplicity when addressing other community concerns.
It is this kind of thinking in the Legislature that has everyone talking about the need to shrink its size and hence reduce the number of double-talkers and reverse-thinkers on Capital Hill, and the number of counter-productive bills they like to pass, particularly in election years.
Consider, for example, the override on the power-rate-cut bill. Instead of conducting an oversight hearing to determine what CUC’s costs really are and seek long-term solutions, the Legislature jeopardizes the agency’s ability to pay for fuel in the coming months, risking long-term rolling power outages that will further harm what is left of the CNMI’s private sector. You know, the businesses that pay for the government’s expenses.
Another veto override now permits government employees with 15 years vested in the system to withdraw their pension contributions, without regard to the overall health of the pension plan or the security it provides to thousands of families in the commonwealth. Why? To accommodate a relatively small number of government employees who find themselves in tough circumstances.
The government, we all know, lacks the discipline to make good programs work and can consistently be relied upon not to come up with solutions to the CNMI’s economic problems, but to change the rules to suit short-term needs — in this case, votes for the upcoming midterm elections — is a new low for local politics.
Many pressing issues face the commonwealth, but none of these veto overrides promote economic recovery, solve CUC’s problems, bring more tourists, improve the quality of education or health care, or reduce residential and commercial burglaries.

Some good news

THERE are, happily, still some bright spots out there, owing principally to the hard work and goodwill of individuals in the private and public sectors. Athletic organizations continue to support individual and group sporting events, kids are exposed to healthier and more productive recreational activities, games are held, lost and won, and good sportsmanship is promoted.
Moreover, new construction along the main thoroughfares is seen more and more these days, and this kind of work should be encouraged all year long.