I’VE written letters protesting the lobbying issue before and more recently when Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior David Cohen advised us not to use lobbyist but it’s apparent our leaders still don’t get it.
Common sense is telling me that someone needs to spell it out for them so they can get it. We stated creating a bad political image of the CNMI by using lobbyist during the Froilan C. Tenorio administration but we continued to use lobbyist knowing the feds didn’t like it. Then our lobbyist got in trouble making us look even worse and more recently we were literally told not to use lobbyist if we want to be affective by a top federal official who surely cares about the CNMI.
Now we are in dire need of every penny we can save and what do we do — get a lobbyist so the feds can say, “I thought you were broke? Why are you paying for lobbyist and begging us for money when you are spending money to oppose federal legislation?” This is basically what the feds said to Governor Teno when he took over after the Froilan administration.
Everyone with common sense about our federal government knows we need a “permanent” form of lobbying effort in Washington, which is why the constant hiring of lobbyist doesn’t pass the common sense test.
Pete A. has been trying to establish the Washington rep’s office as our permanent lobbying mechanism but he is not a member of the same party with the administration, which puts the politics of preventing his success come first before the solutions for the people — it’s common knowledge and common sense.
The quest for a seat in Congress is surely the right path to follow but until we reach the end of that path and achieve the goal our leaders should have and should begin to exercise more VISION down the path to representation in the U.S. Congress.
Common sense and political science dictate that had we invested all those millions of dollars we have put into lobbyists’ hands and put it in the hands of the Washington rep.’s office to create our OWN lobbying mechanism in Washington then we wouldn’t need a lobbyist now, which was the primary intent for the Washington rep’s post. Duh!
But instead of investing in creating our own power base for lobbying through the Washington rep.’s office, we have created enemies and a bad image of the CNMI in Washington and that’s COMMON KNOWLEDGE.
I’m sure that if we start funding the Washington rep.’s office with the money we would ordinarily pay a lobbyist then in the long run it will work to our advantage, especially if we get a seat in Congress because we will have also established a “permanent lobbying base with a mechanism” to complement our representation.
The Washington rep’s office has the potential to do the same thing a lobbyist does and more if funded. We could even have a lobbying internship program for our youth but common sense tells me that politics will get in the way, especially, if the Washington rep. is not a member of the same party as the administration.
This is a classic example of why I keep asking for objective decisions and to stop the politicking because this scenario proves too much politics can deter improvement for a better working relationship and representation in the federal government.
When will our leaders learn to change their tactics of using lobbyists and when will our leaders start addressing issues from a perspective of what is best for the CNMI in the long run BEYOND POLITICS?
We (the people) need our leaders to exercise more civic virtue and vision over politics, which are two of the primary informal requirements for GREAT leadership in government. Common sense tells me we should start focusing more on augmenting the Washington rep.’s post to accommodate our lobbying efforts — it’s just simple common sense. One people, one direction

AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan