By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

PRESS Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. says Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, who hasn’t set foot in Washington, D.C. since his inauguration in Jan. 2006, is not avoiding the nation’s capital.
Fitial, according to Reyes, was disappointed that he wasn’t invited to testify on behalf of the commonwealth in the recently concluded U.S. House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs hearing.
Reyes said the governor plans to be in Washington, D.C., from May 6 to 9 to attend the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders.
Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio earlier expressed concern over the governor’s failure to personally meet federal officials and lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
Reyes said the governor wanted to go to the recently held hearing but he wasn’t invited.
“We wanted to go there but we weren’t given the chance. Why was Pete A. given the opportunity that was denied to the governor? How come he was invited and we were not? (Tenorio is ) not a local policymaker,” said Reyes.
In a statement, the governor said: “I was never invited. In fact, we were told we could attend a later hearing because this hearing was supposed to be exclusively for federal agencies.”
Reyes said the governor is not avoiding Washington, D.C. because of his close ties with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff whom Fitial once described as his “close friend.”
“That’s mere speculation. That’s completely ridiculous,” said Reyes.
Reyes said the governor didn’t think it was necessary to go to Washington, D.C. at the beginning of his administration because there was still no threat of federalization.
“There wasn’t a pressing need back then. He was too busy managing the crisis that we have here,” he said.
“When the Democrats took over the U.S. Congress, the crisis situation began,” Reyes said, adding that this is why the governor later sent a delegation to Washington, D.C.
Reyes also noted that the governor was diagnosed with spinal stenosis — the narrowing of the root cell on the spinal canal — a month after he assumed his post.
The governor went on medical leave from October to Dec. 2006 to undergo two back surgeries in California.