ASK not what your islands could do for you, but what you could do for your islands, to paraphrase the wise John F. Kennedy.
It is pretty obvious that CNMI government leaders do not have the answers to the economy. We must look at what we could do to help support it. We must purchase local brands whenever possible. From local bottled water to local bananas to local green onions to local tomatoes to local fish to local pugua to local lime to local banana chips to local hot sauce to local clothing to local eggs to local music to local arts to local books to local crafts to local education. College students should stay and attend their first two years of schooling at NMC. NMC’s credits are transferable to other schools in the U.S. We should make it mandatory for those receiving CNMI scholarships to attend at least one year at NMC. Support our local college. Enrollment is low and their budget has been reduced. The education that NMC provides is just as good as the universities in other parts of the U.S., speaking from experience. We need to set a quota on imports that we already produce here such as bottled water, eggs, pugua, lime, etc.
We need to create an official seal to stamp on products made in the Northern Marianas so that we know we are supporting our economy. When taking vacations, we should try to stay within the NMI instead of going elsewhere. This way the money stays in the CNMI. Shop here instead of on Guam. It is obvious that we need a shopping mall — Wal-Mart, Kmart or Target. Why did those lawyers prevent the Pacific Mall from opening up? That would have boosted the economy by providing jobs and tax revenue. We need less appointees to run government agencies. Whenever there is a new administration, appointees are replaced. That is a huge waste in money invested in training. It also limits the appointees’ knowledge and experience to four years — eight years if they are lucky. We need qualified individuals to run government agencies instead of individuals with close ties to government leaders. We need to shorten the huge gap when it comes to the salaries of directors and entry level employees. Judges make way too much in the CNMI. We need to have an elected attorney general so that there is no conflict of interest when it comes to investigations. We need to have a runoff election for governor if none of the candidates obtain more than 50 percent of the votes. Let the top two candidates battle it out.
On a side note, the CNMI welcomes the FBI and hopes that those lawmakers who violated laws get prosecuted to the fullest extent. No one is above the law. They are part of the reasons why the CNMI is a huge mess right now. No government leader is above the law. FBI.com offers a section on their Web site for reporting public corruption. Biba Marianas! Fanhogue Chamorro!

JESSE TORRES
Kagman, Saipan