JUST as our nation had to be educated by people like Thomas Paine, the Federalists and others, I have been trying to do the same for our commonwealth. Common Sense, a pamphlet and the Federalist Papers, a series of essays clearly played a vital part in educating the colonist and the creation America. Many people have appreciated what I’ve been trying to do but we still have people that are “lost in the mud” and they need to be educated and brought up to an “intellectual level” so they can stop throwing mud in the news and start becoming part of the solution and not the problem because attacking people and not the issue in the news IS NOT a solution.
In response to the letter of the lost in the mud, it is my pleasure to help you clean yourself up and educate you so you can see what “we already know” about federal — state & local governance systems. There is no need for a study about putting power in the hands of “local” leaders because we already know how the relationship between state & local is suppose to work in America. The “shared powers” of all three levels of government are taught at the high school level and maybe a remedial course in U. S. government will help those who are still lost in the mud. But like I already said previously, the problem is our state legislature and executive DON’T WANT TO SHARE POWER and maybe one or two of the Mayors DON’T WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE to the Municipal Council— it is just that simple and it’s OUR government!
Common Sense tells me that people don’t ordinarily want to share power. But history has also taught us that as our society grows with more and more complex demands that power must be shared more. A good recent example is when the FBI, CIA and other agencies were “forced” to work with the newly empowered Homeland Security. Yet the empowerment of the Municipal Councils is nothing new, as these types of Councils run the major cities with millions of citizens on the mainland – yet we can’t do it with a handful of people, which should make it easier for us but some people want to make it hard as we have done in the past with wages, immigrations and other issues of “governance.” In fact the federal Constitution provokes the intent of “local governments handling thins such as schools, hospitals and etc.” The Legislature and Governor ARE NOT apart of local government but state level government. We are also one of the last state level governments in America to make this transition to better serve the people.
The present administration was elected to “fix our economy” and nothing less, which is a state matter of the highest priority that should also include the efforts of the state Legislature. Common Sense tells me that if the state officials would truly focus on state issues and let the Municipal Councils focus on “local” issues that we can get a lot more work done for the people. It is truly disappointing when I see things like “the Legislature holds hearing on new Tinian casino,” “the governor’s office making land usage plans for Saipan” and many other issues that violate the state v local governing relationship. We have a serious impediment to our governance system and prosperity that needs to be removed.
Our Legislature had only one or two things to do about gambling in the CNMI—allow gambling and/or limit gambling to one municipality or totally deny gambling because everything else about gambling is a “local” matter that should be covered by ordinances of the Municipal Council. The same scenario is true about land usage on Saipan, Tinian and Rota with the only exception being state and military reserved lands. On a personal note, I believe the Legislature should limit casinos to Tinian and force the other islands to EXPAND our tourist industry in other areas — we call it diversifying or the vertical expansion of an industry for better outcomes.
Common sense dictates that as long as we have state officials “stealing the show from local politicians by trying to do the job of state & local officials and taking all the popularity and recognition from the Municipal Councils and Mayors” that we will NEVER be able to hold the proper accountability over our leaders at the state & local level and we will also continue to progress at a “snail’s pace” when the rest of the world is moving at a supersonic rate compared to us. The bottom line is “WE WILL NEVER CATCH UP” unless we change our terrible ways and attitude on governance. The Feds have been trying for years to warn our leaders about these kinds of inconsistencies in the CNMI. We the People need this administration to stay focused on the economy and for local governments to handle local affairs — its not complicated and it is already a tried and proven methodology that clearly shows us what we should be doing in the CNMI. One people, One Direction — support the empowerment of YOUR Municipal Councils & Mayors.

AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan