By Zaldy Dandan
Variety Editor

Biba Youth Congress!

THE Youth Congress has set an example for this government’s adult officials by proposing to waive the youth senators’ honorarium in consideration of the government’s bankruptcy.
The honorarium, to be sure, is peanuts compared to the millions of dollars paid to the CNMI’s very expensive officials who are now under the unfortunate impression that they should continue getting their full salaries even if their employers — the CNMI taxpayers — are already broke. Can you imagine any private sector employee out there in these dismal economic conditions complaining to his employer about paycuts that have to be made to keep their company afloat?
The governor is right. Some government officials and entities, including those considered “essential,” have to be reminded that they are not immune to the CNMI’s financial malaise. They, too, ought to know that the government’s obligations are increasing and its revenue base is shrinking because the economy remains in a freefall, impoverishing more and more taxpayers.
So far, however, it seems that only the youth senators recognize the enormity of the government’s financial crisis. They have set an example that the so-called adults in the government will have no choice but to follow…soon.
All the branches of government, including the Legislature, the judiciary and independent agencies can make cuts. Not because the governor says so but because they have to. The government is broke. Officials of the judiciary and the “essential” agencies can shout themselves hoarse explaining how “essential” they are without changing the most essential fact in this issue: Nating money already for everyone in this bloated and wasteful government.

Another fiasco in the making

SOME sacrifices will have to be made while ensuring that basic services are still delivered. For example, not all government employees are necessary all day every day.
More problems, however, are created when whole agencies are given blanket exemptions from cuts without review of any kind. And the governor exacerbates the problem with the blanket suspension of all excepted service contracts, but is completely silent on civil service hires — another exemption from the absolute directive.
This is what happens when badly needed policies are implemented without a thorough examination of all considerations.
Consider the CUC privatization procurement.
CUC claimed that it was saving money by assessing an unusually big fee just to get to round two of the pre-qualification process. What happened was predictable. Of the 11 firms that indicated early interest, only four responded in this round of pre-qualification evaluations.
Proponents of the high fees for pre-qualification consideration say the utility will save money by doing this. Nonsense. Utility privatizations are complicated and expensive exercises even if done correctly. But they get more complicated and expensive if done incorrectly. Let’s not forget that Guido & Associates was hired for about $200,000 and then a management group was brought on board and is paid in part or in full by Interior. And these are only the consulting contracts that the general public is aware of.
This pre-qualification approach was adopted by CUC and the administration for the express purpose of limiting the number of qualified competitors. But now CUC faces a protest which will cost time and money. The end result is that that this whole flawed process may have to be done over — which could have been prevented if the right approach was taken at the start.
In the meantime, the public suffers.

PSS and the zoning board

PROBLEMS persist at the very highest levels of the Public School System. Not only is top management unable to handle procurement matters, but poor personnel hiring practices continue. These are symptomatic of the overall management problems that will remain unresolved until the next election for the Board of Education.
But while most government entities struggle with budget cuts and significant management issues, one agency seems to be completely focused on its job. The zoning board has been publishing notices of public hearings, conducting hearings and developing plans — yes — actual plans that will help to guide the future look of this island community. The board members appear to have been plodding along, consistently thorough in their work, and may have a product for consideration in the near future. This is good news for the CNMI, and a development that is long overdue.