JUST where is it that Barry Hirshbein opts to “bristle”? Well, not surprisingly, at the trough of public employ? While jockeying for a salary under the thumb of those he courts for continued employ/livelihood?
“Malfeasance” is misconduct — especially by public officials. Which connotes precisely and unequivocally the state of DOLI over the years. This is why the feds are taking over, as they should, in protection of the CNMI general public so abused by so-called CNMI leadership-of-wholly-malfeasant-fact.
Shall we start with the fact of “good friends” BenTan and Abramoff? Honest Abe’s conviction. Or the more recent conviction of former DOLI head Zachares — who, perhaps, Hirshbein once coveted as a CNMI governmental/bar association colleague?
Of what significance might Hirshbein ascribe to having been present when poor Mr. Dhimal lit himself afire? When the significance-of-import arose before and after this deplorable incident?
Like before, when Dhimal sought advice from CNMI lawyers only to learn that no effective/in-depth assistance would be provided due to Dhimal’s inability to pay lawyers’ fees? Or like after — when news reports describe as foremost: (i) among Hirshbein’s DOLI pals a concern for enhanced DOLI security; (ii) among columnist Bruce Bateman’s loyalists, the May 1 column wholly mocking Dhimal’s plight with utter callousness and denigration; and, (iii) disingenuous side-stepping as evinced by Hirshbein’s recent letter for publication?
Equally duplicitous are Hirshbein ‘s ill-opined views on refugee/asylum/torture obligations, procedures, and protections, evincing either unmitigated ignorance or worse. The CNMI refugee regulations having been drafted in consultation with/approval by federally employed minions is in what way relevant? So too, if I recall, was there federal collusion as to such concepts as the “separate but equal” doctrine ultimately abolished and rejected as unlawful and inhuman by subsequent U.S. officials and most other countries — some notable exceptions of course, being modern day apartheid to which Palestinians are subjected in Israel, as most recently described in former President Jimmy Carter’s book.
You see, Mr. Hirshbein, equal protection is a national concept, binding within and upon the CNMI. Yet those in the CNMI are being afforded only a portion, only a small slice, of the refugee/asylum/torture protections available to all others in the 50 U.S. states and Guam and elsewhere. Only in the CNMI has there been enacted the requisite that a deportation order be issued as a prerequisite to seeking these protections. Only in the CNMI is review limited to the “well founded fear” standard alone. Only in the CNMI did the local judiciary, when presented at the outset with our first asylum/refugee legal actions, opt to punt, look the other way, and feign inability to act out of lack of administrative procedure. These instances, you see, ignore equal protection. Do not comport with equal protection. And you should — and therefore probably do -- know this. As you likely also must be well aware of the legal deficiencies inherent to the DOLI system you clamor publicly to now defend — which system, does it conveniently not, also pay your salary? Or are my sources wrong?
You see, CNMI folks, including our guest workers, are entitled to 100 percent of all U.S. protections — including those treaty obligations imposed and made binding upon the CNMI by the U.S. under the Covenant. Not 98 percent. Not 50 percent. Not 2 percent.
Even if this makes you unhappy. Or MattTan. Or BenTan who, with his handlers over the past 20 years, vociferously championed entry of 30,000 or so PRC nations to the CNMI to engage in Third World production, yet now discovers their ability to seek asylum/refugee/torture protection here.
But, then, without this influx of PRC nationals, there might’ve been less need for governmental/private employ of Mandarin translators, nei? Which some say is near and dear to your wallet, as well? Or are my sources wrong?
Characterizing my concerns as “anti”-this, “anti”-that leaves open the obvious fact of being “pro”-this, “pro”-that, Mr. Hirshbein. Mine of choice being “pro-CNMI-general-public”
And yours being-just what? “Pro- Hirshbein “? “Pro-pocketbook”? “Pro- Hirshbein’s pocketbook”?
It’s been said that “the cream rises to the top.” But when it comes to so-called CNMI leadership, with folks like you, who should know better, sycophantically defending governmental malfeasance at DOLI and elsewhere — well, it seems instead that “in the CNMI bureaucracy, the cream merely curdles.”

BRUCE L. JORGENSEN
Kabul, Afghanistan