IT is ridiculous for the Lt. Governor and his running mate to profess they will “rebuild trust in government” when both of them have PROVEN that they can’t be trusted. The Lt. Governor admitted to turning a “blind-eye” to the activities of the Governor and even said “if I didn’t sign it (travel documents) someone else would” so he turns a blind-eye making him a “co-conspirator to the Governor’s activities.” For the Lt. Governor to say “he KNEW some things were not-legal but he deferred to the Secretary who assured him it was OK” is asking voters to just turn a blind-eye to his blind-eyed negligence -duh!
The Lt. Governor sit up there for three years watching the Governor KNOWING the trust in our Governor and HIM was suspected of illegal activities only to “act surprised” when he had to testify in the JGO Hearing. I guess he thinks voters are stupid. If Lt. Governor Palacios was so interested in the People TRUSTING our Government, WHY didn’t he say something and even DO something like we have seen Lt. Governors do when the Governor was not being “responsible & accountable” (Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos did not follow Gov. Benigno Fitial when Fitial re-joined the GOP before he was impeached, Lt. Gov. Jesse Borja went against Gov. Froilan Tenorio that led to the demise of the Democrat Party).
The “you-know-who” Politicians are known for saying ANYTHING they think will help their cause but this “rebuilding trust” is ridiculous “white-washing of his failures with his blind-eye to what the Governor was doing and gaslighting the need for TRUST when he helped to create the mis-trust,” WOW! It’s clear WE the People couldn’t TRUST Arnold to have our backs as the Lt. Governor and we certainly can’t TRUST him to be Governor. Yes, TRUST does need to be rebuilt in our government but he is the LAST Blind-eyed person on planet earth who can be TRUSTED after all the things he saw that led to the MISTRUST and didn’t say anything. Now he’s trying to play the old “Independent-Republican Trick” that won’t fool voters again.
KUDOS and THANKS to Kilili for his desire to run and help the Democrats restore some real “integrity & trust.” No one can deny that Kilili is doing a great job in Washington where we need him the most and where he can do the most FOR the People. But I was soooooo glad to hear him on KANDIT talking about how BAD the CNMI is looking under this Governor with a Lt. Governor who is now trying to distance himself. Kilili really blew my mind when he referred to “BASTA” (enough) because I had already written the first two paragraphs of this op-ed when I heard him on the broadcast. He is also tired of the embarrassments he has to face in Congress because of the RICO & JGO Investigations of our Governor figuratively making the CNMI look like a “third-world country with a dictator.”
I also hope the JGO will prosecute everyone who does not show-up and testify because an affidavit can’t be asked additional related questions. Continue on JGO but “don’t let one monkey stop the show” as we say in my culture. And PLEASE make “NOTE” in the Final Investigation Report that the Lt. Governor was cooperative with his testimony. HOWEVER, it was very CLEAR the Lt. Governor KNEW the Governor was breaking the Law but failed over a three-year period to “blow-the-whistle on corrupt behavior as it was his fiduciary duty to the People to promote, protect & defend our Laws at ALL times.” Kilili was RIGHT about the Lt. Governor so please don’t let him get-away free & clean-of-any-guilt because he clearly KNEW-BETTER and put it on the Secretaries and turned a blind-eye. I just pray voters will turn a “blind-eye on him and all Republicans” and vote for “REAL Integrity & Trust” — Democrats! To be continued: One people One Direction.
The writer is an Economist, Political Scientist, retired teacher, former CNMI Board of Education Member, James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
Ambrose M. Bennett
