According to Fitial, the GOP general membership could declare him a persona non-grata to the party, but “that is very, very unlikely to happen.”
The local GOP was supposed to hold a general membership meeting tonight at the Garapan Central Park to discuss the governor’s proposal to merge the Covenant Party and Republican Party.
But over the weekend, Republican lawmakers urged party leaders to cancel the meeting.
House Minority Leader Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, said anyone could show up, declare themselves Republicans and vote on the merger recommendation.
“We don’t want to be overwhelmed,” he said, adding that 300 to 400 people from the ruling Covenant Party could join the meeting and outvote loyal Republicans.
“I’m just glad that it was cancelled,” he added.
Benavente said “there will be those of us who will continue to reject” the governor’s re-admission to the party which Fitial abandoned in 2001.
Still, anybody who wants to be a Republican is welcome to join the party, Benavente said.
Fitial said once he’s a Republican again, “I want to make sure that the Republican Party is for the people and not for certain families.”
He said those people who are against the merger “are afraid of Governor Fitial who will stop them from enriching themselves through politics.”
Fitial also noted that there are many Republicans who are with the party only for their own convenience.
When it is not good for them, they will not support the party, he added.
“So I want to make sure those kinds of Republicans will not exist when I go back to the party,” he said.
According to the governor, the holiday season is the best time for the administration and lawmakers to get together.
“The CNMI cannot move forward without everybody pitching in. And that includes the Senate, the House and the administration,” he said.
