Sablan said CNMI government officials and employees do not want to be photographed in his office, “they e-mail me and ask not to be exposed. They call and say ‘don’t share my name’…. People are living in fear. And the Covenant Party candidate [Joseph N. Camacho] has the temerity to say that I am standing in the way of the team. Is it the truth? You be the judge.”
Sablan said whenever he’s on island, “I have never…failed to visit the governor and the lt. governor, but since the runoff election last year, the governor doesn’t seem interested to meet me.”
Yesterday morning, he said the governor was supposed to meet with the visiting U.S. education officials only to cancel it.
“Here’s someone who brings over $70 million each year for education, and the governor does not have time to meet with him,” Sablan said.
He commented on the statement made by the Democratic candidate, former Lt. Gov. Jesus C. Borja, who vowed to “fight for the Covenant.”
“His plan is apparently to convince members of Congress that they broke the promise in the Covenant to assist the CNMI in its efforts to achieve a progressively higher standard of living for its people,” Sablan said.
He noted, however, that since the Covenant came into effect, Congress has provided over $3 billion to assist the commonwealth, and last year alone, the CNMI received $261 million, excluding most of the $100 million provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“It’s hard to make the case that the U.S. has not kept its promise,” Sablan said.
Medicaid cap
Sablan said the governor and the Republican candidate, former Gov. Juan N. Babauta, criticized him for securing for the CNMI a portion of the $158 million for the Medicaid program.
Sablan said Fitial and Babauta, who is also a former Washington representative, believed that it would be better to change the required Medicaid match, which is 50-50: the CNMI has to match federal funding dollar for dollar.
“Our Medicaid dollars are capped at $5 million, and no matter how much local money we spend each year, we never get more federal money,” he said.
Sablan said he worked hard to lift the cap from the $9 million the CNMI received in July 2009 to $21 million in 2019.
Food stamp funds
Due to the government shutdown and the new austerity measures, Sablan said more CNMI residents are expected to become eligible for food stamps.
Last year, he succeeded in getting more food stamp assistance for the CNMI.
He noted that on Rota and Tinian, food costs more than on Saipan, but food stamp benefits are the same on all islands.
He said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack is willing to negotiate with the governor.
“I raised the fairness issue to the governor in my letter last November and at the beginning of this year but the governor never answered my letter,” he said.
Times are tough in the CNMI, he said, and times are getting tougher in Washington, D.C.
“Under those circumstances, as they say, we can’t afford to have someone ‘learning on the job,” he added.
Sablan said he is running against people with experience — a former lt. governor, a former governor and Washington representative, and a one-term CNMI legislator, but “there is only one job experience that matters and that is being a member of Congress. That’s the experience that I offer. I think I’ve proven myself as your congressman.”
