No self-respecting medical professional can labor under questionable working conditions that put themselves and their patients at great and unnecessary risk. There is, to be sure, no question that the remaining professionals at the CNMI’s only hospital are doing a Herculean task, providing medical care with little or no support by way of manpower, equipment or supplies, but it is only a matter of time before it gets worse, and their numbers will dwindle further. Credit goes to the vice speaker for caring. She is the only elected leader who seems to be aware of the crisis at the hospital.
Still drifting
OTHER legislators prefer to tinker with the provisions of the anti-loitering law that was originally aimed at curbing prostitution, not at people handing out leaflets. The Legislature, moreover, is poised to “amend” the driver education law which, only a few years ago, was considered “urgently needed.” It is still important for drivers to learn the rules of the road, especially in an ethnically diverse community like ours. This saves lives, reduces accidents and keeps insurance rates reasonably low. Leave the current law alone and focus instead on what can be done to reduce the size of government and its personnel costs. Find ways to create more productivity and efficiency in this government by allocating resources to essential services instead of hiring more employees or awarding new contracts.
Speaking of which
CUC announced that it will hire the services of a Covenant Party supporter, who will be its public information consultant. CUC says it needs to provide “useful information” to the media.
In other words, of the 481 employees hired by this cash-strapped agency, not a single, solitary soul can be tapped to put together a simple public information statement updating the public of customer service and power outage advisories. What happened to all the federally funded grant writer positions that were advertised a few years ago? It boggles the mind how much hiring goes on even in the midst of a fiscal crisis.
The Department of Labor, for its part, needs less floor space to further save on rent and utilities. Moreover, it has to be downsized in light of the significant changes in the labor and immigration rules that now apply to the CNMI.
Incidentally, each year, thousands of food stamp recipients submit their names to the Department of Labor to demonstrate that they have met one requisite for food stamps. A very small percentage of those applicants find and keep employment. Those statistics should be interesting to examine.
Still no to the pension bond initiative
IT did not take very long to resurrect the pension bond initiative, which was soundly rejected in the last election. This government has not demonstrated any interest in delivering essential services to the public. It is still hiring political supporters, shirking its financial obligations while hiking the cost of services. The administration and lawmakers want the public to take on a huge debt because they don’t want to be inconvenienced by tough decisions. Vote no if the measure is placed on the ballot again. It is not a responsible choice and it will make the CNMI’s problems worse.
