THE TRUTH of the matter is the Casino Commission MUST-GO, as there is nothing for them to do and now they are even trying to get an additional member. They are trying everything from “threats of accepting bribes to now it’s being impotent needing another member,” just anything to keep them on the job which is how WE the People and our Commonwealth were screwed out of over 164 million dollars that now hang in the balance with the Federal Court. I respectfully suggest that the Governor use his “Executive Order Power to dismantle the Casino Commission” and cancel IPI’s license so his office can control the procedural dismantling of the CC & IPI and what is left of the negotiations with IPI, as there is no real work left to be done. If the CC starts crying about the 17 million owed to them, just tell them to get-in-line BEHIND the CNMI in the Bankruptcy proceedings. I must reiterate my plea for a “Gaming Commission to handle all gambling activities in the CNMI” that will provide “virtually daily accountability on all gaming activities.” For too long, there have been Casino Commissions for each island and the only oversight or accountability on the Poker & E-gaming is the Legislature. It’s time for the Casino Commission to be replaced with a BETTER & Cheaper System of Accountability, which I pray Rep. Marissa Flores or someone is seriously considering or working on. Are WE going to continue to WATCH the CC or are WE going to FIX the problem?
I was also yelling for the CC to get stock in the casino/hotel when it was still possible to collect on our own but now it’s too late. However, now that IPI is willing to sell the Hotel, the CNMI should pursue getting stock in the Hotel that will be an enormous number of stocks given what is owed to the CNMI’s Government and the Community Chest Fund owed to the People, which amounts to around $164,000,000. If CNMI can get stock in the Hotel, WE can collect (double-dipping of revenues & taxes) and have some control over the hotel, but if we take cash it will only last for a day. I’m sure most Pacific Islanders know about the wisdom of “teaching a person to fish (ownership) and they eat forever but if you give them a fish (cash) they only eat for a day”
It should also be noted that the CNMI holds the largest debt of IPI and WE should be at the front of the line given the magnitude of IPI’s debt to the CNMI. But the CC is only thinking about the CC and NOT how to get justice for OUR Government and the People, whose money the CC has virtually NEVER even talked about other than “getting rid of Community Chest that would only serve to make it easier in the future for the casino,” which equates to backstabbing the People. These guys are figuratively so scandalous that I wouldn’t trust them to be “dogcatchers” as they might end up selling the dog food to satisfy their thirst for money, as they already said admittingly there might be a problem with them taking bribes. Who doesn’t collect their own salary & threatens bribes, which stinks and signals WE can’t trust the CC given their inability to collect for themselves nor OUR money — it’s PATHETIC!!!
FYI, the CC chair needs to know that it’s clear Rep. Marissa Flores is NOT playing games but indeed doing the work FOR the People she was hired to do in holding you guys accountable and you just don’t like it. It is also extremely disrespectful to the People for the CC chair to insinuate the People’s Representative is playing a game when it’s so obvious the CC has messed-up. Rep. Marissa Flores has the voice of the majority in her precinct and even citizens throughout the CNMI when it comes to the casino/hotel, so I would advise the chair and anyone messing with OUR money to be respectful of the People’s Representatives & Senators. IPI/Hotel are at their very ends, and it’s time to start laying the groundwork with a Gaming Commission for all gambling and the transition of some ownership in the hotel that needs to be under the supervision of the Governor’s Office — yes, WE can have “part ownership & say in the hotel now” if WE do the work, as I’m praying our leaders won’t take the easy & lazy route of a cash pay-off that won’t last long. The solutions for the CC/Hotel are simple but WE must stop the CC from stringing us along going nowhere quick, fast and in-a-hurry! Let’s start “A-New in Garapan” CNMI with a “New Plan & New Leadership” — it’s just that simple! One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & lifetime Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Ambrose M. Bennett
