Juan T. Lizama
FORMER Judge Juan Tudela Lizama said he is consulting with his family about running for the U.S. Congress.
In an interview on Thursday, Lizama said he will make a final decision as soon as he hears from his family.
A member of the second constitutional convention in 1985, Lizama was appointed judge by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio in 1998 and became the first CNMI judge to be retained by voters in 2003. He retired in 2008 and was among the nine candidates who ran for the first CNMI congressional delegate election, which was won by Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan. Lizama placed fourth.
Kilili has announced that he is retiring and will not seek a ninth term in November.
Lizama said Kilili has done “a really good job in creating an excellent image of the CNMI in the nation’s capital. He did well in representing us. We have to appreciate that. We have to appreciate Kilili’s hard work. We can be proud of him,” Lizama added.
As for himself, Lizama said he can be “very strong” in introducing and scrutinizing legislation.
A former director of territorial economic opportunity during the Trust Territory administration, Lizama said he would also ensure that any appropriation of federal funds for the CNMI will directly benefit the local people.
“I want to bring new ideas on how to represent the CNMI in the U.S. Congress. But local people should always have their fair share. You can’t ignore the local people,” he added.
To improve the CNMI economy, he said the Commonwealth should be investor-friendly.
“We have to be proactive. We have to have a good strategy to entice investors. The government must assure investors that they can start their businesses here without difficulty and constraints,” Lizama said.
He said the CNMI can offer tax credits or a joint-venture arrangement with investors.
As a delegate, he said he would work with the Federal Aviation Administration to bring another airline to the CNMI. “When we had both Northwest and Continental Airlines flying here, their competition kept airfare reasonable,” Lizama said. “We need that competition again for our residents and for our tourism-based economy.”
He would likewise propose projects to bring more tourists to the CNMI such as a cable car or a mountain resort.
He said the CNMI can also transform itself into a retirement haven. “We need people to come to our islands as retirees from anywhere in the world. So their families can also come over here. Let’s be flexible in, for example, allowing a Japanese doctor to come to Saipan to look after the Japanese retirement community. This is what the Japanese want. If you allow Japanese doctors to come to Saipan to serve Japanese retirees many of the retirees will come to Saipan,” Lizama said.
“We also have so much to offer in terms of historical values and there is no better way to do it than to find the best architect in the world who could come up with a concept of developing American Memorial Park into a landmark destination while addressing the travesty we are seeing now with the deterioration of Micro Beach,” he added.
Three other individuals are considering running for delegate. They are House Floor Leader Edwin Propst, former Commonwealth Ports Authority Board Chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds and freelance business consultant and grants writer John Oliver Bolis Gonzales, who finished third in the 2008 delegate election.
In a separate interview, Gonzales said he is strictly following the local tradition of consulting family, especially the elderly, before making a final decision.
