The people can no longer trust this government which, he said, is abusing and misusing public funds, referring to sole-source contracts and the hiring of new government employees.
“I am hoping for a ‘blue wave’ this November — the independents and Democrats can come in to bring balance to the government all around. I am very positive that voters are going to speak up tomorrow,” he added.
Manglona, who was first elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1987, is running against the GOP’s Dennis C. Mendiola.
Sid Kani, for his part, said the Republican administration is not fair to government employees who, he claimed, were furloughed because they were participating in the activities of the opposition.
Kani said he and his family were “strong supporters” of the local Republican Party, but he is now supporting the Democrats “because of this corruption that we have in the CNMI.”
He added, “I am very disgruntled because of what is going on now. The real Republicans should not be corrupt. We maintained that integrity, honesty, transparency during our time with the party and in the government for many years.”
He said he is supporting the Democratic Party “because we want to install a clean government, free from corruption — it is not nice that we continue living here as citizens and we keep hiding behind the shadows of shame over this corruption in our government.”
Another opposition supporter, former Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Ambrosio Ogumoro, said he, too, “was a strong supporter of the Republican Party.”
But, he added, “I always fight for what is right, and I am also a survivor. I have to go to [a party] that is not corrupt. I’m helping Democrats so we can get candidates elected that will really help the community out.”
GOP comment
Asked for comment, the CNMI Republican Party stated:
“In the fight for his political life, Senator Manglona resorts to the baseless and actually disproven charge of ‘corruption.’ Coming from the Senator and the recent finding by the court that the signature on documents he purported as being authentic, were forged, we’re not sure he has any standing to paint others with the brush of corruption. With regard to furloughs, one only need do a cursory review of the furloughed employees to determine there was no politics involved. These are baseless 11th hour charges being forwarded by a desperate candidate. Had he been honest about any corruption present in this campaign, he would only have need to look at his own party’s cadre of candidates.
“The CNMI Republican Party will continue to work for the people, continue to manage this pandemic to bring us safely through it, and as it has done after every natural disaster, see our economy back on track and providing opportunity for every resident of our great Commonwealth.”
