They had already delayed the opening of classes and had made adequate preparations for the islandwide daily power outages — the hallmark of this Better Times administration.
The schools were ready. The governor and his CUC were not.
But the governor was more concerned about his “losing face” than the children losing a day at school. A few days before the start of the new school year, he told education officials that he would send DEQ to the schools to shut them down. He kept his word, for once. He issued an executive order that the education officials received at past 9 on Sunday evening to ensure that they would not be able to address his “concerns.” On the following day, DEQ wasn’t returning the phone calls of frantic PSS officials who had to send the children home. Some of the kids were so disappointed that they wept. A school administrator went on the record to say that some people don’t know how schools operate. She was being polite. Otherwise, she would have said that some people don’t know how to be a governor.
This governor committed a grave abuse of discretion, again, but this time the outcry was so loud and clear that his hapless political appointees are now twisting in the wind as they try to shield their boss from the public’s outrage.
But the people are not stupid. They know who’s the boss. They know who’s responsible for this shameless assault on the autonomy of the Public School System.
SUDDENLY, recalling or impeaching this governor no longer seems a far-fetched idea. The political costs, to be sure, could be immense; the process itself, tedious. But let’s be clear about one thing. The chief executive’s removal is allowed by the CNMI Constitution which explicitly mentions “neglect of duty” as one of the grounds for impeachment. The worsening economy, the government’s bankruptcy, the power crisis, the indictments of three of his officials, among other unmistakable symptoms of a failed leadership — don’t these indicate neglect of duty?
A recall petition has to be signed by 40 percent of registered voters and approved by 2/3 of them. These seem to be high bars to hurdle — until one recalls that this governor was elected into office by only 27.9 percent of the votes cast in Nov. 2005. How many of them are still satisfied with his performance? Not a lot.
Impeaching the governor, on the other hand, requires the support of at least 14 representatives and six senators. Clearly, the so-called opposition members in the Legislature have the votes. But do they have the political will? No.
Still, here’s a question to the lawmakers and their constituents: Can the CNMI survive 16 more months of this disastrous administration?
We say recall this governor or impeach him.
So quiet
ALL commonwealth officials, including lawmakers, have sworn to support and defend the CNMI Constitution whose Article 8, Section 5 states that “An elected public official shall resign from office upon certification to be a candidate for another public office, if the term of the office sought begins before the end of the term of the office held.”
Senator Crisostimo, whose second term began in January, has already been certified as a candidate for congressional delegate, but has yet to resign. Why? And what do his colleagues in the Senate say about this blatant disregard for the Constitution that they have sworn to uphold? Any comments from the other candidates for congressional delegate?
Their silence is deafening.
The Senate must ask its legal counsel to provide an opinion. Perhaps someone should also take this issue to the court so that Senator Crisostimo can explain why he is ignoring a constitutional mandate. We need to clear this up. Otherwise, the CNMI’s most basic political document, this “embodiment” of the local people’s “hopes and traditions,” will be rendered meaningless.
