That money, he said in an interview on Friday, should instead be spent on resolving Saipan’s power crisis.
“We should keep our eye on the ball,” he added. “The economic difficulties caused by the power crisis are much bigger than the administration’s projections about the impact of federalization.”
Palacios, in an interview, said most of the “concerns” mentioned by the administration — the loss of $5 million in local labor and immigration fees and the displacement of at least 60 local Immigration personnel — can be addressed through negotiations with the federal government.
“We’ve been blocking this thing [federalization] for over 20 years, and now one of our ‘white knights,’ our defender [lobbyist] Jack Abramoff has been sentenced to prison,” the speaker said. “If we didn’t fight this thing right from the start, we should have adjusted to federalization by now. It is this insatiable appetite for cheap labor that is causing all these problems, and I’m surprised that we are still trying to have these backward, labor-intensive industries while the rest of the advanced world is already moving toward high-tech industries.”
Palacios, R-Saipan, reiterated that the House will not appropriate the $400,000 in public funds requested by the governor.
In a separate interview, Senate President Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, said he is not convinced that suing the federal government will help the CNMI, but added that the governor can discuss the administration’s concerns with the senators.
Palacios noted that the governor was opposed to the lawsuit filed by the previous administration against the federal government over the cover-over funds. These were the federal taxes collected from CNMI residents that must be remitted to the commonwealth.
“Back then, they said that negotiating with the feds was the cheaper and better way to do it, and they were right — we got our cover-over funds without going to the court,” the speaker said. “Let’s sit down with the feds again and ask for their help.”
Regarding the 60 local Immigration personnel who may lose their jobs once the federal immigration law takes effect in June 2009, Palacios said the CNMI government can either “absorb” them or provide them the necessary training “so they can work in the private sector.”
He added, “And we don’t need to wait for next year to get them the training they need if they want to work for the feds. We can ask the feds right now to tell us what our Immigration personnel need to do so they can get federal jobs. There are other better and cheaper options than suing the feds.”
Palacios acknowledged that the governor can reprogram the money for the lawsuit.
“His advisers will figure it out for him, but they should realize that fighting the feds will be another exercise in futility,” the speaker said.
