Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, is asking Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to release all contracts related to the CNMI’s lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, including the agreement between the administration and the Washington-based law firm of Jenner & Block.
“It is my understanding that…the attorney general has not explicitly approved of the lawsuit in writing,” Sablan told Fitial in a letter she hand-delivered yesterday.
“Please explain whether or not the lawsuit complies with Article III, Section 11 of the CNMI Constitution, which requires that the CNMI attorney general ‘shall be responsible for providing legal advice to the governor and executive departments, representing the commonwealth in all legal matters….’ Please also provide any related documents which would help clarify the attorney general’s role, if any, in the lawsuit.”
The governor’s press secretary, Charles P. Reyes Jr., said the administration received Sablan’s request which invoked the Open Government Act.
“We expect to comply within the allotted time of 10 business days,” Reyes told Variety in an e-mail.
The governor’s lawsuit is challenging the labor provisions of the CNMI federalization law set to be implemented on June 1, 2009.
The lawsuit, CNMI v. USA, et al., was filed on Sept. 12.
It is seeking a permanent injunction on the provision that mandates the CNMI to host guest workers up to 2014 only.
The governor said the tourism-based economy of the CNMI cannot be sustained without an imported labor force.
But the federal government said the CNMI will continue to be allowed to hire foreign labor even under the federalization law.
The governor earlier said not a single public penny had been used to finance the lawsuit.
But he asked the Legislature to allocate $400,000 to cover the $50,000 monthly retainer fee of Jenner & Block.
The proposal was rejected by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
