THE AD Team are Republicans, so if it acts like a duck and sounds like a duck then more than likely it’s a duck (Republican) — meaning WE the People are NOT going to get anything different from AD than WE have already been getting for the past two decades or more from Republicans. The perfect PATHETIC example is the recent fiasco with Mr. Mafnas. At least Rep. Tina Sablan was RIGHT and out-front on this horrible Republican-practice of firing Mr. Mafnas even though he supported AD. She even pledged that this behavior would NOT happen under her leadership.
Even though Arnold seems against this retaliation behavior, it has been happening ever-since and even happening on his watch as the Lt. Governor and he never said anything turning a blind-eye, which is why I don’t believe him — he will say anything that sounds right during election season.
The AD Team haven’t taken a real stance on ANYTHING, hoping the Governor is third and they can get the Torres/Sablan votes in the run-off.
The AD Team is also working hard to get the OLDER voters on board because they are the LESS susceptible to wanting REAL Change and can be USED to persuade young voters, which is why it is more important than EVER for the younger generation to be the “independent-thinkers” they were taught to be in school. I keep telling voters, it’s OK to say you will vote Republicans to these Republican recruiters but CHANGE your mind in the voting booth because I KNOW for a fact there is immense pressure to vote Republican being put on family members and especially the younger voters — stop voting family and vote CNMI! Voters, especially our youth, need to keep in mind that Arnold FAILED all-of-us being silent & turning a blind eye, so how can he even think he can be trusted when he has ALREADY PROVED he can’t be trusted. WE the People can’t afford to avoid the TRUTH about AD if the CNMI is to become a BETTER place to live and work.
Stop Poli-tricking on Retirees Governor & Your New Lt. Governor Atalig
It seems the Secretary of Finance has been elevated to the status of Lt. Governor even issuing a memo transferring Mr. Mafnas to a position that doesn’t exist and now he’s giving speeches to the Customs Graduates that would ordinarily come from the Lt. Governor. But what really got me was how him and the Governor are still trying to “Poli-trick the 25% Issue with Retirees.” Deflecting the accountability and pointing a finger at the House AGAIN like it’s the total responsibility of the House to find revenues for the People. FYI, Governor and Secretary of Finance, it is the fiduciary responsibility of the House to HOLD the Purse of the CNMI and oversight on the funds being used BUT it is the Governor’s fiduciary duty to FIND NEW revenue sources.”
Trying to make the House generate revenues that can only come from RAISING TAXES & FEES is a Political Ploy, as the House does not go out and find investors and make deals that will create new revenues but the Governor does, like he did with the Casino on his Private Jet Ride in China. So PLEASE just STOP this foolishness of pointing a finger at the House because the Governor had TWO Years during the pandemic to come up with NEW Investors that would bring in NEW Revenues but all he has come up with are “TWO Temporary Bubbles” that don’t offer any real guarantee of continued generation of revenues. Heck, this Governor won’t even issue RFPs for the Mariana Resort and La Fiesta that would bring in a couple of million or more — so stop the Poli-tricking and do some real work rebuilding our Economy instead of pointing a finger at the House to raise taxes, which is their ONLY option, unless they “rob Peter to pay Paul” as my MaDear would say. The real challenge is getting NEW Investors for Economic Growth, not raising taxes & fees.
In fact and if I was a member of the House, I would put the earnest on Secretary Ataliag and make a “Public Request for the Secretary of Finance to appear before the House and offer the solution that he claims to have ONLY if the Governor was given 100% full Reprograming-authority.” Given Mr. Atalig has stated PUBLICLY that he knows how to pay the 25% so share it with the House and they can adjust the budget but stop pointing a finger and even Blackmailing the House with the 25% issue. FYI, giving the Governor 100% reprograming authority actually negates the whole purpose of even having a budget because the Governor can change the budget as he sees fit without oversight by the House, which is their job to maintain oversight over ALL Public Funds. You need to stick to finance Mr. Secretary as you suck at trying to Poli-trick voters.
While the House does pass Bills to generate revenues for NORMAL operations, but the 25% is an obligation of the GOVERNOR to fulfill, not the House so why didn’t he put it in his final budget. It is really not the job of the House to find Investors and generate Economic Growth that the Governor should be doing with HIS Economic Taskforce. The CNMI needs NEW Revenue sources that come from “outside the CNMI,” not more taxes put on the People and businesses, which is what the Governor wants to make the House do so they will look like the villains. But it’s really on the Governor and HIS Taskforce that is not worth the paper with their names on it to create NEW Revenues. It also seems this Governor is more concerned recently with his brother making the sale of multi-million-dollar equipment to Customs which is really why I believe Mr. Mafnas had to go. We’re not Idiots Mr. Atalig, you can stop it with your poli-tricks. The Secretary of Finance needs to “stay-in-his-lane” as Locals might say and stop getting into the Political Arena and figuratively riding shot-gun for the Governor, which is the Lt. Governor’s job.
On one more topic: Angel A. Demapan’s Bill and speech to the Rotary Club is a bunch of “hog-wash” and not worth the paper the Bill is written on. He already double-crossed the People with his Bill that GAVE the Governor the power to give IPI control of OUR Community Chest Funds and now WE the People are owed 57-million! More importantly, OUR Casino Commission still refuses to say or do ANYTHING about making SURE the People get OUR money in their agreement with IPI. So PLEASE vote Democrat and be DONE with ALL of this foolish Republican Firing People & Poli-tricking, as Tina & Leila have already pledged to put an end to these horrific Republican practices! To be continued: One People One Direction for NEW & BETTER Leaders!
The writer is an Economist who minored in Sociology, Political Scientist, retired teacher, former CNMI Board of Education Member, James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
Ambrose M. Bennett
