Fitial used federal funds to commission the report.
According to McPhee, “We saw nothing wrong with our report being used to support a lawsuit or to defend against one.”
He made this clarification to Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. and chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and committee member.
Both senators asked McPhee & Associates if it knew that its report would be used to support the lawsuit seeking to overturn the CNMI federalization law passed by the U.S. Congress last year.
“We had no say in how our client would use the report. We would only have objection to misuse or distortion of the work,” McPhee said.
He said they first learned that the CNMI was considering the lawsuit at a meeting with commonwealth officials on March 28 or 29, 2008 in Seattle, adding that they had been discussing the research project with Northern Marianas leaders since Nov. 2006.
Fitial filed the lawsuit on Sept. 12, 2008.
McPhee said the use of the economic impact report had no bearing on the contents of it report, which supported the governor’s contention that the federalization law will kill the local economy.
“Our purpose has always been to prepare the best economic impact estimates possible regardless of their intended use,” he said.
Bingaman and Murkowski asked if McPhee & Associates gave CNMI officials a draft copy of the report, and if there were changes made as a result of comments, corrections or criticism.
McPhee said they sent a partial draft of the report to Richard A. Pierce, attorneys Howard Willens and Deanne Siemer on Sept. 28, 2008, or 16 days after the filing of the lawsuit.
McPhee said chapter 2 of the draft report, which included the forecast and some of the recommendations, were later sent on Oct. 22 to the same individuals.
While the top advisers of Fitial made a number of suggestions regarding organization and editing, McPhee said none affected the basic findings or contents of the report.
The former spokesman of the garment industry, Pierce is the governor’s special assistant for trade and economic affairs.
Willens is Fitial’s special counsel. Willens’ wife, Siemer, is a “volunteer” legal adviser of the CNMI Department of Labor.
