With only its proponent, Rep. Tina Sablan, supporting House Resolution 16-74, it was rejected by the rest of the House members in a voice vote.
“Today was a sad day for the people of the CNMI,” she said in an e-mail. “But I hope that it also serves as a call to action. If the people of the CNMI genuinely want change in government and leadership, then the time to rethink the way we vote and the people we put into office is now.”
Her resolution proposes the creation of a special committee to look into the federal corruption charges against Villagomez and recommend whether he should be impeached.
He has been indicted for wire fraud, theft of federal funds, bribery, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and other forms of misconduct in public office. He has denied the charges.
Majority of the House members yesterday said the legislative investigation may jeopardize the ongoing jury trial in federal.
But Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, said this excuse was not valid.
She said when the integrity of any government official is in question, the Legislature has a fiduciary responsibility to do something.
Turning a blind eye on the issue will put the Legislature’s integrity in question as well, she said.
According to Sablan, the proposed House investigation could have been done alongside the ongoing judicial process.
She believes that the rejection of her resolution was politically motivated.
This is an election year and Villagomez has one of the biggest families on Saipan.
Asked for comment, Sablan, in an e-mail, said: “It was both sobering and revealing to me, frankly, to sit in the chamber and observe my colleagues straining to rationalize their decision to do nothing about the serious allegations against the lt. governor.”
Sablan said lawmakers “should not use the fact that there is an ongoing criminal investigation and trial as an excuse to do nothing, nor should we fool ourselves into believing that we are absolved of our responsibilities as legislators to do what is right by our people.”
She added, “The Constitution gives us the powers to investigate, and to impeach public officials if necessary, for a reason. Our decision to do nothing means that we are essentially abdicating our responsibilities and passing the buck to the federal government to do our work for us in terms of holding our public officials accountable for misconduct.”
According to Sablan, “Any way we look at this issue, we should consider the consequences of doing nothing, and the signal we send to the community — that we don’t care, that we are not concerned, that we can’t be bothered to even look into the matter, that we are afraid to act, that we are complicit in the misconduct, and that we put personal interests before the public good.”
Sablan said she is “hearing from more and more people in the community who believe strongly that elected leaders who are unwilling to stand up to misconduct in government — unwilling to even investigate allegations of misconduct — are not deserving of the public office they hold. And if my colleagues in the House have not heard and felt the deep disappointment, shame, and anger of the community for our continuing failure to do nothing thus far about the allegations against the lt. governor then they have not been paying attention.”
