POOR Tinian, as I’m sure most readers will agree the Tinian’s Pika Festival could have been much MORE successful and MORE inclusive with MORE People coming from Rota & Saipan. The REAL problem is the Governor and Republicans have literally “Black-balled” (totally rejected) me as the Governor didn’t follow my advice, which was to offer “Travel Vouchers for Local Tourists to visit the other Islands for events like the Pika Fest to HELP their Tourism Industry.” Surely if the Governor could pay Airlines and Korean Tourists then he can do it for Locals. He should have listened to my advice because our “Local-Interisland Tourism Market” would actually be BOOMING with Locals by now visiting the other islands that they can’t do anymore due to the high cost of travel. All I can say is “Poor Tinian and I Told You So” — AGAIN!
This Governor doesn’t care about “what is RIGHT, PROPER & NECESSARY” even when it is MERITED, especially true when HE can’t get the credit. I told readers before, the LAST thing this Governor wants to see is Ambrose M. Bennett getting CREDIT for accomplishing something in the CNMI, and he is not alone, which is sad and pathetic. But being an African-American I’ve seen and experienced being Black-balled which is really a derivative of “prejudice behavior” and it was even to be expected but I can deal with it. But the problem is the People suffer the consequences because they (Governor & Republicans) black-balled Ambrose and his ideas like we just saw with the Pika Fest that could have been Exceptionally BIG for a lot of Locals and Tinian.
I read about the mayor of Tinian who spoke-up for the “Gas Vouchers sponsored by Senator Edith and others” but he should have complained about the Governor not giving his island MORE help with their Pika Fest Tourism Effort, as the Governor still has a couple of HUNDRED MILLION or more left to spend on shoring-up & complementing our economy and the Tinian Senators didn’t do-nor-say anything either. However, to the mayor’s credit, we know why he didn’t, he’s a Republican and can’t complain about their King figuratively. The truly sad part is the People of Tinian are the ones who suffered the MOST from the Governor’s LACK of action, so don’t forget on Judgment Day it’s all about “WHAT they FAILED to DO and WHAT they DID WRONG.” There is virtually nothing RIGHT the Governor & Republicans can claim to have done and they have been wrong EVER SINCE — for TRUE!
The Cannabis Bottom-line Reality
I read the article on the Cannabis Industry bringing in a total of $655,790.43 in revenues so far and the 32 jobs that were created which is all good and hopefully the businesses are making a good profit. But my concern, being an Economist, is the “Bottom-line,” which is HOW much PROFIT did WE the People make and based on my math WE went IN-the HOLE! But that was not stated in the article nor in the Legislature to my knowledge. Being an experienced Presenter, I know how critical it is to show “where’s the BEEF” as window-dressing is good but if there is no beef, (real Progress and/or Profit) then it’s just window-dressing or worse which is a “half-truth.” I didn’t expect the industry to be doing good given the Covid Pandemic, but I would like for them to be MORE honest and forthright in the reporting because it was an obvious oversight that I don’t think the Legislature even picked-up on.
Based on the Gross Receipts the CNMI only collected between 6 & 10 thousand dollars in actual taxes while WE the People are paying the Director alone 74,000 dollars a year, which does not include what WE are paying the Commissioners and operational expenses. There is also the LOAN the Cannabis Commission made that I didn’t hear about and its status. WE need to know if the loan has been paid back. But I can understand why the bottom-line was overlooked with Republicans obviously overseeing the Cannabis operation because the bottom-line is that WE the People actually LOST money after paying the Cannabis Commission and the Director whose combined yearly salaries virtually EQUAL the amount of revenues earned by the businesses. I can’t help but to keep track of this Industry as it was in-part MY Baby, as I did MOST of the heavy-lifting doing the Research for the Senate in Colorado, Promoting & Educating the Public in the media and contributing in writing the actual Legislation. The worst part is, I alone am responsible for including the Hemp Industry which has far more potential to generate revenues and high-paying jobs than Cannabis Tourism but TAYA is being done all because I’m black-balled but YOU suffer.
The only thing that gets me is HOW I was “Black-balled” by the Governor after he was through using me to get the Legislation passed, as he wanted HIM & Sixto to get ALL the credit. He even chose people who didn’t lift a finger nor say a single word to help when I was doing the heavy-lifting. I’m not hating, but I am disappointed, which does help to fuel my efforts to get rid of this Black-balling Governor because he has also Black-balled, others like the People he fired because they were joining Arnold & Dave. WE the People must get NEW & BETTER leaders who don’t Black-ball folks and don’t care who or where and idea comes from — DEMOCRATS are truly our only and even our BEST Hope!
To be continued: One people One Direction.
The writer is an Economist, 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
