Yet today, with a few months left in his second and last term, the mayor’s excuse for his failure to implement the law is…no funding. And he blames lawmakers for not appropriating money — exactly the same problem that existed eight years ago when he was still a candidate.
In other words, he can’t solve the problem now because…it’s still a problem.
Voters, of course, will assume that when a candidate pledges to address a problem, he is aware why it is a problem and knows how to solve it. So when the mayor said in 2001 that he would implement the stray dog law, the public believed that he knew how to secure the funding for it.
Now he’s saying he can’t and hey, how about them sister cities?
CNMI officials, to be sure, have been going on junkets since time immemorial for the sake of “new investments and more tourists,” but the economy is still dying and the arrival rate is still declining.
Based on the finance department’s data, Mayor Tudela has so far spent over $200,000 on travels since 2005. We still haven’t seen the figures from his first term, but it is clear now that his total travel costs could have fully funded the stray dog program.
So now we know why there’s no funding for it.
***
Amazingly, there are still a lot of candidates making promises based on the existence of funding sources that are rapidly being depleted even as you read this. A lot of these politicians will get elected.
They’re for better education, better public health, lower power rates, timely contributions to the Retirement Fund, scholarships, homesteads and pugua for everyone.
Ask them how can they afford all that and some will say the government must set priorities. Ask past and present elected officials and they will say they did, or are doing, that.
The candidates, in any case, should be reminded that there are no excuses for unkept promises. CNMI voters are no longer in a good mood.
***
Job security and continuity of public services are the main issues in this election year, and voters would want to hear specific plans from the candidates regarding these concerns. They’ve had enough of retired politicians who claim that their “business acumen” will help improve the economy. They’ve heard that one before. They also know that some candidates are running to protect their businesses or improve their sagging financial fortunes. You don’t see a lot of voters writing letters to the editor or posting online comments about these subjects, but they know.
The next governor’s main task is to prevent this government from collapsing. And he has to do that while the economy continues to shrink, more people leave the islands, and tighter investment, labor and immigration rules are imposed by the feds.
The new Legislature, for its part, must review past statutes, find the good ones, update them and ensure their implementation. Moreover, lawmakers, for a change, should be more diligent and more thoughtful when drafting and passing legislation.
As for the voters, when you say you want “change” what exactly do you mean? New faces? But that doesn’t guarantee anything. You also cannot expect your politicians to be Santa Claus everyday. Your elected officials cannot possibly lower power rates while guaranteeing reliable power, protecting government jobs, providing more funding for public health, public safety and public education, allotting homestead lots, sending patients on medical referrals, awarding scholarships, picking up stray dogs and roadkill and mailing your rebates on time.
Cannot dat wan, as we say here on Saipan.
So voters if by “change” you mean a return to the “better times” of the past when money was still aplenty and there was no problem that could not be solved by hiring more people and awarding more contracts, then you will be very, very disappointed in the next four years.
Send feedback to [email protected]
