Ambrose M. Bennett
THE Truth is our leaders continue to try and apply Band-Aids (half-solutions) to problems that need Surgery (Reformed)to fix. Given it is common knowledge Government needs to “downsize & cut cost” it is impossible to reconcile keeping 15 different Casino Commissioners when WE only need five, which the State of Nevada has PROVEN to be sufficient. Putting the Band-Aid of transferring the Saipan Casino Commission to a defunct Lottery Commission when WE don’t even have a lottery nor a casino instead of Reforming All the Commissions by consolidating them into “one commission of elected commissioners” — a simple solution that continues to be ignored because of the source for the solution — Ambrose. Maybe in a decade or so like the MPLT & NMD issue, the Legislature will come around when it’s blatantly obvious they must Reform the Casino Commissioners like Ambrose has been saying for YEARS! So, WE get the Same-O until a leader wakes-up!
The Feds Mandated the workforce to be TRANSITIONED, yet it seems the focus has always been on putting band-aids on keeping CWs. If there is no “Government led Systemic Transition Plan complemented by Legislation and WE only ask for an “Extension” I can guarantee the Feds are going to do their own Federal Transition like they did with Immigration because the CNMI is literally a “gateway for immigrants to become U.S. Citizens.” Given the crackdown on immigrants, it does not look good for an Extension Plan that does not include a genuine Transition effort. Dropping the ball on PSS, NMC & NMTI does not relieve the CNMI Government of its responsibility to “IMPLEMENT a Systemic Transition Plan” which will PROVE-Our-Case to the Feds that WE need some form of perpetual extension or flexibility for CWs, which any lawyer should understand. It is smarter to give the Feds what they mandated in “a proposition the Feds can’t refuse”! So PLEASE stop the “Band-Aid politics and putting the cart (CWs) in front of the horse (Local Workforce),” which is what our Delegate is doing, as WE need CNMI Legislative action FIRST before Federal Laws. Kudos to Labor Secretary Staffler, PSS, NMC, NMTI and even the Chamber but the Feds will be looking for some form of Government & Legislative driven Affirmative Action Prioritizing Locals for guaranteed jobs to demonstrate a Legitimate Transitioning Effort come 2029, not just another extension plan band-aid which is WHY the CNMI got a 10-year extension in 2019, to TRANSITION in the first place.
There is also a real “glitch in our government that has deleted the Municipal Council’s duties as the Local Government.” I have watched for years seeing the Saipan Delegation doing the job of the Saipan Municipal Council, as the Legislature should make “State’s Laws” allowing the Municipal Council(s) to make “Local Ordinance (Laws) for town, city, and/or island issues,” which is how our Federalist System is administered on the mainland. WE teach this “basic American law-making structure” in school for students to understand the very concept of our Federal System. I even asserted this fact in the Senate’s first Legalization Draft that was deleted, and WE only got band-aids. 1. The Cannabis Commission was TEMPORARY for five years to get the industry started and then dissolved into existing Government entities like the Hotel Industry. 2. The need for the Municipal Council(s) to take the lead in determining “Local Cannabis Issues” like “Where & What Conditions for Cannabis usage in Public places on their respective islands.” But WE experience the Same-O TAYA!
Presently, there is nowhere for Tourists to legally use marijuana, as Hotels don’t even offer a smoking area forcing Tourist to break the law defying the purpose of recreational marijuana. FYI, many if not most Hotels in Denver offer “Smoking Rooms” to support their Cannabis Tourism Market. But the CNMI powers-that-be would rather complain about Ambrose’s mistake over 50 yrs. ago than listen to what can HELP the CNMI. Killing the messenger while ignoring the message does TAYA to Help the People, especially when the message is qualified coming from the very scholar & researcher who first conceived the concept of Recreational Legalization for the Senate & the CNMI. There is No Cannabis Tourism Industry, just stores selling weed to Locals. One Band-Aid put on Legalization “deleted government employees from being tested for marijuana” that was in my draft, but it was “saved & done to get votes.” If WE don’t Reform the Cannabis Industry the CNMI may forever be paying more than it receives in revenues when WE are supposed to be cutting cost — so go figure that one out, voters. Hotels are literally DYING under the Same-O and still TAYA to promote our Cannabis Tourism Industry.
Our Dems have also yet to put any “Band-Aids nor Political Retail Items (Reforms) on the shelf for voters,” as Independents take advantage of Dem’s Impotency & Republican’s Subterfuge & Failures! The CUC Perks have also become an issue of concern for ALL of us who use Power & Water who want CUC to be investigated. In fact, the entire Government needs to be investigated like Zaldy the Editor said in his Editorial “to identify which entities are duplicative and which are performing tasks that the private sector could handle more effectively” (dissolve Cannabis & all 3-Casino Commissions into one), especially when “the goal should be to cut costs,” There is also the lack of any oversight & reforms being one of the leading causes for the demise of OUR Economy and Quality of life — no checks & balances. WE must stop this Same-O Band-Aid politics after-the-fact and Transform (Reform) the entire CNMI for the Better.
One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays – Lifetime Humanities & Religious Scholar who resides in Kagman III in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
