SPEAKER Edmund S. Villagomez has certified a House committee’s finding that Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is in contempt of a legislative subpoena.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Attorney General Edward Manibusan, the speaker said he is referring “this instance of contempt” to the AG for prosecution.
The House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operation on Tuesday voted unanimously to hold the governor in contempt for failing to appear before the panel pursuant to a subpoena.
Last month, the governor’s executive assistant, Frances Dela Cruz, was found in contempt by the committee after she invoked testimonial immunity and executive privilege and declined to answer the lawmakers’ questions.
The speaker has also certified the committee’s decision to hold Dela Cruz in contempt, and referred it to the AG for prosecution.
According to CNMI law, “A person guilty of contempt…shall upon conviction be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”
In his letter sent Wednesday to AG Manibusan, the speaker said the governor did not comply with the subpoena issued by the committee which set a hearing for Friday, Dec. 10.
Through his legal counsel Gil Birnbrich, the governor invoked executive privilege and asked the committee “to engage in a negotiation and accommodation process.”
His legal counsel said the governor “agrees to voluntarily meet with JGO chair to discuss agreed upon issues within the scope of the JGO inquiry. [But] the governor’s testimony will not be under oath. Only the JGO chair from the committee shall attend and ask questions. Speaker of the House Villagomez will be invited to participate to facilitate a respectful and equal opportunity for discussion.”
The committee rejected the governor’s proposals, but said it would “allow” him to voluntarily show up at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14.
But in a video posted on Facebook, the governor said he “will not subject [himself] to an unfair and unlawful political hearing.”
Separate and equal
He said the executive branch is “a separate and equal branch of government under the Commonwealth Constitution and must be treated equally…. The Office of the Governor should not and cannot be subordinated to the Legislature, let alone the overreaching acts of an out-of-control Committee of the House of Representatives. I do this to protect not only my rights as Governor but to protect the institution of the Governor under the Constitution, and thus protect future Governors from arbitrary over-reach by future legislatures.”
In his letter to the AG, Speaker Villagomez said the governor “recklessly disregarded the risk of being held in contempt for his actions and spurned the Committee’s offered accommodation.”
The speaker also disagreed with the Office of the Governor’s assertion that the committee has failed to adjudicate the governor’s objections.
“Not so. Chairwoman [Rep. Celina] Babauta has stated again and again, on the record in live, televised hearings, and in letters to counsel, that the committee has considered and rejected their objections,” the speaker said.
Villagomez said that while the CNMI Constitution “has a separation of powers doctrine, it does not precisely mirror the federal doctrine.”
He also said that other jurisdictions have held that governors are obligated to comply with subpoenas issued by state legislative committees.
He said, “While Governor Torres has made generalized invocations of executive privilege, he has not even appeared to testify, much less enumerated any topics or documents he believes to be privileged.”
Villagomez described “as without foundation,” the governor’s claim that the subpoena was overbroad.
The speaker said the committee had enforced its subpoena accordingly.
“It is only out of respect for the Office of the Governor as an institution and for comity between the branches…that the committee acted with the restraint and patience it has shown in the face of obstruction and intransigence. But the Governor left little choice. A legislative committee’s ‘ability to obtain evidence from the governor is in furtherance of the separation of powers principle, not in derogation of it,’ ” the speaker said, citing the Supreme Court of Connecticut’s 2004 decision in Office of Governor v. Select Comm (“Select Committee of Inquiry, 271 Conn. at 595.”)
Edmund S. Villagomez
