“I HAVE done nothing wrong,” Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said in a strongly worded letter to House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations Chair Celina R. Babauta on Monday.
“The truth that has evaded your…committee is that I have done nothing wrong, that the honorable public servants working for our public well-being at the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Finance, and within my office, have done nothing wrong,” he said.
“No Governor has experienced this level of harassment and slander in the history of the CNMI. I have endured the constant barrage of insults, lies, and personal assaults on my character out of respect for you and the role of the Legislature,” Torres said.
The governor has proposed that the committee provide him with a list of questions in writing by Monday, Nov. 15, and he will then provide responses explaining the legality and the causes for his actions and decisions as expeditiously as possible.
“The members of your party may not like the answers, but I have no reason to not provide the truth,” he said.
The governor said for more than two years, members of the Democratic Party “have engaged in the time-consuming, costly, and blatantly politically motivated effort to misinform the public of my record as governor.”
“For more than two years,” he said, “I have provided members of your party the courtesy of participation in their quest to forgo their responsibilities as legislators and turn the august body of the CNMI House of Representatives into an ill-informed, ill-managed, and irresponsible political showmanship,” he said.
He said he has respected the role of the Legislature and recognized Babauta’s authority to reconvene an investigative panel during the first session of the 22nd Legislature to continue “the public spectacle that resulted in no findings during the 21st CNMI Legislature.”
“It is clear from the actions of your Committee, and the limited production of critical legislation from this Legislature, that the constant barrage of misinformation and intimidation of honorable public servants is quickly becoming the legacy of this Legislature,” the governor said.
“This legacy will serve to irreparably damage our democracy and system of governance if allowed to continue. For two years, this endless parading of allegations has produced nothing. Certainly, misinforming the public has produced wide media attention, the fact remains that I have committed no crime while in office, and while painted negatively by members of your party, my actions have consistently been in the interest of the people.”
He said if “there were any issues of substance discovered in the two years of your party’s search for wrongdoings, formal accusations should have been levied. Yet none exists.”
He also noted that as per House Rules of Procedure adopted by the 22nd Legislature, committees are required to submit a report to the House speaker within 60 days after a matter was referred to a committee.
This time period has since lapsed and no report has been produced, the governor said.
“We cannot allow perpetual harassment and obstruction of the Legislative Branch…to be a norm in our system of government. If we do not end this debacle, no Governor will be able to exercise their Constitutional responsibilities due to the actions being taken today. This is far greater than the irrational hatred members of your party hold for me personally. The actions of the JGO are eroding the separation of powers inherent in our system and degrading the ability [of] the Executive Branch to adequately govern the Commonwealth,” Torres said.
Asked for comment, Rep. Babauta said she received the governor’s letter on Monday and will be providing a response in the coming days.
Ralph DLG Torres
