NMI Democratic Party Chairwoman Nola Hix said former Speaker Pedro Paduna R. Deleon Guerrero appeared uninvited during a meeting.
“Everyone in attendance witnessed his cursing and disruption,” Hix said when asked to comment on Paduna’s statement that she was “disrespectful” and “a bad leader.”
On Oct. 24, 2021, she said, the party’s Central Executive Committee or CEC met with Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, both Republicans who had announced that they were running as independent candidates for governor and lt. governor in next year’s election.
It was the AD team that requested to meet with the Democrats, Hix said.
She added that the CEC members and the party’s elected officials agreed that “no commitments would be made” during the “informal” meeting.
The Democrats would simply listen and ask questions, she said, adding that it was not a public meeting.
She said former Speaker Paduna is not a CEC member. His brother, former Sen. Herman “HR” Deleon Guerrero, is a CEC member but he did not inform the CEC that Paduna would attend the meeting as his proxy.
But even if HR Deleon Guerrero had, Nix said, “there is no provision for attendance by proxy in our bylaws. Indeed, this meeting did not involve any matter put to [a] vote, so a proxy would not be needed even if it were permitted.”
She said those who attended the meeting, aside from the CEC members, included the party’s elected officials.
“Paduna appeared in the middle of the meeting uninvited and in spite of the fact that he is not a CEC member,” she added. “Everyone in attendance witnessed his cursing, and disruption followed by the kind request for Paduna ‘to please excuse himself’ and ‘this is a CLOSED door meeting.’ With this kind request came an outburst. With this outburst came months-long accusations regarding the circulation of messages with cries of bad leadership, all in an attempt to discredit members of our party, and undermine our party’s success.”
“For the record,” Nix said, “in 2020, Paduna became a member of the Strategy Committee. While he was for a time an active member of that Committee, Paduna had not attended any meetings regarding the 2021 Special Election, nor had he attended any meetings in 2021.”
She said Paduna knows that “Arnold & Dave never submitted a letter of intent to run under the Democratic Party and never declared themselves Democrats. Nevertheless, our party has maintained continuous open and respectful communications with Arnold and Dave and continues to do so.”
Nix said, “Attempts to derail our efforts as Democrats only serve to remind us of the type of toxic and unbecoming behavior that has plagued our party and politics for years. It was the party’s demise and is no longer acceptable. Politics is supposed to be about people binding together in the pursuit of the common good. It is degraded when it simply becomes a game of shifting alliances to preserve personal prestige and influence or to advance narrow economic self-interest.”
Hix said, “Our people deserve better. We need to do better and be better while leading by example.”
She said the “Democrats’ drive for good governance continues and may the outcome of the 2022 elections finally bring our people to the peace of mind and confidence they deserve.”
Nola Hix
