Ambrose M. Bennett
THE TRUTH of the matter is Rep. Flores is SOOOOO RIGHT to hold the Casino Commission (CC) accountable for the FAILURES to file a single lawsuit against IPI on behalf of OUR Government and the People of the CNMI. Many citizens are saying “vote-NO” (terminate & don’t listen) to the CC’s ridiculous excuses. Heck, the chair couldn’t answer a simple question by Rep. Flores of “if CC Chair asked IPI to reimburse the CC for any of its expenses,” which required a simple “yes or no” answer. WE know the answer is NO, but instead, the Chair chose to deflect the question and even claimed ignorance which is why it ended up being a heated exchange, as Rep. Flores is no push-over and KUDOS to her for speaking up and doing the accountability work FOR the People of the CNMI. I’m just glad someone has taken the kid-gloves off and started treated these adults like adults who have clearly MESSED-UP and terminate! The CC has been exposed and it’s time for the “CHANGING of the Guard” literally!
FYI CC Chair, filing complaints and requesting the Court to “suspend and sanction the casino” is NOT nearly the same as filing a lawsuit for OUR money, which is what I have been yelling for the CC to do for over two years. Heck, these guys didn’t even make sure they got paid using their salaries as some kind of “personal savings plan,” given they are now saying they are owed over 17-million dollars — absolutely REDICULOUS & LOL to keep from crying!!! They are now claiming the casino industry can help the CNMI and they even have the nerve to ask the CNMI Government for 3.15 million dollars that IPI was supposed to have paid. Now readers can see WHY I was saying in an earlier Op ed “the CNMI should NOT throw more of OUR good-money into the bad & inadequate work of the CC,” as I keep telling readers they are just trying to extend their jobs. WE (the CNMI) need to “erase them and start A-NEW,” and not let the CC situation take control of the CNMI, which is what the CC is trying to do by making the Government commit to paying 3.15 million that IPI was supposed to have paid. WHY are WE the People now being asked by the CC to pay IPI’s dept when it was the CC’s JOB to COLLECT, and they did NOTHING!!! It’s time to “reset our gambling governance system and end these casino commissioners’ games with ONE Gaming Commission for all gambling on all islands in the CNMI” – like the proven system in Las Vegas. For toooo long We’ve been subjected to “casino-pay commissioners schemes.”
The casino is DEAD, and so should the CC be DEAD, especially given the awful job they did. I am still hopeful that the People will get an opportunity to weigh-in on this matter, given the overwhelming impact of this issue on the CNMI. Leaving things up to the CC is what got us in this mess and why WE have nothing in the form of revenues to show for the past two or three years from IPI. It is absolutely ludicrous to continue with the present CC, as one definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over & over expecting a different result,” as “you can’t fix a problem with the mentality that caused the problem,” Albert Einstein. The CC had many chances and blew-them-ALL, so it’s time for CHANGE!!!
Oversight
Clarification on King-Hinds, as I forgot that the governor did not re-appoint her to the CPA Board — so readers please excuse my oversight and I hope you accept this apology. But my mistake really helps to highlight and explain WHY Delegate King-Hinds may be using China to attack the Governor that now seems to be about revenge and using the China issue to promote her election, which is technically called “gaslighting & deflecting” in the political arena. It was never personal with me, as I don’t have anything against candidate King-Hinds. But I’m sure most readers who follow my Op eds KNOW I’m not going to sit silently watching MY People (those who appreciate me & my efforts who don’t have a voice) being manipulated with “poli-tricks” over our economy just to get elected.
Thanks Rep. Flores for all you do and have done FOR the People of the CNMI, and I pray along with many other citizens that the Governor Or the Legislature will “get a handle on this CC & IPI matter” by creating a BETTER System with a single “Gaming Commission for all gambling in the CNMI.” WE (the CNMI) don’t need to invest 3.15 million dollars in the CC just for them to make more floundering decisions, as I’m sure the Governor is more than qualified to make much better decisions until IPI’s Bankruptcy is finished. Point of FACT, WE the People can’t do anything anyway until the Court is finished — I pray it will be the end of IPI’s story!!!
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 Scholar who resides in Kagman III in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
