When rules are violated over and over they either change the rules to accommodate their behavior or a shift in standards occur. What was once abnormal becomes normal in their minds. Active loyalists not only support the governor but, publicly defend even his most scandalous acts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve the lives and celebrate their “resiliency.”
A governor and members of the legislature who have been tainted by dubious foreign corporations and who have been unfaithful to our Constitution and to our entire Marianas cannot credibly defend the democratic ideals that our service members and veterans lived, fought and died for. When citizens do not trust their government, they lose faith in democracy itself.
Democracies do not die at the hands of generals but of elected officials who pervert the very process that brought them to power in the first place. We, the people, are the first source of power in a democratic system of government. Yet, we have a Republican-controlled government that is willing to leverage its full power to cripple the people of the Commonwealth to their knees through austerity, wanton pension reduction, reduced hours while they travel like royalty and eat like kings…all on our dime.
This is what politics without guardrails looks like. We are here now. The appropriate response to the corruption that plagues our government is NOT more corruption.
So today as you go to cast your votes, please remember the following:
1) As you and I were picking up pieces of our lives after Typhoon Soudelor up until right after Typhoon Yutu, (November 2015 through February 2019), the governor was reimbursed over $77,809 in questionable reimbursements for meals, fuel utilities, hunting apparatus, cameras, wireless speakers, and furniture. Let me repeat that, OVER $77,809 in reimbursements alone.
2) In an attempt to obstruct the gathering of evidence, the Department of Finance has admittedly concealed information on documents requested by the House of Representatives. Obstruction of justice is an obvious and flagrant affront to the basic concepts of jurisprudence.
3) The investigation by the House Special Committee is the right step to take in order to eliminate waste and inefficiencies by ensuring there is no duplication, fragmentation or inefficiencies within the government. The work of those committed to financial prudence of government resources must continue.
4) Equality and open access are entrenched in democracy and its institutions. In a democracy every citizen has a right to know how his or her tax funds are being spent in the delivery of public infrastructure and services. Here is a breakdown of those who have refused to disclose how they have spent their legislative allowances.
Roman Benavente – $41,516.61 (Jan 2019 – Nov 2019)
Joseph Leepan Guerrero – requested $2,000 monthly from Sep 2019 – Sep 2020) or approximately $26,000
Joseph Flores – $19,739.46 (Jan 2019 – Dec 2019)
Ralph Yumul – $5,963 (Jan 2019 – Nov 2019)
Marco Peter – $11,200 (May 2019 – Nov 2019)
Ivan Blanco – $8,800 (Feb 2019 – Oct 2019)
Jose Itibus – $35,013 (Feb 2019 – Nov 2019
Joel Camacho – $21,300 (Feb 2019 – Dec 2019)
Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero – $2,451.61 (Jan 2019 – Nov 2019)
Sixto Igisomar – $38.800 (Dec 2018 – Dec 2019)
The legislature would be ignorant to think that we should not be raising difficult questions about our government finances. They can no longer hide behind a veneer of legality and inverted logic that they will not respond to questions from the public because it should not be necessary to do so unless you come on bended knee. Ti hu fåtto mohon taiguine na namamahlao skåndalu giya Marianas yanggen ma chocho’gue I che’cho’niha.
I chenchulu ni para hu ma tulus pat o sino para hu ma plånta yanggen åfnu’ i tasi, fedda’, åncho yan tåddong. Yanggen sigi ma sera, todo kuchinåda ni man a’attok gi fondu siempre hu gåtdon. Man mehna I taotao Marianas esta.
Many efforts by the administration to subvert corruption by making it legal…in a sense that they are approved by a dysfunctional legislature, complicit board members, accommodating non-profit organizations, or it’s so vague that it is accepted by law enforcement agencies such as the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Public Safety and they are willing to let it slide.
Democracy is a shared enterprise. Its fate depends on all of us, its citizens.
