THE TRUTH of the matter is our leaders are NOT as unified as they need to be if the CNMI is to gain any real footing & synergy (forward progress) in addressing our Economy which dictates to a high-degree the quality of life in the CNMI. WE the People are witnessing the same old “one-man show” to a large degree when it comes to representing the People of the CNMI. TOOOOO often I fail to see a real united effort to accomplish goals other than FOR the GOP’s gambling issues and passage of legislation, which is not enough! They are still talking about E-gaming, a 4 or 5 year old matter. Voting “yes or no” does NOT fully represent the People’s desires on all the issues facing the CNMI. There should have been a slew of our leaders supporting Rep. Marissa Flores complaining about the Casino Commission (CC), especially when there is over 141-million at stake when WE are counting pennies. Rep. Flores is doing the work FOR the People by speaking-out & protesting but from where I sit with the rest of us regular folks, she is not getting any real help from her counterparts in the legislature. All it takes for malfeasant behavior to exist in the CNMI is for the good leaders & people to do & say nothing, which is what is happening with the CC and Our Money that is going unchecked with NO accountability.
Rep. Flores’ attempt to get the Casino Commission to resign is proving to be a “one-person show,” as it seems the rest of our legislature is either playing ignorant or playing safe politics by doing & saying nothing. The CNMI needs real “synergy” more than anything when it comes to placing a check on the old revenue sources and finding new revenue sources but it’s only one-at-a-time efforts that the People are seeing. But WE still have the “trouble-makers,” as teachers say at school who want to disrupt and cause as much chaos as possible for those who are not part of their GOP Gang figuratively. Now Senator Hofschneider, who has been silent since losing his leader and can’t be trusted after conducting the Kangaroo Trial, is talking about pursuing EVS for Chinese Tourists which is counterproductive when he should have been promoting an idea to bring Japanese. It’s all about the Chinese and nothing about attracting the Japanese. Rep. Flores is just the most recent leaders who is trying to fix a problem that has catastrophic or prosperous implications FOR the People and Our Commonwealth and WE need to be focusing on achieving the latter of the two potential outcomes. Only silent politicians have to worry about being reelected, not the outspoken!
I’m sure these intelligent people have to know that the CC needs to resign and let the Governor finish the “contract violations of IPI,” which is the only thing that needs to be done. The IPI casino has been DEAD for over two years and there isn’t anything left to even run a casino but the CC is playing “extension-games” for their salary benefits and destroying any real chance FOR the People to attain an expeditious resolution. The stalling and playing around by the CC has even caused the cranes to be taken down when it’s obvious they will need to go back up to finish the hotel extending the completion of the hotel even longer — it’s ka duku planning. The failure to plan that is now a plan for failure, as finishing the hotel should have been paramount but the CC wants to stall and extend the solution!
I can only right-off think of three leaders like Rep. Ed Propst, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero and Senator Celina Babauta who really speak-out on issues and are truly fighting in the public FOR the People, and not just on the Legislature floor, as Japan & the People are reading and watching. As for the rest of our leaders, they have remained pretty-much in the background when it comes to speaking-out publicly to support or protest on issues — no solidarity nor synergy. WE don’t know what they think about these issues when they are supposed to be keeping their constituents INFORMED! Heck, Rep. Propst’s work FOR the People is so well known and appreciated that he didn’t even have to campaign for his seat, as the former vocal Rep. Stanley Torres is the only other person to get elected without campaigning, which should tell the other people in the legislature that “if you really do your job FOR the People you don’t have to worry about getting reelected.” Kudos to Rep. Flores, Rep. Propst and Senator Edith and Senator Babauta as I can tell from Kagman that too many of our leaders on the Hill have been practicing “safe-politics” by being quiet and it needs to stop if the CNMI is to have solidarity and forward synergy momentum in turning around our Economy and our Quality of life for the better.
One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a 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.
Ambrose M. Bennett
