I’m curious about the directional leadership being provided within the office because these attention grabbing tactics provide insight to a short-sighted approach for his term in Congress. Within a short amount of time it is easy to see the lack of planning conducted by the congressman’s office in order to promote progress within the community. A good question that should be asked in some his interviews is:
Who is really pulling the strings in the congressman’s office?
While Congressman Sablan has spent some of his term attempting to employ some important initiatives, a significant amount of time has been wasted making announcements promoting progress made in the CNMI and taking credit, while other people work day-in and day-out to make this progress possible. The congressman in the past month announced funding awarded for weatherization in the amount of $318,082, a great win for the CNMI. There was a noticeable lack of acknowledgement for the people responsible for this funding; specifically the good people at DPW-DOE (check them out at www.cnmienergy.com). Another good question to ask the congressman:
Why does his office consistently fail to recognize the people who have worked hard to make progress possible?
Time has also been misspent criticizing the hard working people in the CNMI. These are the people that work together and take action to promote advancement of the community. In a recent interview the congressman criticized local funding efforts but had no direct communication with the government about the issues he claimed were holding up funding. It is sad to report that election years promote short-sighted vision in terms of working together and beyond the lackadaisical blame game campaigns. This clouded approach halts progress important to making decisions about what we can do now to be in a better place tomorrow, next year, ten years from now and so on.
Question for the Congressman:
On the issues and people you criticize, what has your office accomplished by working together with local agencies to make progress?
I recently met Congressman Sablan after he spoke at a chamber of commerce meeting. At the meeting the congressman begrudgingly answered a few questions after his speech. I had the opportunity to ask the last question listed above, specifically about funding made available through the federal stimulus. His response was depressing and uninspired. The congressman pointed a finger and admitted that he has no responsibility when it comes to this funding (finally some truth). A separate question asked by another person in attendance was: What contingency planning has your office completed in the event federalization of immigration is not delayed, in order to help with local transition efforts? His response was that his office has planned nothing and that we will have to just deal with it when it comes. While this is not the type of planning needed to move forward, it was not far off from the expectation I had via some insight shared by the congressman’s key staff leader.
The following record is a partial and factual account of my encounter and conversation with Congressman Sablan’s chief of staff, Bob Schwalbach.
In August, I spoke with Bob Schwalbach about some of the congressman’s planned speaking engagements. I expressed interest to attend the public engagements and Bob Schwalbach’s response made me raise an eyebrow. Bob Schwalbach’s immediate and definitive response to my interest left me with many questions, especially about the sentiment within the congressman’s office. Here is what he expressed:
“Just don’t ask any tough questions.”
While it’s fair to want to ask these “tough” and important questions, it should also be a very real and shared expectation that the response will leave much to be desired. With unsupported attacks on people, questionable credit claiming, little collaborative efforts and limited forward planning many questions linger.
JOSE J. PADILLA
Navy Hill, Saipan
