TEXAS attorney James Robert Kingman has been hired by the Office of the Attorney General as an assistant attorney general, but there is no justification for his “extraordinary pay” and for not advertising the position, the defense team of former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said.
The AG’s office previously hired Kingman as special prosecutor in its misconduct-in-office case against Torres pertaining to first-class travel. Kingman was to be paid a $50,000 retainer fee.
On June 20, 2023, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios informed the Legislature that he had certified and granted approval for Kingman to be employed as an assistant attorney general with an annual salary of $85,000.
According to Torres’ defense team, seven days after they sought judicial review of the validity of Kingman’s hiring as special prosecutor, the Office of the AG began “taking steps to convert Mr. Kingman into an employee of [its] criminal division.”
“The OAG has done so without offering any explanation why. Why did it originally hire Mr. Kingman as a special prosecutor instead of an AAG? Why is it making the change now? And why did it not publicly advertise the AAG position with a salary greater than the salary of the chief of the Criminal Division?” the defense team asked.
“The OAG should explain to the public why it is paying Mr. Kingman the extraordinary pay. What are the specific successful criminal prosecutions handled by Mr. Kingman in cases involving public corruption, financial crimes, and/or white-collar crimes that justify the extraordinary sums the government is paying him? If such cases do not exist, then what is the justification for the extraordinary pay and for not advertising the position?
“The OAG should also inform the public whether Kingman’s $85,000 annual salary accounts for the $50,000 already paid to Mr. Kingman when the OAG hired him as a special prosecutor in March 2023. If…not, then why?” the defense team asked.
They said Kingman, who has been on island since March 2023, is an on-island hire and should not receive benefits reserved for off-island hires, including housing assistance and repatriation at the end of his employment.
“Without seeing a copy of the proposed excepted service contract, the answer to the questions remains unknown,” the defense team said.
They said “the conduct of the AG’s office concerning the special prosecutor, the subpoenaing of Mr. Torres’ personal banking records, which are unrelated to any of the charges against him, the vindictive motion to add thirty-eight new charges against Mr. Torres, and the OAG’s investigating, filing and handling of Criminal Case No. 22-0050 are all simply evidence of ‘emuk run amuck.’ ” “Emuk” or “Emmok” is Chamorro for “revenge.”
Technical title
Kingman, for his part, told Variety that his starting date as an OAG employee is July 3.
“My technical title is assistant attorney general – special prosecutor,” he said.
Asked whether he, as an AAG, would have a conflict in prosecuting Torres, noting a previous order by the Superior Court denying in part and granting in part the motion to disqualify the AG’s office, Kingman said, “The conflict did not arise from there being an AAG on the case, but the particular AAG (then) for the particular charge because of information he was privy to in his role as an AAG providing advice to the prior administration.”
“I, obviously, do not have that concern, since I came in after he [Torres] left office,” Kingman added.
“The only thing that will change for the Torres case is my email address,” he said.
Routine
Asked to comment about Kingman’s hiring, Gov. Palacios said, “The AG decided to go for an excepted service contract. The AG also requested that we raise the salary of the position to $85,000, to go over the salary cap. We routinely do that for attorneys to keep them on island.”
Palacios said he has confidence in Kingman. “We are a small community, we all know what the issues are, it’s just a matter of him putting his case together, and I also have confidence in the judiciary giving the former governor his due process,” he added.
Asked whether Kingman’s over-the-cap salary goes against his administration’s austerity measures, the governor told reporters that the funding for Kingman’s salary is “sourced out of the AG’s office,” which is an independent agency.
Palacios noted that “the hiring of an independent contractor is more expensive than hiring Kingman [as AAG].”
On April 8, 2022, the CNMI Office of the Attorney General filed a criminal case against the former governor, alleging 12 counts of misconduct in public office and one count of theft relating to the issuance of airline tickets for business class, first class, or other premium class travel for himself and/or Diann T. Torres, his wife.
The case also alleged one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a legislative subpoena.
The former governor has denied the charges.
James Robert Kingman
