THE Department of Finance, through Assistant Attorney General Dustin Rollins, has asked the Superior Court to dismiss the petition of former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres who is seeking a judicial review of the department’s decision regarding the contract of special prosecutor, James Robert Kingman.
Dustin, in a seven-page motion, asked the court to dismiss the petition and affirm Finance’s administrative order which stated that it lacked authority to issue a declaratory order with regard to an existing contract.
“The petition must be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, because the DOF properly determined that it did not have authority to issue the declaratory ruling requested in the DOF petition,” Dustin said. “The declaratory rulings procedure under the Commonwealth Administrative Procedure Act is used to determine how a statutory provision, rule, or order of an agency applies to the particular facts or case raised by the petitioner.”
He added, “If agencies were required to issue declaratory rulings for determinations already made, theoretically, any person, whether an interested party or not, would be entitled to request a ruling with respect to every contract ever entered into by the Commonwealth or any agency decision ever rendered. That, without question, would be an absurd result.”
Torres is challenging Finance’s refusal to issue a declaratory order on the validity of an employment contract between the AG’s office and Kingman, an off-island attorney.
Torres, through his defense team, filed a petition in court requesting a judicial review of a May 17, 2023, final administrative order by the secretary of Finance who stated that the department has no authority to issue a ruling and declare that the special prosecutor’s contract executed by the Office of the AG in connection with Commonwealth v Torres, Criminal Action No. 22-0050 was invalid.
In his judicial review petition filed on June 15, 2023, former Gov. Torres named the Finance Department and the AG’s office as respondents.
The nine-page petition asked the court to vacate or set aside the final agency decision, saying that “it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and/or contrary to law.”
The special prosecutor’s contract does not comply with the procurement regulations, the petition added.
Named as respondent, the AG’s office also filed a motion to dismiss the former governor’s petition for judicial review.
The petition improperly included the OAG and failed to exhaust Torres’ administrative remedies, the AG’s office stated.
Moreover, the case is not ripe for judicial decision and the former governor lacks standing as he is not aggrieved by the contract based on his assertion that he is being unlawfully prosecuted, it added.
Kingman was initially hired by the AG’s office as a special prosecutor in its misconduct-in-office case against the former governor pertaining to first-class travel.
On June 20, 2023, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios informed the Legislature that he had certified and approved Kingman’s employment as an assistant attorney general with an annual salary of $85,000.
Five days later, the AG’s office announced that Kingman would head a task force to investigate and prosecute government corruption, white collar, and financial crimes.
As of Monday afternoon, there was no hearing set for a judicial review motion or for the motion to dismiss filed by Finance and the AG’s office.
