GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Sunday responded to “beleaguered” politicians who, he says, are complaining they were not invited to the groundbreaking ceremony of the divert airfield project on Tinian last week.
“There are more important things than a photo op,” Torres said.
Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, an independent candidate for governor, and Democrat Rep. Vicente Camacho, have noted that the only elected officials invited to the ceremony were the governor’s political allies.
The governor, for his part, said some elected officials “chose to complain about a missed photo opportunity instead of celebrating a monumental success for the people of Tinian.”
“It never stops surprising me the extent to which politicians in the CNMI go out of their way to make a photo op or an invitation a greater priority than working for the people they were elected to serve,” Torres said.
He noted that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Department of Defense project on Tinian was a monumental event for the CNMI and, most importantly, the people of Tinian.
“Read my remarks that day,” he said. “While many would like to take sole credit for this investment into the island of Tinian, I acknowledged the leaders of Tinian throughout the decades since the Covenant negotiations, the current leadership of Tinian, the Commonwealth Ports Authority, and the many men and women throughout the departments and agencies of the CNMI and federal government who put in the work to actually make it possible. Just as it always is, it is the hard work of the people of this government that make accomplishments like this happen,” Torres said.
He said CNMI government departments and agencies have put in a lot of work on military activities in the Commonwealth.
It is no different with the divert project, he said, as “countless hours were spent reviewing and commenting on voluminous documents and put great effort into working with the U.S. Air Force to support moving the divert projects into the construction phase and to ensure that the rights of the people of the CNMI are upheld.”
He said the groundbreaking ceremony was part of celebrating and recognizing the years of hard work on the part of government employees.
“This has to be remembered, that the invited members were those who contributed to this success: CPA, members of the cabinet, departments and agencies, the leadership of Tinian, the Senate and other members of the Legislature who contributed and/or support my administration’s efforts in building our partnership with DoD, to include Delegate [Gregorio Kilili Camacho] Sablan. Should the [other] politicians ever decide to do any work toward the issues that actually matter to the Commonwealth, I would celebrate that accomplishment whether or not they invite me to take a photo with them,” the governor said.
“They want to make this day about their missed photo. I’m OK with that. They want to appear near the successes of this administration while simultaneously saying they don’t believe in my leadership — I’m OK with that. But let’s call out hypocrisy when we see it and be adults. There are more important things we need to do, and I’ll celebrate the House leadership and the lt. governor whenever they begin to recognize this.
“When the world is still watching the violence unfold in Ukraine and our nation is mounting its resources to ensure the protection of our ideals of freedom and democracy, to cheapen this example of the CNMI doing its part to support our national defense by making it about a photo opportunity for beleaguered politicians is a shame,” Torres said.
For politicians looking for a photo opportunity, the governor said, “here is your invitation in advance: we are going to continue to do the hard work necessary to realize major advancements for the people of the CNMI.”
He added, “I will continue to seek opportunities to have the CNMI contribute to our nation’s resiliency and protection. We will see even more opportunities become available that will advance the quality of life for all residents of these islands, and whenever you seek to be a part of the actual work it takes to see these things become a reality and stop demeaning the hard work of the men and women of this government, then you are more than welcome to join in celebrating the accomplishments of this administration, this Commonwealth and the people who serve it.”
Ralph DLG Torres
