BY a vote of 15 to 4 with 1 abstention, the Democrat-led House of Representatives on Wednesday impeached Republican Gov. Ralph DLG Torres on allegations of felonies of theft, corruption and neglect of duty. He has denied the charges.
The House voted on each of the six articles of impeachment in House Resolution 22-14 before they adopted it in its entirety.
Article I is Commission of Felony, Theft of Utility Services; Article II: Commission of Felony, Theft; Article III: Unlawful First-Class and Business-Class Travel; Article IV: Corruption, Misuse of Government Resources; Article V: Neglect of Duty, Negligence During Crisis and Article VI: Neglect of Duty, Contempt of the Legislature.
Those who voted to impeach the governor were Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, Reps. Celina Babauta, Donald Manglona, Tina Sablan, Edwin Propst, Vicente Camacho, Sheila Babauta, Joel Camacho, John Paul Sablan, Richard Lizama, Corina Magofna, Leila Staffler and Denita Yangetmai.
Attao, Yumul, Camacho and John Paul Sablan are former Republicans supporting the independent gubernatorial candidacy of Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios while the speaker and Manglona are independents aligned with the Democrats who have nominated Rep. Tina Sablan as their gubernatorial candidate.
The remaining Republicans are House Minority Leader Angel Demapan, Reps. Patrick San Nicolas, Roy Ada and Joseph Leepan Guerrero. They cast the dissenting votes while independent Rep. Joseph Flores, who caucuses with the Republicans, abstained.
“I do not have all the evidence to make an informed decision today,” he said during the session.
For his part, Rep. Patrick San Nicolas of Tinian said the impeachment resolution “leaves many questions unanswered and clearly does not reach the necessary threshold to impeach the governor.”
However, he added, “it is pretty obvious that the numbers favor the majority. Therefore, if this matter reaches the Senate, I trust that the Senate will be fair and impartial in their review of the evidence and come to the conclusion not to convict.”
The nine-seat Senate has six Republican members, one independent aligned with the Republicans, one Democrat and one independent allied with the Democrats.
Six senators must vote to convict in order to remove the governor from office. The lt. governor will then succeed him.
San Nicolas said he respects the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee but “let’s not misuse our constitutional authority to further the majority’s political agenda. Let the people of the CNMI decide at the voting polls whether our governor should remain in office,” he said.
The House JGO, which conducted an investigation into the governor’s public expenditures, has seven members whose lone Republican member, Vice Speaker Attao, is a supporter of the lt. governor.
House Minority Leader Angel Demapan said he owes the people an explanation for his dissenting vote.
“After the conclusion of the same investigation in the [previous] Legislature, the findings of that investigation were provided to the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Public Auditor, entities that hold the powers under the Constitution to determine whether real improprieties were committed against the Commonwealth and the public’s funds. They have not made that determination,” he said.
“H.R. 22-14 provided the members of this House with 16 pages containing six Articles [of] Impeachment, summarized, for consideration by the full House.
“Six months ago, the [JGO] Committee opened its investigation. As we understand it, this investigation is still ongoing.
“Having not concluded their investigation, there is no committee report to date. Without such report, the members of the House that are not members of the committee, lack the complete information and evidence to bring charges to anyone, be it a Governor, Lt. Governor, or a Judge.
“Impeachment is a constitutional tool to undo the will of the people. In this case, to remove someone who was elected by the people. And in reverence to the Constitution, impeachment should be an action we take by fully considering all the evidence and not just a summary of it; by concluding the investigation and reporting out its findings and evidence to the members, so that we can make decisions based on complete and factual information.
“The timeline of this investigation is flawed and I wish that there was thoroughness over expediency. This was not the case today. So I dissented.”
Rep. Roy Ada said he wishes that lawmakers could set aside political differences, “but there is an obvious move here for political gain.”
“I hear the testimonies and public comments in support of impeachment, but let us not forget there are also many people that came out in support of ‘no to the impeachment.’ So are we just going to turn a blind eye to them?”
He said he listened to both sides, and that his decision to vote no “is not a political thing, it is about gathering all the necessary information, documents and the resources that were afforded to us. I feel like I do not have those right now, to support the impeachment.”
Rep. Tina Sablan, for her part, said: “I wish you had actually attended the JGO hearings. I wish that you had reviewed the documents that we reviewed and listened to the testimonies of the witnesses that we called to speak to us and answer our questions, which are many of the same questions that your raised today. They answered those questions under oath. And I wish that you had been there. Or at least watched the hearings that were broadcast live on cable and streamed on social media. I wished that you had raised any question at all in the special committee on impeachment, of which you were members and had the opportunity to do so. If it was answers that you truly wanted, if it was an open mind that you truly brought to the table in the interest of truth and justice, you would have asked these questions long before the end this session, after the vote was already taken. But more than anything, colleagues, all my colleagues, I wish that Governor Torres after months, months of back and forth in the media, I wish that he himself had come to this body to answer the questions and address the concerns and allegations and the charges against him, explain all the evidence that we have looked at over months, years actually, of legislative investigation. He chose not to do so. That was his choice. And there are consequences for that, too.”
“I respect all of you,” Rep. Tina Sablan added. “I hope that we can come together again and continue to do the people’s work. The impeachment, this process, is a long road and today’s session is really just the beginning.”
She said, “We are here today because Governor Torres is unfit to continue in public service. His offenses against the Commonwealth warrant his impeachment and removal from office. And we, the Legislature, the first branch of government, have a duty to hold him accountable and prevent any further harm to the people’s trust.”
Other House critics of the governor reiterated that he committed impeachable offenses.
Rep. Leila Staffler said, “Based on the amount of evidence against the governor, it was clear that the oath to defend the constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth has been broken over and over again.”
“To the Senate,” she added, “I call on you to heed what the good judge reminded all of us that the oath we take means that we vow to be loyal to the people of the Commonwealth. We vowed to be trustworthy as stewards of our lands and resources. We vowed to defend our Commonwealth with integrity; to do the right thing, especially when no one is looking.”
Rep. Donald Manglona asked his colleagues to “remember this day, January 12, 2022, because on this day, our people got one step closer to taking back their government. One step closer to putting an end to the corruption that has festered our great Commonwealth. One step closer to ensuring a better future for all.”
From left, House clerk Linda Muna, Speaker Edmund Villagomez, legislative assistant Cameron Nicholas, Rep. Tina Sablan and Rep. Edwin Propst during a break from the House session on Wednesday.
House Floor Leader Ralph Yumul, left, and Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao listen to Rep. Celina Babauta, back to the camera, during a break from the House session on Wednesday.
House Republican leader Angel Demapan and Rep. Joel Camacho, a Republican turned independent, shake hands.
Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao confer during the House session on Wednesday.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres join some of the more than 200 government employees who filed a leave of absence to stage a rally outside the legislative building on Wednesday.
Carolinian Affairs Executive Assistant John Tagabuel, left seated, poses for a photo with other supporters of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.
The supporters of the NMI Democratic Party and the independent Arnold-Dave gubernatorial team share a canopy as they gather outside the legislative building to express support for impeaching the governor.
