Party Chairman Manuel C. Sablan said the primary will be held on Saipan, Tinian and Rota on July 27, a Sunday.
“We have not identified the venue yet for the primary,” Sablan said in a letter to Cing and Crisostimo. “We need to get together the three of us, to work out the details, conduct and sites for the primary.”
Cing and Crisostimo have to pay a non-refundable fee of $2,500 each by July 15, tomorrow.
The winner will pay an additional $7,500 in candidate fee.
Cing, in an interview yesterday, said Crisostimo should back out and complete his term as senator.
According to Cing, the party itself should remind Crisostimo that he has just been re-elected and should not “abandon his constituents.”
Crisostimo’s second term ends in Jan. 2012.
“The party should not condone his candidacy,” the former Tinian lawmaker said. “It costs money to hold a primary and if he wins, then taxpayers will have to pay for the cost of a special election. And it doesn’t stop there. What if Obama wants to have a running mate from the CNMI? The party will have another headache because Crisostimo will be running for that post even before we hold our primary.”
Cing said Crisostimo should first accomplish his promises to the people when he ran for re-election last November.
“He’s a senator — he can already do a lot for the people if he wants to,” Cing added. “That’s why our party should tell him to withdraw and continue serving the people in the Senate. That’s where they want him to serve. Our party must have principles and criteria. That’s why I’m not going to back out. If I back out I’ll just contribute to the mistake of Crisostimo in abandoning the people who voted for him to be their senator.”
Cing is appealing to the people to register and vote in November.
“Vote for the real deal,” he said. “In my 12 years in the Senate I was always fair to Rota and Saipan. I was always reasonable and I always listened to the concerns of all the people of the CNMI. For the people of Tinian, this is their chance to be a part of the commonwealth’s political history. We’ve been left behind. Rota has had a lt. governor already.”
Crisostimo has said he made the right choice when he decided to run for the U.S. Congress.
The other candidates for congressional delegate are Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio, outgoing Election Commission Executive Director Gregorio C. Sablan, former Judge Juan T. Lizama and Department of Public Lands official John DLR. Gonzales.
Except for Tenorio, who is the Republican nominee, they are running as Independent candidates.
