“Let me just say that I have a solid experience that can make me become a better representative than what we got now. In my opinion, like I said, I was asked about the (U.S. Department of the) Interior’s recommendation (for improved status for guest workers), my response was if we were doing our job in Washington, we won’t be rallying. I think there was a missed opportunity there,” Babauta told the Variety.
As a senator, he is credited for the law that established the Board of Education as an elected body and for making the Public School System an autonomous agency.
As Washington representative, he was also responsible for securing funding to further develop American Memorial Park and secure over $149 million in Covenant funding from FY 1993 to 2003, among other things.
The CNMI Republican Party has endorsed Babauta’s candidacy.
He is running against incumbent Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, an Independent; former Lt. Gov. Jesus Camacho Borja, a Democrat; and former House Floor Leader Joseph James Norita Camacho of the ruling Covenant Party.
Sablan became the CNMI’s first delegate to Congress after winning the nine-way election in 2008.
A nonvoting delegate can introduce bills and participate and vote on committee hearings but cannot vote on the House floor.
Babauta, who served as governor from 2002 to 2006, said he, Borja and Camacho “are underdogs” compared to Sablan.
“Any race is a tough race and I think a sitting incumbent, of course, has all of the advantages and so we don’t want to overlook that. Jesse, Joe and I, are underdogs to this race. We just need to work hard and reach out to people,” he said.
The former governor said the future of the commonwealth is tied with Washington and so the right candidate should get the job.
“We need to really be talking about the future of the CNMI in Washington. Oftentimes, we’re bugged down with details and doing political things here and there and we’re forgetting that we have gone through over 30 years as a commonwealth,” he said.
“There are unfulfilled promises in the Covenant. And a lot of those issues need to be reexamined now that we have a seat in Congress where we can influence federal legislation directly. We’re not outside looking in anymore. We’re inside. At the table,” he added.
Among issues he would like to be reexamined is the CNMI’s funding under its Covenant with the U.S. which was removed sometime in the 1990s’. The funding amounted to $27.7 million and was divided among the other insular areas.
“I think that was a misguided policy,” he said.
Tinian whose two-thirds of public lands are leased to the U.S. military is another issue he wants discussed.
He said the promise of job opportunities and economic development through a military-based economy on Tinian have yet to happen.
He said those public lands should be returned to the people of Tinian if the military won’t use them.
