Inos wants to remain with the Covenant Party but Fitial believes he will soon convince the lt. governor to join him in their former party, the GOP.
That is the only way he can complete his commitment to Inos, the governor said, adding that he will never force anybody to do something they don’t like, but he is still confident “most of my cabinet members will follow me.”
“I just need to educate them more because they still do not understand why they stay with the Covenant Party,” Fitial said.
He said he would not abandon the Covenant Party if it is not for the sake of the CNMI people.
He said he had no choice but to align himself with the strongest political party in the U.S. now.
The CNMI, he said, will have a better relationship with the federal government if commonwealth leaders are Republicans.
The Republican National Committee, of which he is a lifetime member, and the U.S. Republicans are very happy that he decided to go back to the local GOP, the governor said.
In his remarks to the members of the blue ribbon committee, Fitial said re-joining the Republican Party will ensure a more “effective” relationship with the federal government.
The White House and the U.S. Senate, however, are controlled by the U.S. Democratic Party.
Because it is currently dealing with its own financial woes, the federal government is becoming very diligent in giving out funds, said Fitial. But with a stronger political relationship with the party that controls the U.S. House of Representatives, the CNMI won’t be left behind, the governor added.
Fitial said the NMI Republicans who oppose his realignment with the party are not real Republicans because they are the ones who always flip-flop.
He recalled that when he was chairman of the GOP for more than 10 years, there had always been two factions of the party. But when elections come, these factions became one, he said.
