In an interview on Friday, Sablan said there are things that he and Inos are working on that have something to do with the government’s ailing retirement program.
Inos earlier said they were looking into the possibility of placing the local retirement program under the federal Social Security system.
Sablan said “we are looking at a way to help [Fund members] at a certain point they are ready to retire.”
He said this issue may take some time to fix and may not necessarily involve “throwing money at it.”
“There may be a way to structurally fix it and get people to move to another organization that will take care of them when they are ready to retire,” he added.
He said while some elected CNMI officials “are merging political parties and telling me that I don’t meet with them, I am trying to help people and the lt. governor is my partner on this.”
He added, “We need to help the retirees. We need to help the Retirement Fund.”
Sablan did not disclose details but said he and Inos are working on a plan.
While Inos continues to meet with Retirement Fund officials here, Sablan said he has been in several meetings with federal officials to discuss the local retirement program.
Sablan said that although he has never asked any CNMI lawmaker to agree on any of his positions, he continues to meet with them to discuss issues affecting the commonwealth.
He said he and CNMI senators continue to discuss health, education and immigration issues.
“I respect them because they are also officials elected by the people,” Sablan said referring to the members of the CNMI Legislature.
Sablan said there are differences of opinion between him and some members of the Legislature but “I don’t take anything personal.”
In fact, he added, there were also occasions when he had to change his position “after having been convinced by the people here.”
But when he takes a position on major issues like that of food stamps or money for education or immigration, it means “I had thought things through. And that is how I take a position. I don’t just react because in the U.S. Congress you don’t want to be caught with your pants down.”
The townhall meeting he has scheduled for Aug. 16 on Saipan, Sablan said, is his opportunity to report directly to his “employers” — the people.
“I don’t work for the commonwealth Legislature, I don’t work for the administration but I work for the people and that is why we have townhall meetings so I can have conversations with my employers,” he said.
