Tenorio reiterated his willingness to resign as speaker “soon,” but admitted that it will still depend on what bloc in the 20-member House will have the numbers.
Variety learned that the Republican lawmakers met on Friday, but Saipan Independent Rep. Stanley T. Torres, who attended the gathering, said two minority bloc members did not show up. He declined to identify them.
Torres, an ally of the governor, is now with the minority bloc.
The ruling Covenant Party has seven House seats compared to the GOP’s nine. But the four Independents sided with the Covenant Party to form the leadership.
However, besides Torres, Rota Independent Teresita A. Santos is now with the minority bloc.
But the House Republicans do not always vote as a single bloc. Two of their members, Joseph M. Palacios and Eli D. Cabrera, usually vote with the House leadership.
Change
House Minority Leader Diego T. Benavente, R-Saipan, said a change in the leadership will improve the House’s ties with the Senate and force the administration to “sit and listen” instead of just “throwing instructions” at lawmakers.
Benavente said there is a need for a better working relationship between the two chambers in order to resolve the major problems the commonwealth and its people are facing.
“I feel there are a lot more that we can do as members of the House. And there is a need to change the leadership. People are suffering right now. The community is hurting in these economic challenges as the days of government services along with employees’ working hours have been reduced,” he said.
“No one knows what’s going to happen to the tourism industry. No one knows when the payless paydays are going to end. No one knows when government employees can get 80 hours back and the five days a week of government services,” he added.
He believes that with Santos and Torres joining their bloc, they already are the majority.
Benavente recalled that during the budget deliberations, the Senate and the House bickered because the House leadership’s moves were “all about the governor’s decision.”
The governor, he said, “had the luxury of basically having the House leadership’s full support that is why there was a fight in the Legislature.”
Noting his good working relationship with the Senate leadership, Benavente said once he becomes the speaker, the administration will have to sit down with them and listen.
Benavente at the same time said the administration will “absolutely” have the Legislature’s ears.
Both chambers of the Legislature can sit down with the administration and lay down all the options that can alleviate the commonwealth’s problems, said Benavente, a former speaker and lt. governor.
“We need some sense of direction. Some sense of getting somewhere,” he added.
