Tom Tebuteb, the former special assistant for administration and secretary for the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs during the Babauta administration, chided the Fitial administration for making false promises: “There is no peanut factory. No shoe factory.”
Galvin S. Deleon Guerrero, former Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s running mate in the GOP primary, said in the past four years, the CNMI “had nothing but broken promises. They promised investors after investors but we’ve had nothing. It’s useless to promise what you cannot deliver. Don’t promise us anything when you can’t change a thing.”
Deleon Guerrero described the GOP’s gubernatorial bet as a “man of integrity” and the rest of the Republican candidates as leaders who care for the common people.
Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, he added, “will tell you the truth and we all know that the truth will set us free. These Republican candidates care for you. It is time we stop making broken promises. We need leaders with integrity and honesty.”
In an interview, Hofschneider said he was overwhelmed by the people’s show of support for his candidacy.
“I am so touched by the thousands of people who are gathered here,” he told the Variety. “I am honestly speechless about the huge crowd turnout.”
The people, he added, are clamoring for change.
“They want to make a difference. They want to be counted. They want to bring change to the commonwealth. It’s a tremendous show of force,” he said.
His running-mate, Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, said he was humbled by the people’s suport.
Palacios, whose father, a medical doctor who was one of the framers of the CNMI Constitution, said it is time for “old politics to step aside.”
Some people who attended the GOP rally said they want to see new ideas and approaches to improve the islands’ tourism-based economy.
Others said they don’t like the current administration’s confrontational approach in dealing with the federal government.
They said they are Americans who want better relations with the U.S.
