LIEUTENANT Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang will announce, today, Oct. 21, Thursday, their independent candidacies for governor and lt. governor in the general elections next year.
Their “Rebuilding Trust” campaign will be launched at 2:30 p.m. today at the Minatchom Atdao in Susupe.
Variety was also told that they will be joined by the Senate and House candidates who will run on the Arnold-Dave or AD 2022 slate.
Palacios, who attended the swearing in of newly elected Democratic Rep. Corina L. Magofna in the House chamber on Wednesday, said, “There is a crisis in the Commonwealth, a crisis of confidence in our government, a crisis of trust in the people who run our government.”
“At this point,” Palacios said he and Apatang, who are Republicans, intend to run as independents next year.
But he also said that the NMI Democratic Party’s invitation to join its selection process “is something for us to seriously consider.” Palacios said he and Apatang “certainly appreciate the overture that the Democratic Party has made to us.”
He added that he and Apatang still had 10 days to make a decision.
Meantime, “Dave and I are officially making our people know that we are running.”
Palacios said, “There are a lot of things wrong in the Commonwealth.” Despite all the resources that have been made available to the CNMI, “we are still seeing people struggling,” he added.
He said a lot of government employees are being caught up in a situation where “the boss is not there or allows things to happen,” and this is a problem that affects the rank and file.
“The unfortunate part of it is that the people have lost hope and confidence in the system,” Palacios said, adding that he and Apatang are committed to rebuild the people’s confidence in their governor.
“It is not going to be easy, but there is a simple approach,” he said, referring to his and Apatang’s “good administrative skills.”
Palacios added, “I think all of us in this community will attest [to the fact] that he [Apatang] does very, very well as mayor and I am very confident that we will get [things] done” if elected lt. governor.
Palacios hopes that the people will look at their records as managers and former lawmakers.
“We are very confident that we can make a huge difference — it shouldn’t be very difficult to do,” he reiterated.
Republican Gov. Ralph DLG Torres earlier announced that his new running mate is Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan.
