THE chair of the House Judiciary and Governmental Operation Committee on Friday said she intends to determine “whether the governor’s actions warrant impeachment by the House and removal by the Senate.”
Rep. Celina Babauta was referring to the report submitted by her fellow Democrat Rep. Tina Sablan to Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, an independent aligned with Democrats, regarding Republican Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ travel and other expenditures.
The report, which alleges, among other things, that the governor violated the law, was prepared by the then-House minority bloc whose key members are now part of the House leadership.
Sablan on Friday asked the speaker to refer the report to Babauta’s committee “for further review and investigation.”
The speaker said he would take the matter “under advisement.”
The report can be accessed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IhYEol7BIQg7PngeGAqrYW81NK8tJfem/view?fbclid=IwAR3WpUEi3r5DdI-js1TAhet2DN9JAocJHtbf2INeXTcDlMyktnEiweDw3yE
In her remarks on Friday, Babauta also said that she was receiving “information that government documents and properties are continuously being destroyed in an attempt perhaps to hide things or conceal evidence….”
“As such,” she told the speaker, “I would appreciate your expeditious referral [to the JGO committee of] the minority report that was submitted.”
According to Section 8, Article II of the CNMI Constitution:
“The House of Representatives may initiate impeachment proceedings by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members and the Senate may convict after hearing by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members.”
The 20-seat House has nine Republicans, eight Democrats and three independents, two of whom are aligned with the Democrats and one allied with the Republicans.
The nine-seat Senate has five Republicans, one Democrat and three independents, two of whom vote with the Republicans and one aligned with the Democrat.
Questionable timing
Asked for comment, Press Secretary Kevin Bautista issued the following statement on Sunday:
“The administration welcomes and has cooperated with all legitimate inquiries about this issue. But once again, the timeliness of this inquiry is questionable, and even the process of submitting a report during the miscellaneous section of the agenda is suspect. The findings from last year’s special committee report showed no finding of consequence. This has been addressed and covered multiple times. This is another blatant political attempt by the Democrats to smear the Governor and this administration, while he continues to lead the work of rebuilding our economy and our Covid-19 response, which has kept the CNMI among the safest places in the world.
“A bipartisan special committee was already formed last year and transferred oversight to the Office of the Public Auditor, which is the appropriate agency to review and investigate such matters. The Office of the Governor and the Department of Finance have cooperated fully in the past with last year’s Special Committee’s inquiries and hearings. The findings of the Special Committee’s draft report showed no finding of consequence. The report that was submitted was from a political faction from the last Legislature.
“The people elect their public officials to legislate and help the community. So far, in 2021, Governor Torres, Lt. Governor Palacios, the House Minority, the Senate leadership, the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, and the Covid-19 Task Force have been out there keeping people safe, beautifying public areas, and rebuilding the economy. On the flip side, Democrats in the House have kept revenue-generating bills stuck in committee and have focused only on mainland issues, such as the D.C. statehood initiative that has no bearing or benefit to our people here in the CNMI. The Governor and Lt. Governor continue to work with the Legislative leadership in both houses to come up with solutions that actually benefit our islands. It’s unfortunate that they continue to focus on an issue from their campaign that has already been resolved by a bipartisan committee from the last Legislature and has been transferred to the appropriate independent agencies for review.”
Rep. Celina Babauta, who chairs the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, speaks during the House session on Friday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
