REPRESENTATIVE Tina Sablan on Monday said the House Special Committee on Fiscal Review of Executive Expenditures of the previous Legislature did not complete its investigation and therefore had no special committee report.
“Before the 21st Legislature’s term ended, there was a draft report that the chairman presented to the special committee, and there were members on both sides who did not want to sign off on it,” she said.
“There were objections to the draft language, and the deadline to submit the report had already lapsed.”
At the time, Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, the chairman of the special committee, submitted a memorandum as a House communication instead.
The members of what was then the minority bloc submitted their own report, also as a House communication, Sablan said.
She added that this report included “findings of real consequence, highlighting specific violations of law and areas of abuse, and made recommendations for further oversight, legislative reform, and investigation.”
The then-House minority bloc specifically recommended that the current or 22nd Legislature continue the investigation and determine whether the governor’s conduct warranted censure, impeachment, or other legislative action.
Members of the special committee in the previous Legislature were Rep. Ralph Yumul, then-Vice Speaker Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero, then-House Floor Leader John Paul P. Sablan, then-Rep. Luis John DLG Castro, Reps. Edwin K. Propst, Tina M. Sablan, Donald M. Manglona, and Edmund S. Villagomez who is now the speaker.
Four of the members were with the House Republican leadership while the other four were members of the then-House minority bloc.
Pursuant to Rule VII, Section 1 of the House Rules of the 21st House of Representatives, the special committee was formed by then-Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao, after the House Committee on Ways and Means received materials concerning expenditures and reimbursements of the administration.
Prior to the formation of this special committee, then-Speaker Attao also created a House Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster Related Funding, also chaired by Yumul, to look into the expenditure of federal funds given to the CNMI.
The members of this committee were John Paul Sablan, Joel Camacho, Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, and Tina Sablan, the sole minority bloc member.
On June 12, 2020, the then-House minority bloc released thousands of pages of records of the governor’s first-class travel, official representation, reimbursement, executive security, housing expenses, and utilities expenses.
These records were obtained through an Open Government Act request to the Department of Finance.
Regarding the reopening of the investigation into executive expenditures, Rep. Tina Sablan said the House Judiciary and Government Operations Committee chaired by her fellow Democrat, Rep. Celina R. Babauta, is “the appropriate committee to carry out this investigation.”
On Friday, the committee reopened the investigation on Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ public expenditures.
Present during this committee meeting were Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao, House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, Reps. Celina R. Babauta, Vicente C. Camacho, Richard T. Lizama, Donald M. Manglona, Tina Sablan, Leila H.F. Staffler, and Denita K. Yangetmai.
With the exception of Attao, a Republican, all are members of the current House leadership bloc. Yumul, who is also a Republican, voted for Villagomez in the speakership race.
One-sided
Asked for comment, Press Secretary Kevin Bautista issued the following statement:
“Congresswoman Tina Sablan’s statement reaffirms that this investigation is a one-sided political witch hunt to fulfill their political agenda. If she’s going to focus on semantics and technicalities about what constitutes a formal correspondence from a bipartisan special committee, then that’s her prerogative. But the special committee in the last Legislature concluded its findings with a transfer of oversight and further investigation to the Office of the Public Auditor and the Office of the Attorney General. The then-House Minority, a political faction, submitted a one-sided report, signed off by members of the then-Minority with no concurrence by the other members of the bipartisan committee. The Congresswoman does not refute the fact that the current composition of this investigation is one-sided, consisting of eight Democrats and two Republicans. It is clear as day what the House Democrats are trying to do through this investigation.
“Meanwhile, the administration continues to roll out elements of its ARPA spending plan, working with all branches and agencies of the Commonwealth government and non-profit organizations for essential services. The Department of Finance got the first batch of tax refunds in less than a month from the tax deadline, and retirees are getting their 100% pensions through a stable maintenance of funding for critical priorities. This week, we launch the one-year countdown to the Pacific Mini Games next summer, and we formally break ground on Route 36 in Talofofo connecting Kingfisher and Bird Island, a project that sat for 20 years now revived under this administration, which will create jobs and generate additional economic activity. The work hasn’t stopped on this side, and the Governor and Lt. Governor, along with the House Minority, Senate Leadership, private sector leaders, the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, and the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force are continuing work to safely restart tourism, which will bring back additional jobs for people. This is all happening while the Democrats are focused on their smear political tactics to cater to their followers, not the people of the CNMI.
“If the Congresswoman will continue to focus on details and semantics that fit her party’s agenda and the national political platform she tries to impose on the CNMI, her priorities should be reassessed as national Democratic political tactics have no place here in the CNMI, where the focus should be on finding solutions to our fragile island economy and creating new jobs for our local workforce as we bring back tourism and create new industries.”
Binders containing documents and records on executive expenditures were gathered last year by the House Special Committee on Fiscal Review of Executive Expenditures.
