Ambrose M. Bennett
JOE Palacios & Thomas Songsong bring out the “Ali in me” and I can easily take-on both, as no Commissioner nor the Director were around when I was doing the research and writing the first draft. The whole problem is the Senate threw away entirely too much of what I wrote, which is WHY the industry is costing more than it collects and other malfunctions. Joe & Thomas don’t have a CLUE to what they are talking about. Furthermore, none of them did anything to help create the two industries that were Ambrose M. Bennett’s ideas, not Sixto’s, and they still haven’t gotten the Hemp Industry started. Their three-pronged attack on me was more laughable than informative about the problem, as Thomas only recited laws taking people in circles not knowing that much of what he complained about was TRASHED by the Senate and now the importance of my trashed documents are coming to fruition with the impotency of the Commission being exposed. Heck, Thomas had the nerve to even insinuate that “Cannabis Tourism was not in the law” so the commission doesn’t have to address tourists using marijuana — ka duku, when “Tourism is OUR Business,” didn’t they READ what Mr. Conception is trying to tell EVERYONE! The very FIRST thing I told the 19th Senate when I presented the first draft was “the CNMI’s population is TOO SMALL, unlike Colorado that has millions of citizens, to support a Cannabis Industry, as WE must depend on Cannabis Tourism to really make money.” My prediction rings TRUE today, as we are NOT making any money but losing money as only the dispensary owners are making money — TRUE FACTS Joe & Thomas can’t face, pathetic.
First and foremost, neither Thomas nor Joe could justify the 300 thousand for the commission when WE the People can get the same services virtually for FREE (no additional cost). Thomas & Joe need to PROVE they are better when here is the TRUTH: 1. The commission can’t be any more productive than the Commerce Dept. when it comes to licensing & collecting fees. 2. Alcohol & Tobacco is already set up for enforcement, but the Commission has no enforcement just leaning on DPS that can’t. 3. DPS nor the AG can NOT enforce anything when the promulgation of laws to govern the industry are nonexistence after nearly five years of a dysfunctional commission. The Municipal Council can promulgate & pass regs, policies & ordinances for governance over the industry, as I wrote in the original draft. 4. The mayors can do a much better job of promoting the Cannabis Tourism Industry on their islands, given the mayors are our primary promoters of events in the CNMI anyway. So, Thomas & Joe need to explain WHY & PROVE their commission can do a better job for the People and stop attacking me when they haven’t done anything but collect 54,000 a year for meetings & TAYA work. Diego Camacho, Cannabis Chair, even wanted to reduce their salaries, but I guess nepotism and/or favoritism got in the way of progress as usual in the CNMI. I wrote an 89-page draft but the final law was only 29-pages — see the problem People.
Saying that my idea to reform and transition the Cannabis Industry is irresponsible when the average person with common sense can see you guys are SCAMMING us with this commission, just like the Casino Commission scammers and interestingly these are the only two commissions with high paying salaries — WAKE-UP People!! I’m the only one with a real Economics Degree who understands the BIG Picture of the industry and how to promote the industry, as I can tell the commission’s biggest challenge is “they don’t know HOW to promote the industry, and they are lazy” which is WHY there are no laws and no events. They want to hide behind the restrictive laws instead of getting the laws changed (FIXED)! Laws that I had in the draft that were trashed and are now coming back to haunt the CNMI. These guys got on board at the last stop and don’t have a real clue to what needs to be done, and they don’t care, just trying to save their high paying jobs for doing virtually nothing, meeting once or twice a month and the public meeting record of the times they met is PROOF!
But I could care less about Joe’s made-up idea claim, as the Governor knew he was making it a dead issue when I received a measly Honorarium for my intellectual property & help that required a contract for payment. But the Governor stopped me before I could finish anyway and now the People can see WHY. Joe, his relative & Clyde his political emissary over the People as I have no choice now but to put the blame where it is DUE since they want to attack me as I’m sure the Governor had to approve these attacks! Joe must think he’s on Guam, thinking he can stop me with his attacks, LOL. Joe told the employees not to work with me, as he had talked to his relative, the Governor, HELLER! Now Joe & Thomas are gaslighting in the newspaper attacking me trying to defend their fickle commission to keep their jobs. Joe & Thomas told “half-truths” that my MaDear would surely say are a whole lies! I’m sure most of us who were children have tried to tell our parents a “half-truth” to get out of trouble that DIDN’T work! Well, they just tried this very same childish trick with us that didn’t fool the economist with an IQ of 139 (genius territory) nor readers. FYI, the 300,000 + 217,000 should be ALL PROFIT, duh!
Joe used the total amount of dispensary sales (1.466 million) to infer and justify the industry being successful, but it only means the Dispensary owners made that money. It’s clear Joe is just trying to save his high-paying-meeting-job by making it seem like the CNMI made 1.466 million when WE only got 217 thousand. In Joe’s own words “WE are still in the RED for 60,000 a year.” It was my (economist) intent for the Hemp & Cannabis Industries to replace the 25-million plus in revenues that WE used to get from the Garment Industry!!! But Joe wants us to be satisfied with losing 60 thousand a year to keep his job and didn’t offer anything to show they could collect more revenues to be solvent — a pathetic SCAM!
Joe doesn’t seem to know the People are already awake to the fact that Cannabis Industry should operate without a “Government Figurehead (Commission)” like the Hotel Industry, especially after hearing from the likes of the esteem & highly respected Bob Coldeen agreeing with me on TV. WE never needed a Commission & Director as they were supposed to have been TEMPORARY for five years to get the industry started in my draft when Joe Palacios was still working on Guam. In fact, I’ve actually been waiting to see Joe stick his head up in defense so I could discredit him, as the People do have common sense and can-do math to see the numbers don’t lie. Joe nor Thomas nor any of them lifted a finger to get the industry started and now they claim to be the experts who know better than the economists who designed it, LOL!
Joe’s hubris attack ignored the all-important fact that the CNMI should NEVER be in the red with this industry!!! I intended the industry to eventually be self-driven like the Hotel Industry and you don’t have to be an economist to observe this simple and real example, Joe & Thomas are just in denial and want to take the People with them, as if they have been smoking some of the Dispensary products. The real challenge is the industry has “plateaued” (reached its maximum potential) with mostly local sales. If it is not reformed, WE might be seeing the fixed & permanent future of the industry continuing to be in the red each year. Joe & Thomas have only served to put the Governor on the spot for approving their attack on me, as TRUTH will ALWAYS prevail and destroy their LIES! Joe & Thomas have publicly made it clear that the Governor must now choose between saving the interest of Joe & Clyde wasting 300 thousand a year or saving .5million FOR the People when HIS People are suffering austerity and he PROMISED all of us TRUST — it’s on you Gov. for TRUE!
But just to prove my point, WHERE is the Cannabis Chair and WHY was Joe Palacios, the Governor’s relative, the one speaking out, as it’s just like I told the Director when I met with him, as I knew, “this is really Joe Palacios’ Commission, who is running things.” Joe was clearly preying on “nepotism” with his relative the Governor, when he told employees & dispensaries not to work with me, as he was speaking with the Governor, which also means the Governor was stabbing me in the back when I was supposed to have been helping him — go figure CNMI as I was shocked & disappointed too, especially when he stopped me proving this point. Joe came here from Guam and the Governor let him attack me, but evidently, he didn’t know that he was virtually & literally grabbing a tiger by the tail even pulling the Governor into this MESS!!! This is WHY so many citizens don’t like nor trust any of our elected officials (nepotism & favoritism) instead of being FOR the People and doing the Right Thing FOR the People! The Governor is on the spot, when TRUST is his Banner!
If the Governor wants to believe Joe’s & Thomas’ half-truths that they are spinning, then WE are DOOMED and deserve to continue to be “scammed & shafted by Joe’s commission.” The Cannabis Tourism Industry needs to be producing 10 to 20 times the money that is being generated and not just be satisfied with wasting 60,000 a year on a TAYA Commission!!! There is nothing Joe or Thomas can do or say to justify the impotency of the Commission and shortcomings of the industry, as telling half-truths can never diminish all the WHOLE-TRUTHS that prove WE need to get rid of the Cannabis Commission and force the industry to operate like the Hotel Industry that is self-organized & driven operating under the normal Government agencies that control business operations — it’s just that simple. Checkmate, the People are wide AWAKE from Joe & Thomas yelling half-truths about an industry that Ambrose M. Bennett originally designed but they trashed too much trying to eliminate Ambrose M. Bennett’s impact on the law that has finally backfired!
One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & lifetime Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
