THE following is a summary of my segment from 5/7/22 on the Marianas Agupa Show:
Court Antics of the Governor. The outcome of the Governor’s Impeachment & Court Trials are at the top of the list for many voters and as expected, the Governor is “deflecting and pointing-a-finger at the AG who also travel Frist Class” in a futile attempt to get-away free. But pointing-a-finger at the AG does not absolve the Governor and his wife of First-Class Travel and it certainly doesn’t absolve him of all the other crimes he is accused of committing. The Governor is figuratively “throwing a pebble at a stone wall of evidence against him” and he has yet to offer any real evidence for his defense in the Senate Trial nor in his Local Court Trial, just deflecting and pointing-a-finger at others hoping to change the narrative and outcomes.
I know Representatives Sablan & Staffler have Reform-plans but they are not in power. So the question FOR the People to this Governor & Lt. Governor is “what REFORMS are they going to put in place NOW to replace the Casino and bring in NEW revenues, as WE the People are now being taxed to death. Cigarettes, Driver’s License, Gas, Groceries and everything is going up. And please give checks for the Stimulus, as I keep reminding the Governor over 54% of our population are poor with no on-hands internet ability to activate the cards. Furthermore, the last time thousands of dollars was taken back off the cards because the Governor made-up his own expiration date that was different from the card’s expiration date misleading people causing them to lose the remaining money on their card — Governor, apply the “KISS Method” (keep it simple stupid).
Economic Plans. AS for our Economy and the request by IPI for Ideas to sell their interest in the casino and hotel, one would think the Governor and especially the Lt. Governor who wants to be Governor, would have an idea by now as to what to do about the Casino but WE the People are getting the silent treatment again. Neither one of them are thinking about the People just their election bids. I don’t know about the size of the Casino as I never went inside but I do know that if it is feasible the CNMI should really use this opportunity to turn the Casino into a Convention Center that can serve multiple purposes for Conventions — Tourism & Local Events. I’ve been yelling for two decades, as an Economist, that the CNMI should get away from Gambling and create a “Family Oriented Destination” that is a standard model for Tourism in Las Vegas and throughout the world. WE should be doing all we can to get the first Theme Park for our Region that will surely provide a constant stream of Tourists from within Micronesia expanding our Economic Base to complement the Tourists from the many nations in our Region. Start NOW to promote our Cannabis Tourism and Leases for the Mariana Resort & La Fiesta, get the Hemp Industry started and provide a place near a Tourist Sites in Marpi for the Amelia Earhart Monument that will surely attract tourists. Heck, there is an entire mountain going up to Banzai Cliff that can easily accommodate and improve the development of our Tourist Sites with the Earhart Monument.
Bad Mouthing Tina. There has been posts on Facebook blaming Rep. Tina Sablan for the Federal Takeover of Immigrations and for trying to stop members of the Legislature from providing Tents & tables for funerals & Rosaries, which is just ridiculous but it’s an “old political tactic of poli-tricking politicians to use emissaries like Robert Hunter, Ms. Grace and others to attack and make a person’s name bad.” Making these ridiculous accusations on Facebook and on the Coconut-Wire is the only way the opposition can fight Rep. Sablan as her record in governing is “squeaky-clean.” It was Rep. Sablan who authored an amendment to the Open-Government Act, which says a lot about her ability & character and why the Governor and Lt. Governor want to stop her from winning and making our government truly accountable to the People. FYI Arnold & Dave, “Rebuilding Trust does NOTHING to Rebuild our Economy” as you are just poli-tricking and being silent with no real plans hoping to get lucky — but I’m sure most of us voters ARE NOT stupid!
But I think most voters know, it was a decision by the Federal Government, not Rep. Sablan, to take over our immigrations after over a decade of the Feds’ warnings that fell on the deaf ears of the Republicans who were in control of our government. As for the Funeral Request for Tents & Tables and Assistance being denied by a Bill sponsored by Tina Sablan that is also ridiculous, as each person in the Legislature has their OWN policy on Community Outreach and some may just not even have the tents & tables and can’t afford them anymore given these challenging times. I hope readers will be mindful of information on Facebook, as it has proven on toooo many occasions to be the source of FAKE-NEWS! Never-mind the Governor’s Impeachment & Court Antics, the lack of any Economic Plans and the Bad-mouthing as that is just how the Republicans are. So just vote Democrat if you want to put an end to these Poli-tricking Republicans — it’s really just that simple to fix our Government, our Economy and our Quality of Life in our Commonwealth.
To be continued: One people One Direction.
The writer is an Economist, Political Scientist, retired teacher, former CNMI Board of Education Member, James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
Ambrose M. Bennett
