Most of the Legislature’s time is spent on mini-money bills: designing a new homestead subdivision on Rota, re-appropriating public funds, and hiring close to 100 nonessential personnel while the government neglects to pay its vendors.
Meanwhile, with the closure of H-Mart, CUC loses an estimated $20,000 in monthly payments, most of the store’s 30 employees will be jobless, other similarly situated businesses may also throw in the proverbial towel, and the impact of all this will soon be felt by the community.
There is a lot to be said for Rep. Teresita Santos’ concern for the difficulties that families face today, but more food stamps is not the solution.
Existing businesses are closing and new businesses are not coming. Legislative focus should be on 1) identifying essential employees for the inevitable day when pink slips are finally handed out by the administration; and 2) doing whatever is necessary to draw investors to the commonwealth.
Senseless
GOVERNMENT-APPOINTED private attorneys are not getting paid in full or on time, but that doesn’t stop the Legislature from passing yet another senseless measure to cap their billings. This is yet another bill that will be amended and amended and then repealed because it is unnecessary.
The AG’s office approves all private legal representation. It deputizes these attorneys in the service of the CNMI government and negotiates legal fees. What is needed is not new legislation, but an AG who knows what the law is and how to enforce it.
The CNMI Department of Labor, for its part, says it is developing new programs to justify its continued existence. When the bulk of foreign labor leaves island, the best of the local labor pool will find employment. It is frightening to consider, however, that CNMI Labor will be in the business of setting prevailing wages for private sector employees.
The “solution” to this deepening crisis, according to the governor and the Senate, is federal compensation for the effects of the global trade agreements that prompted local garment factories to migrate to Third World nations. But many communities in the states suffered the same economic downturn that this community has for the same reasons. There was no federal bailout then and there won’t be one now. This rhetoric of victimhood might find an audience locally but is of little help to the CNMI in the nation’s capital.
Is there a plan?
CUC has 481 employees and a shrinking consumer base. It is bracing for a further rise in fuel prices and more delinquent customers. CDA owns shares in CUC which also remains under the governor’s control. CUC, clearly, doesn’t have much say in its day to day operations which is probably why it cannot meet any of the commitments it makes to the federal government.
Although the Legislature is finally removing the exorbitant ceiling that made privatization impossible, CUC itself is not doing anything that makes sense. Aside from charging more and more money for unreliable power, moving more and more people off the grid, and hiring mostly nonqualified employees — what is the grand plan for the utility and its customers?
This would seem to be an important consideration for any new investor if lawmakers were actually interested in measures that may prevent this economy from sliding into the abyss.
