The Attorney General’s Office, moreover, forgives other favored offenders in willy-nilly fashion and is quick to justify the governor’s highly questionable actions — and appointments (his former lt. governor, commerce secretary, CUC executive director and driver have all been criminally charged and convicted, and among the ruling party’s rah-rah boys are other former convicted criminals; and don’t forget his masseuse).
Clearly there is no need for the courts and this is probably why the governor wants to gut the judiciary’s budget.
And what is the reaction of the people to the governor’s latest grave abuse of discretion? Except for a letter to the editor and anonymous postings on our Web site — nating. Any expressions of concerns from the so-called opposition lawmakers on Capital Hill? Taya again.
Four months down, four years and eight months to go. That’s not a prison sentence, by the way, but the administration’s remaining term in office.
Where is the new budget?
THERE has long been an obvious need to pass a serious budget, one that considers available resources and expenditures. But for over 12 years, each succeeding administration neglected government obligations in favor of hiring more employees. One cannot blame incumbent legislators for refusing to accept the governor’s austerity proposal because he continues to hire government employees without regard to the seriousness of the financial crisis. These legislators, however, also refuse to accept responsibility for making the tough calls. They steadfastly refuse to identify employees who are essential to deliver government services and those who are not. And they do nothing to challenge the governor’s dangerous hiring practices besides whining about it.
Make no mistake about it, however. The commonwealth government is in desperate need of a miracle. Only three agencies are likely to survive the coming deluge: public health, education and law enforcement which includes the police, port functions, customs, the courts and related activities. These are essential government services; everything else is extraneous. But these agencies, too, will have to be frugal. Political hiring must stop. As it is, employment contracts are being terminated not to achieve savings but to make political hires. The governor’s advisers seem to think there is some value in terminating one qualified employee to turn around and hire two unqualified employees. There is none.
Meanwhile, the Legislature is mired in a serious debate…on whether the director of the Legislative Bureau should keep her job. This brouhaha should never have materialized. That it is now a major issue shows why the government is in big trouble. It seems there is no line that can’t be crossed, no conflict of interest that cannot be ignored, and no statutory or constitutional boundary that is sacred. Passing more laws will not help if existing ones are routinely ignored.
The lawmakers from Tinian and Rota, for their part, should cease receiving stipends because it is not specifically permitted by the Constitution, which sets their compensation package. This fiasco, in any case, should result in an initiative to reduce the size of the Legislature and to make it a part-time body. Legislators should be able to maintain their livelihood with other work provided this interest is disclosed as is required by the Open Government Act.
This is dangerous territory as the current House speaker should know. He must use extreme care not to lobby any agency of government or influence legislation or affect government decisions on behalf of his brother’s firm.
But the appearance is as damaging as an actual conflict of interest itself which is why these scenarios must be avoided at all cost.
Under this administration, however, no yellow lines are observed.
Scary
INTERESTINGLY, after many weeks of silence and rumored estrangement from the governor and his chief advisers, Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos — perhaps the only man still respected in this administration — has been trotted out to caution legislators and the general public that government finances have hit rock bottom. Payroll and bond payments, he says, have placed additional burdens on government coffers. The government, to be sure, has wrestled with this dilemma in the past. The big difference today is that there is no hope that the economy will rebound and provide the government with desperately needed revenue.
Some suggest that casino legislation is intentionally timed to coincide with this financial crisis to force the issue. The casino proponents, in short, are dangling a supposed lifeline at the public at a time of great fear. The real fear, however, is that beyond proposing gaming for Saipan, begging the military to move to Tinian and legalizing pot, no one in this administration knows how to get us out of this crisis.
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