The CNMI remained in a freefall, and then 2010 happened. I don’t know what’s worse: the extent of this year’s corruption, mismanagement, cronyism and abuse of power on Capital Hill — or the seeming indifference of the people. There is no doubt that 2010 will be known as the worst year ever in CNMI history, but that’s only because 2011 has yet to happen.
The cost of running business in the commonwealth is increasing even as its consumer base is dwindling. The so-called opposition in the Legislature remains clueless about the specifics of the government’s financial condition. The minority bloc in the House has nothing to offer but grandstanding, higher fees and taxes. The Rota and Tinian delegations in the Senate are playing chicken with the administration, but are about to pull to the side.
I expect the House leadership and the administration to launch a final and decisive offensive to pass the Saipan casino bill. To prevent the threatened layoffs on Rota and Tinian, those islands’ lawmakers will have to capitulate.
They might even pass the medicinal marijuana bill.
There is no money coming in but the government’s expenses will continue to accumulate due to its unfunded liabilities. There will be more bond proposals and perhaps a constitutional amendment to allow the government to borrow money for its operations. The budget deliberations in 2011 will be excruciating. No one is “nonessential” whenever they discuss slicing the ever shrinking budget pie on the Hill.
As I’ve said before, there is no uncertainty in the community. Uncertainty means you don’t know what will happen. But unless your head remains stuck in the sand, you know what is likely to happen when there are no new investments; when new and stricter labor and immigration rules are being implemented; when government officials know how to win elections but not how to govern; and when voters only care about their government jobs and contracts.
There is no uncertainly — only a sense of foreboding and doom as we watch the flickering flame of our melting candle of hope.
In the 2005 elections, some of my local friends told me that voters were so fearful for their government jobs that they might just hold their noses and re-elect the hapless BB administration. I disagreed and said that voters would elect a new administration because they have had enough of incompetence, and that’s what happened.
But in the 2009 elections, thanks to the runoff provision, desperation won.
Here’s a paradox. As the economy and government finances continue their slow-motion collapse, the governor becomes more powerful. More and more and people are resigning themselves to enduring four more years of this administration as they try to remain in the governor’s good graces. Hence, the initial willingness of the supposedly opposition Republican Party to merge with the ruling Covenant clique which has done nothing but inflict one disaster after another on the people of the CNMI. Such shameless opportunism on the part of the GOP can only be explained by the fact that the governor is no longer an “opponent” — he can’t run for another term.
The Byzantine political maneuverings on the Hill are all about the next congressional delegate (2012) and gubernatorial (2014) elections.
The governor is still smarting from his candidate’s shellacking last November. He still wants a “friendlier” congressional delegate based on the delusion that the CNMI could somewhat regain control over its labor and immigration policies through a supposedly sympathetic U.S. House Republican leadership. Hence, the governor’s repeated insistence that he has always been a Republican — despite abandoning the GOP and fighting tooth and nail against it for a decade now.
Happy New Year!
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