The governor, some say, is a disgrace to the CNMI. But where have they been, these outraged critics? Since returning to politics in 1999, Uncle Ben has been hounded by one controversy after another.
A long-time Republican chairman, he rejected the decision of the GOP House caucus to elect Heinz as speaker and abandoned his party to team up with the Democrats and install himself as speaker. It turned out that he also received “help” from Jack Abramoff in persuading the Rota and Tinian members to support Uncle Ben. There was a lot of noise back then about this incident.
As speaker, he declared that he was “the rule.” He also kicked out Washington Rep. John Babauta from his office at the legislative building and threatened to beat up a Variety reporter during a session.
For the 2001 gubernatorial campaign, he formed his Covenant Party, which was caught red-handed distributing checks to voters. Rep. Stanley T. Torres, back then, also accused Uncle Ben of receiving bribes from the Tans. Stanley even published, as an ad in this newspaper, his official letter to the then-speaker, who, after losing the election, and together with Willie Tan, unsuccessfully sued Torres and the Variety for “libel.”
After two years in the wilderness, Uncle Ben was returned by Precinct 3 voters to the House and became its speaker, again. That was how poorly the Republican administration was governing.
In 2005, as the Covenant candidate once again, Uncle Ben edged Heinz by 84 votes in a four-way race to become governor. I don’t think I need to get into details about what happened in the governor’s first term. It was horrible, except for those in power and their cronies. The governor, touting his business credentials, promised to improve the economy. It didn’t. In fact, it got worse. He pledged to defend local control over minimum wage and immigration. He failed. The feds have taken over. The power crisis got worse. The lt. governor, his sister, the commerce secretary and the CUC executive director were indicted and convicted for corruption. The governor’s own driver was arrested for “ice” trafficking.
Now Uncle Ben may be an awful governor, but he’s a master politician. To have such a dismal record and still secure re-election is almost a miracle — or a nightmare come true.
I expect massage-gate to be merely the opening act of the tragicomedy that is the governor’s second term. Surely you don’t expect the Covenant-dominated Legislature to feign indignation over this scandal. The Republican opposition can’t even make hay out of it.
What about a recall petition, you ask.
The CNMI Constitution states that such a petition “may not be filed against a public official…during the first six months of a term in office.” Does that restriction apply to this governor who has just been sworn in for his second term? Also, a recall petition must be signed by 40 percent of “persons qualified to vote.” 12,850 votes were tallied in the gubernatorial runoff. Forty percent of that is 5,032 — more or less the same number of CNMI government employees. Do we really expect them to risk their jobs by signing a petition that has to be reviewed by the governor’s AG?
Come to think of it, where is the outrage out there in the community? I see head-shaking now and then, and hear some people snicker. I also read a lot of nasty comments posted on our Web site — by mostly anonymous readers. But I don’t think all this will be channeled into an organized movement directed against the governor.
Still, administration officials and their allies in the Legislature shouldn’t be complacent either. Sure, you’re jobs are basically safe, at least until the next election, but you have to remember that the governor wasn’t wholeheartedly embraced by the electorate last November. The community remains deeply divided and the only way Uncle Ben can govern effectively is by doing a much better job in his second term. That means, first of all, no more scandals.
Good luck with that CNMI.
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