Finally, the documents have been provided to Rep. Tina Sablan and the numbers have been tallied--a whopping (close to) $400,000 have been reportedly paid to the law firm that assisted the local government to sue the Federal Government with regard to "Federalization."
But wait, the other newspaper reported it was close to $1M? By the way, MV's report is too short or perhaps just being concise? We want to know more why it's close to $1M.
What's the significance of this data to the public again? According to Rep. Sablan, the documents might raise more questions than answers.
On the brighter side, the local government got a discount. In this recession, we'll take it, right?
For more info visit Saipan Tribune and Marianas Variety today....
36 comments:
States, Cities, Counties and private citizens sue the Federal Government everyday, for a lot more money. California has filed a billion dollar lawsuit against the Feds for EPA regs...and so forth. Federalization of our immigration system will destroy what is left of our precious tourism.
It is politics as usual. Marianas Variety always sensationalize to make people mad and sell more papers
Nice to see Fitial's crooks working hard on the blogs. At least they are finally doing something. Noni, validity in a lawsuit matters you shilly sit. Ben Tan has no case and is nothing more than a washed up politician who needs to please master Willie.
Vote for Ben Tan! We can declare the CNMI a part of China and call it SaiTan.
Four more years of Ben Tan please. Crooks are counting on him. So is Jenner and Block.
When I think of Ben Tan, I want to cry.
Tears of joy because he just gave me a new job doing nothing but sitting and checking this blog. Thank you Ben Tan!
Four more years please!
Yes noni blame the Marianas Variety because they report the dirt of this corrupted admutunginistration. Ben Fitial is associated with crooks always and forever because he is a dirty dirty man. Just ask the ladies who have to sit with his ugly ass at Kimchi Cabana.
Ben Fitial is a freedom fighter. He fights for the freedom of the CNMI to continue to be corrupted while thumbing his nose at the US which feeds us. I love that guvnah.
I think the difference is that the Marianas Variety is adding in what we agreed to pay--the $50,000 / month retainer fee, in addition to the billing amounts.
It seems we've agreed to pay a lot more than we've actually coughed up.
Why does the Governor have so much in "discretionary" funds? What is the real budget of the CNMI? What is that "discretionary" money going for? It's public funds--our CNMI money. We need to stop the bleeding.
$395,971.81 is not “close to” $1 million.
The Variety either doesn't know how to count, or is blatantly political, or both.
Moreover, the $1,000,000 number isn't substantiated or even mentioned in the article. It's a figment of the fertile imagination of Zaldy Dandan in an attempt to get Heinz Hofschneider elected.
A $50,000 monthly retainer payment is subject to actual billings. It is not “free money” the firm gets for doing nothing. So as Jane suggested, perhaps Zaldy double counted, adding $50K to the billings? But the $50K was simply a payment plan, not “extra” money for the firm.
Jane, the Governor's discretionary account spending is considerably lower than prior governors' spending, commonly used on lobbyists or travel, according to previously published reports.
Fitial's efforts to bring the feds to the table and preserve our Department of Labor, and stop them from riding roughshod over our economy in violation of the Covenant, have been well worth the effort.
Biba!
Let it BE!
Noni 1:16pm (aka GB)
The 1 million figure comes from:
so far Aug 08 to Feb 09 = 7 months we were billed about $400K
We are still missing the billings for June 08 - Aug 08 and March 09 - September 09 = 9 more months.
So take a stab since this damn secretive administration and AG decided to make her re-request these missing months and poof you can assume safely we have been billed in excess of ONE MILLION DOLLARS (pinky on chin)
CNMI is a conquered nation.
Get with the program or be left behind.....
Noni 3:11pm (aka GH) said . . .
The 1 million figure comes from:
so far Aug 08 to Feb 09 = 7 months we were billed about $400K
We are still missing the billings for June 08 - Aug 08 and March 09 - September 09 = 9 more months.
The fact that the “missing” billings from June 08 - July 08 were not provided strongly suggests that there are no responsive public records. Duh! In other words, they undoubtedly don't exist -- most probably because the Government wasn't billed well before the lawsuit started.
Wasn't the oral argument on March 12th? So how much legal work is likely to have gone on since then?
Your logic is as impecable as your arithmetic and our mind-reading identification skills. ;}
If that is the basis for the $1,000,000 figure, it does not make sense, because it assumes that billing would have been consistent the whole time from June 2008 to the present.
However, the big billing is going to be derived from the work done on the complaint (filed September 2008), the briefs on the motions (November-December 2008, January 2009), and the motion hearing (March 2009).
Nothing has happened in the case since then, so there is no reason to expect that the bills since March would be anywhere near as high.
Again, the Variety likes to sell papers through sensational headlines. That has been their practice ever since Zaldy Dandan has been associated with the paper.
Ask any reporter who formerly worked there, how much Zaldy would change the headlines from the subject text.
Zaldy does this to help and curry favor with his favored political candidates, currently including Heinz, Arnold, and Tina.
The latter is quite ironic, given Tina's inability to see or understand Zaldy's point of view on the "status" issue.
what is "sensational" and outrageous is the profound secrecy, the cloak-and-dagger tactics, the outright lies and the insulting spin of this administration when it comes to the public's right to know ... and the oag's abject complicity in the sham, and impotence in protecting that sacred public right.
instead we are told that transparency is not the highest virtue in government. but it can be argued that transparency IS in fact the highest virtue in democracies.
so what kind of government do we have?
It appears we have a government that strives mightily against those in the federal government (and their local Quisling sympathizers) who would trample upon the guarantees of the Covenant.
I am also grateful that those who disagree with the core principles of the Covenant nevertheless have every opportunity to spout their political propaganda and wasteful pursue paper-pushing machinations while displaying a profound misunderstanding of the role of government.
Fortunately for our Commonwealth, the jury didn't buy it in the Villagomez case, and our voters won't buy it from the whining and bitter bloggers in November.
Nice try, though!
"Duh! In other words, they undoubtedly don't exist -- most probably because the Government wasn't billed well before the lawsuit started."
Isn't it sad that even you, GB, do not know for certain if they exist.
You know how funny it will be when the lawsuit challenging the Governor's right to take this case to court without outright consent from the OAG at the time is launched? Not a single document that Rep. Sablan received was ever cc'd to the AG upon initial delivery and not a single document contains any explicit okay for the Governor to seek outside counsel.
The Governor single-handedly gave over $1 million dollars in taxpayer money to a lawfirm (that is rumored to have Howard's child on staff) without ever getting the AG's written consent and with the outright refusal from the representatives of the people (the Legislature).
This should be criminal. I believe when a thorough investigation of Jenner-gate is conducted in a few years and the documents turned over contain gaps versus what should have been made public the Governor and Inos will be dragged into court again. This time the AG will be alongside them all the way through as a co-defendant.
Eloy looked great on MCV tonight stated without a doubt as fact that no public funds had been spent on the lawsuit... 3 weeks after he cut the first public payment to Jenner and Block.
GB, take a step back and look thoroughly at the scum you are attempting to defend.
Nowhere in the country, GB, does the legislature approve lawsuits. That is a classic Executive Branch function. Do you really think that political lawsuits and gamesmanship are going to trick the people into giving up the promise of the Covenant?
The days of seriously heeding bloggers' propaganda are long over. Juries and voters think for themselves. Time will tell.
Noni 12:39am (GB):
Actually our constitution explicitly states that ALL legal matters be handled by the AG. Do I need to look it up and quote it again for you? Probably.
What is the promise of the Covenant? To agree to future federalization of immigration at a time of US congress choosing and then renege on it an hit them with a lawsuit when they exercise one of the "promises" set forth in the Covenant? Should I quote that part for you again too, GB? I guess you haven't thoroughly read it.
Noni 12:39am (GB):
BTW, who said it required legislative approval? You are throwing out your strawman arguments again. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
"without ever getting the AG's written consent and with the outright refusal from the representatives of the people (the Legislature)"
The refusal was given when your puppetmaster, Ben Fitial, ASKED the legislature to approve of the lawsuit against the feds and to appropriate $50K per month for a period of 6 months. The legislature heard Howard's sad presentation and issued a RESOUNDING "NO"!
Spin away, GB. Spin far far away!
After all the dusts clears, Ben Fitial will be our next Governor! You honkys go home! We can manage our own affairs without the likes of Jane Mack, Ruth Tight and Bitter Ed! And you all can take Tina Sablan with you!
Yup.. Ya gotta love this island.It's just like being back on the Res in Arizona and New Mexico
Today's Variety has scaled back its figure from $1,000,000 to $800,000. This figure, however, still includes the $50,000 monthly retainer from March through August 2009.
Is it clear to anyone whether this monthly "retainer" charge is:
a. a nonrefundable payment made every month regardless of whether any work is done, to which hourly charges for actual work done are then added; or
b. a nonrefundable minimum monthly charge, from which hourly charges for work done are deducted, with extra charges only if the actual work exceeds $50,000; or
c. a refundable deposit from which hourly charges for work done are deducted, with the unused balance, if any, to be returned to the Commonwealth at the conclusion of the case?
According to the PIO, there is nothing non-refundable about it and, indeed, it appears the CNMI still owes more.
This is more like an installment payment plan.
Only stupidly desperately uneducated monkeys like the noni saying "honkys go home" are voting for Fitial. Glad to see that is a minority here in the CNMI.
Fitial is gone in January. Let's just be thankful for that. We should also hope that dirt sticks on Teflon Ben for a change.
What about reports that federal funds may have been used? The feds should investigate.
Reports, rumors, or wishful thinking?
Federal law enforcement requires a greater factual basis than that.
If you are talking about the economic study that was included as an exhibit in the Covenant Section 903 lawsuit, it was no more prepared “for” the lawsuit than the 2006 contract of Howard Willens was.
Aw C'mon Jim Chee, you can't walk around in shorts and flip flops in December on any Injun Reservation in Arizona or New Mexico.
Not only that, but the CNMI was never a 'nation' so we can't be conquered... nyah, nyah.
I once asked Willie Tan why he would keep a numbnut like Fitial on the payroll, and he laughed and replied "because he is vicious and stupid and the latter makes him easy to control".
Funny, that's the same thing Willy told me about nony 9/03/2009 2:31 PM.
Maybe it's one of his stock phrases.
Noni 2:31 -- LOL.
Makes perfect sense now.
What is the significance of “pinky on chin”?
"Nyah nyah?"
Your analytic and oratorical powers are waning, g00$e.
You're' right, how embarrassing-
Nyah Nyah, Nei...
This gOO$e...he can talk in code.
Smooth, GH.
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