Post 300: Ohhh-Taking!

The Saipan Tribune summarized the event yesterday with regard to the oath taking of the newly elected and reelected lawmakers in the CNMI. Under the paper's Reporter's Notebook it summarizes the glitz, the glam and the bits and pieces of what had occurred that day. Below are my favorites...

-Both Speaker Arnold Palacios and Vice Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero came to the oath-taking ceremony with a cold. A visibly sick Deleon Guerrero, who spoke briefly during session, said he “decided to forego the traditional lengthy speech” because of his cold.

-Pledging openness to suggestions and criticisms, Rep. Tina Sablan announced her contact details in her speech. Her mobile phone number is 483-3935. Her email address is tinasablan@gmail.com.

-Rep. Heinz Hofschneider spoke the longest during session. He took the floor for 18 minutes, speaking first in Chamorro and then in English. His speech focused on immigration federalization.

-At the closing of the special session, new Floor Leader Joseph James Norita Camacho said he wants it on the record that all 20 members of the House recognized their respective spouse in their remarks.

-New Senate President Pete Reyes apologized to family and friends of the re-elected senators of the 16th Legislature as well as the 50-60 crowd in attendance for the absence of the inauguration lunch. The lunch usually follows the swearing of new members of the Senate. He said the budget constraints prevented them from holding the traditional event.

-Not one, not two, but three House members had to request another chance on the floor, as they forgot to thank their wives sitting behind them. They were Reps. Victor Hocog, Heinz Hofschneider, and David Apatang. Their defense: they were too eager to get down to business.

The writers said their wives were just behind them and due to their dose of ecstasy they forgot to thank them....

The Reveler

See, You See What It Means?

Our dear CUC is now rubbing off sweat bullets on its forehead fearing to lose most of its grants due to the "forced work stoppage of more than 20 nonresident workers and six engineers at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp." since Sunday. CUC deems this as a serious problem that could impact on the multi-million federal funding being awarded to utilities corporation.

Yesterday CUC officials met with the Legislature and the Executive Branch on a closed-door meeting to request for an extension of the employment of the non-resident workers at CUC. CUC said the lack of engineers and their technical expertise is against some of CUC's agreements with the federal government.

Rush Hour (4)

Rush Hour. Nope, not the film of martial arts great Jackie Chan and the blabber mouth Chris Tucker. It's the film of the CNMI's beloved lawmakers.

News is that tis the season for vetoes up at the Capital Hill. Yes. This is the season for vetoes. Up there are x's and no's for the dear governor with all the bills that have been passed at the Legislature. The reason for our recent post about the bill that passed yet vetoed by the governor regarding CUC bills to be paid within the year.

There are indeed a lot of bills that are now being introduced up at the Legislature by the current congressmen and women albeit the "absurdity" of the bills. Community's guess is that these lawmakers would introduce bills how silly it may seem so that the public would recognize their names attached to the bills. "They know more or less that these bills are going to be vetoed but they don't care as long as the public would know that they [congress people] introduced it." They aim to project an image that would say they are people oriented, thus would win the votes.

Makes sense though. Public recognition is of utmost importance this time of year--election season.

Governor race is on for Angelo, Cinta and Heinz

Yup, the blogging people (130pax) of the CNMI and the world have spoken and ranked Angelo Villagomez (40%), Rep. Cinta Kaipat (29.2%), and Rep. Heinz Hofschneider (24.6%) to be the next gubernatorial bets in the next election.

Happy now Angelo, at least here you've won something. Harry is not a governor material anyway. Let's just leave him to be the spice of the island--Le Critique.

Mike Sablan (15.4%) surprised me the best. Hmmm...could it be possibly, inevitably...
Former Gov. Babauta still gets the nod with 11.5 percent of the votes followed by Rep. Estanislao Torres, yes that's his real first name, with 9.2 percent.

The Tres Amigos, Rep. Waki, Rep. Babauta and the Juanpan each got 6.2 percent of the votes.

Well, happy with the outcome?

Watch for our new poll!

The press are people, too!

This sign has been posted for quite some time in the House chamber at the Legislature. It is meant to keep the public outside the floor of the House of Representatives during sessions.