US Justice Department Mocks Anti-Federalization Lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Department has moved to dismiss Governor Fitial's anti-federalization lawsuit against the Federal Government.

Justice cited several reasons why the case should be dismissed. For example, Justice asserted that only the CNMI Attorney General can bring such an action on behalf of the CNMI. This suit was filed without the involvement of the Attorney General, with Howard Willens listed as the CNMI's attorney.

Justice also noted that the damages the Governor claims will occur as a result of federalization are speculative, based largely on a GAO study that contains numerous disclaimers stating that the report has no predictive value whatsoever. As we all know, the CNMI's current economic troubles began quite some time ago, and federalization has not even gone into effect yet.

The Governor has asserted that he has no objection to the Federal Government taking control of CNMI immigration law, as clearly allowed by the Covenant. Fitial and Willens assert, however, that the new federalization law also takes control over CNMI labor law because it would impact the number of foreigners who could work in the CNMI. According to Justice, this argument makes no sense, and reflects a fundamental failure to understand U.S. immigration law: "Laws pertaining to whether aliens are authorized to be present in the United States and, if so, whether they are authorized to be employed in the U.S. labor markets, is exclusively the subject of federal immigration law," according to Justice. "U.S. immigration laws affect labor markets. That is one of their primary purposes, but it does not make them 'labor laws.'"

As others have pointed out, no community in the U.S. gets to decide how many foreign workers will be admitted to work in that community. That is controlled entirely by U.S. immigration law.

Clearly, the Justice Department is not impressed with Howard Willens' legal arguments. Might even opponents of federalization concede that this lawsuit is a waste of the CNMI's scarce fiscal resources?

"Fitial mischaracterizes GAO report...."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued its report on the economic impact of the federalization of the CNMI's immigration laws. The bottom line is that the impact will depend on how the feds (specifically, the Executive Branch) implement the law, and that the feds will need additional data to guide them properly. The Variety news account of the report, under the headline "GAO Downplays Fitial's Economic Disaster Scenario," can be found here.

One thing GAO makes clear is that the Fitial administration has mischaracterized what the report says: "By focusing on one of several scenarios developed for illustrative purposes rather than the full range of scenarios included in our report, the CNMI government comments...inaccurately stated that the report predicts a substantial decline in the CNMI economy as a result of the legislation" (emphasis added).

It appears that the Governor has repeated this mischaracterization of the GAO report: Fitial said today that "the GAO concludes, even with the most favorable (and unrealistic) assumptions, that the law's implementation will most probably result in a 50-percent decline in the economic output (or GDP) of the Commonwealth by 2021 if not sooner." GAO would strenuously object to that mischaracterization of its conclusions.

The Fitial team had requested repeatedly that Congress delay passage of the federalization bill until GAO issued its report.

Congressional leaders replied that such a delay was not necessary. They said that the federalization bill itself would not harm the CNMI, and that the impact would depend on how the bill was implemented. They said that economic studies would be useful not to Congress in deciding whether to pass the bill, but rather to the Executive Branch in developing the regulations that would implement the bill. GAO appears to have endorsed this view.

Now, the feds have the very serious obligation of gathering the additional data that needs to be gathered and ensuring that federalization is implemented in a manner that allows the CNMI to develop a strong economy. We all have an interest in keeping the pressure on the feds to make sure that they do their job properly.

Surrender and declare victory

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs has awarded the CNMI government a $333,000 grant to assist the CNMI's labor and immigration enforcement efforts. This is the same grant that Governor Fitial rejected last year, accusing OIA of "outrageous" behavior by attaching conditions that were "unprecedented, unnecessary and unproductive." He accused OIA of holding the grant funds "hostage." OIA defended the conditions as normal, reasonable and necessary accountability provisions designed to ensure that the funds would be properly spent for their intended purposes. See story here.

Well, the grant that Fitial has now accepted has the same conditions that were attached to the grant that he rejected last year. And rather than complain about the "outrageous" conditions, the Governor thanked OIA Director Nikolao Pula "for supporting the CNMI's strong law enforcement efforts by awarding us with these needed grants." In fact, the primary difference between the grant that he rejected last year and the one that he has now accepted is that OIA was offering $420,000 last year, and has since reduced the grant to $333,000.

So what has changed between then and now? And here's a more interesting question: How much of this grant money, which will be used in part to fund attorneys and paralegals for the Office of the Attorney General, will be used to support the CNMI's lawsuit against the very federal government that is providing the funds?

"Sue the federalizer jerks for the stench of their evil deeds!"

The Saipan Tribune reported recently that the CNMI Attorney General's Office is suing Danny Aranza, former director of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs, in connection with a $130,000 contract to develop a port security plan. According to the news story, which can be found here, the report by Aranza's company plagiarized federal regulations.

The first question is how you can plagiarize federal regulations, which are supposed to be used and followed by those who are affected by them. Wouldn't the CNMI government want the report to state the requirements that had to be followed?

The more interesting question has to do with Aranza's history with the CNMI. Aranza led OIA during the Clinton Administration's push for federalization. A Saipan Tribune article in which then-Speaker Ben Fitial calls Aranza a "jerk" over the federalization issue can be found here. Actually, the Marianas Variety's version of the same story is even more amusing. In it, which unfortunately is not available online, Fitial calls Aranza a "jerk" seven times.

Not to be cynical, but might Aranza's support for federalization lead some to wonder whether this lawsuit is an attempt to punish the "federalizers" for the "stench of their evil deeds", to paraphrase one well-connected person's hilariously melodramatic recent comment on this very blog? (That quote proves that even humorless people can be very funny.) Could this be part of the strategy to fight federalization, and indeed the "evil federalizers" themselves, in the courts?

Litigate to negotiate?

The Saipan Tribune reports that Governor Fitial is preparing to sue the U.S. to invalidate the new federalization law. In his statement, the Governor says that he does "not question the authority of the Congress to apply to the Commonwealth the existing federal immigration laws that apply to every other part of the United States except American Samoa."

But wait a minute, if the feds did apply those laws to the CNMI, with no transitions, exceptions or special provisions, wouldn't almost all of the guest workers have to leave immediately? Wouldn't there be no hope of special visa waivers for tourists? Is the Governor really suggesting that it would be OK for the feds to apply standard immigration law to the CNMI immediately and with no exceptions, but that phasing out the guest worker program more slowly, offering a special visa waiver program, etc., is "an intrusion into our governance of local affairs to which no other community of United States citizens has ever been subjected"? Does this make sense?

Is this a good use of CNMI taxpayer funds? Is this merely a strategy of, as the Governor once put it, "litigate to negotiate"? But for that strategy to work, wouldn't the CNMI have to have some negotiating power?

Remember when the CNMI sued the U.S. over submerged lands and lost? The CNMI was left with no control over its offshore resources, unlike the other territories. The Senate then offered the CNMI control over its offshore waters up to three miles, which is what the other territories have. Pete A supported it but the Governor rejected it, on the theory that he would "negotiate" for more. As a result, the legislation died and the CNMI remains, years later, as the only territory with no control over its offshore resources. Is that how this "litigate to negotiate" strategy works? Are we missing something?

Does Taotao Tano office controversy reflect a Fitial-Villagomez split?

We've all read about the controversy over allowing Taotao Tano to use a government building for free office space. Taotao Tano was reported in the press to have been authorized to use the building by Lieutenant Governor Tim Villagomez, who was acting governor at the time. We soon heard from Charles Reyes, the Governor's spokesman, that it was improper to allow Taotao Tano to use the government building for free. Reyes, you will recall from emails that were leaked to the press, had a bit of an argument with Taotao Tano President Greg Cruz over the fact that Cruz was not given a job by the CNMI government. Cruz then called for Fitial's impeachment. This episode has already been discussed on the blogs, but here's a larger question: Do these events reflect a split between the Governor and the Lieutanant Governor? Was the Lieutenant Governor really behind the original decision to grant Taotao Tano the free use of government property for office space, or was his role not properly characterized in the original press reports?

Even if Villagomez's role was simply to forward Taotao Tano's request to the appropriate authorities, what does it say about Villagomez that he would even give the time of day to someone who was calling for his boss to be impeached? And if Villagomez had a larger role, what would that suggest? And would the Lieutenant Governor have become Governor had the impeachment effort succeeded? (OK, maybe that's getting too far into conspiracy theory crazy-ville.)

And another question: What happened to the chairs that went missing from the office after Taotao Tano moved in? Here's one theory: They were burned for fuel during one of CUC's many outages.

C.U. in court!?

Rumor has it that Howard Willens, advisor to Governor Fitial, has already drafted a complaint that would initiate a lawsuit against the U.S. to block federalization. No word on whether the complaint is in final form, or whether the Governor has actually made the decision to proceed with a lawsuit. Would this be a good use of CNMI taxpayer funds? Clearly, people who favor the federalization bill recently signed by President Bush would say no. However, are there any opponents of federalization out there who nonetheless believe that this would not be a good use of CNMI taxpayer funds?

Rif(t) Raff Ruffle

Oh my. Yesterday's news kind of taken me slightly off my seat when it was reported that the top two CNMI officials have had a rift for a long time now. I thought I could see it right before my eyes long before the rift between Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and his Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez.

I heard that the second head has not had the power of any sort to run the local government. Former Lt. Gov. Diego Benavente was tasked to handle the Water Task Force then. For Villagomez now, what he has done so far is to act as governor whenever (which was frequent) the governor was away for medical treatment or signed minor bills, laws or proclamation letters.

During that time of austerity, the Lt. Gov. signed something about the austerity Fridays that excluded some people including those are working at the Public Health. I remember the governor retracted that authorization and quipped on how surprised he was that "my Lt. Gov." was signing such document.

What does this tell us, I mean the rift between the two?

Again, you tell me.

The Reveler

'Never Get Over You Getting Over Me

Just a quick note.

One thing I admire about the current Governor is his pervasive charm and humor when he's around people and crowd. He was interviewed by the media about his health and yes, the news made it to today's paper that he is set to go to Manila for treatment in the best and most expensive Asian Hospital in the Philippines.

He quipped during the interview that he has not recovered yet since the night that he got booed. He laughed.

The Reveler

My Boo! My Boo!

Tan Holdings recently held its 35th Anniversary presentation featuring Filipino celebrity Martin Nievera where 10,000 Filipinos and other fans of the singer gathered one Sunday night.

Brad Ruszala was behind the voice over for the concert. It was time to acknowledge the dignitaries watching the show. He acknowledged government officials and when he acknowledged the presence of the CNMI Governor, the crowd "booed" him not that loud but it was loud enough to be heard by many.

Then the audience started murmurs about a general strike. The crowd then said that when the strike happens, it should have the same number of people.

Can't Do It. No PC in the Office...

Uh huh. This was was the line of the Nursing Board when they were asked by visiting officials and investors if the Board of Nursing has all ready reviewed the proposal forwarded by the administration for the new medical university that will soon be operating here on Saipan.

University of Loyola at the CNMI, Inc. had a presentation at the Governor's Office. Government officials led by the governor attended the presentation together with Licensing Board officials and the Nursing Board. The medical university is now waiting for the approval of its license to operate and recruit students from the mainland and some interested students from here. To the president's dismay, the Nursing Board representatives apologized that they couldn't get hold of a copy the school sent them through the Internet "because due to budget problem, we don't have computers in the office?"

For real? Oh well....

Poll Result: Go Tina! Go Girl!

Our recent poll about Tina Sablan's running for seat at the House of Representatives received significant support from online voters. Out of 84 votes 59.5 percent of them approves Tina's mighty guts to run for office while 14.3 percent asked what the hell is she running at all? Two of the remaining options share 13.1 percent of the votes.

Our next poll is out now. In light of the CNMI's utilities situation, news is also out saying that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has disapproved legislation that would have given residential consumers a year to pay their bills with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

According to the reports from Saipan Tribune that the governor in a letter addressed the Legislature that House Bill 15-244 was unfair to other consumer classes, and it would drain CUC financially. “Enactment of this bill into law would not be in the best interests of the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, or the people of the Northern Marianas,” Fitial said of the bill sponsored by Rep. Ray N. Yumul.

He said it was against the law to grant preferential treatment to residential customers. He cited CUC's enabling legislation, which requires CUC to collect fees fairly and rationally from all consumers. Fitial noted that the bill, if approved, would give residential customers one year to pay their outstanding balances while commercial consumers would be required to continue to pay within 30 days or be subject to service disconnection.

<------ So in this regard, lead the way to our new poll.

Two Steps Behind

For those of you who are nostalgic of the 90s, yes my title is a Def Leppard song; however, this post is not about the 90s band. It's about again an observation when I was at the presentation of the National Weather Service Pacific Region of the StormReady and TsunamiReady certificates to the CNMI.

The recuperating governor was an hour late due to a simultaneous proclamation signing also held at the same time with the NOAA/NWS presentation.

People waited and when the governor arrived finally, he was led toward the stage, but when he saw there were two steps up to the stage where he was supposed to sit with NWS officials, he asked the Hyatt staff if there was another way. The staff kindly ushered him to the side of the stage. Still, he had to climb two steps up the stage. Then one Hyatt staff and EMO acting director had to hold the governor's hands to help him up.

The governor then walked to his seat. I wouldn't even talk about how he walked to his seat. I hope his health improves. He has two more years to go before he relinquishes his post.

Just a thought.

The Reveler

Isn't It Ironic, Don't You Think?

When the beloved CNMI governor graced for the first time the Rotary Club of Saipan's weekly meeting not so very long ago, he talked about the effects or impacts of the impending federalization of the CNMI. A Rotarian asked him if there were studies about all what he was saying. The governor replied with a strong "yes" and the study is being funded by the Insular Affairs Office.

OIA is a federal office, which obviously helps in drafting, amending and pushing the bill of the takeover. Hmmm...

All together now!

It's like rain, on your wedding day,
It's a free ride, when you're already paid,
It's a good advice that you just didn't take
Well, who would've thought, it figures....(Alanis Morisette)

'I Don't Need to Exist'

Yes. Those are the words that clung to me when I listened during the recent US Senate Hearing last week. "I don't need to exist" or "There's no need for me to exist." Words coming from the mouth of the CNMI's dear governor.

He said if the federal government wants to take over his job, then there' no reason for him to exist?

Hold on. Does this mean that Guam's Governor Felix Camacho shouldn't exist as well? I don't understand. Please enlighten me with this one.

The Reveler

AP News: Fitial and Abramoff's The Ties That Bind...

This is AP News. CNMI Gov. Benigno R. Fitial says he couldn't distance himself from Abramoff because he is a dear good friend and you can't just abandon a dear friend.

WASHINGTON, USA ---- The governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) says he is cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department's corruption investigation around jailed Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, AP reports.

The CNMI also is still trying to retrieve some of the millions it paid Abramoff's firms, said Governor Benigno R. Fitial.

Mr Fitial referred questions about the Justice Department's inquiry to his Los Angeles attorney, Tom Pollack, who didn't immediately return calls for comment.

But Mr Fitial, a one-time Abramoff ally who in past years pushed to extend Abramoff's contract to represent the Marianas, refused to distance himself from the disgraced lobbyist.

“When I have a friend, that friend always remains a friend,” said Governor Fitial, who became House speaker of the Marianas in 2000 after intervention from two former aides to former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. After becoming speaker, Fitial pushed for Abramoff's contract to continue.

Abramoff, once a powerful behind the scenes figure in Washington, is cooperating with the government's wide-ranging influence-peddling investigation after pleading guilty last year to conspiracy and other charges and admitting to bilking his clients. The investigation already has netted guilty pleas from a dozen Bush administration and congressional aides and others and one former congressman, ex-Republican Rep. Bob Ney.

The scandals were a factor in helping Democrats win control of Congress from the Republicans in last November's elections.

One current member of Congress, Republican John Doolittle is a focus of the investigation. He was another Fitial ally, endorsing him for governor and pushing federal funding on his behalf.

“Doolittle, he's also a friend,” said Mr Fitial.

What do you think?

The Reveler

Senate Hearing...

All ears (and eyes too, just stay up till late midnight on the internet) about the upcoming US Senate hearing on Immigration in the CNMI on July 19 (July 20, Saipan time.) Familiar faces will be there e.g. Gov. Benigno Fitial and other officials.

Would this event just as they say, only a courtesy visit for the CNMI officials? We would soon find out.

Stay tuned!

The Reveler

Ombudsman vs the Governor

Isn't this better than the usual WWF or the Ultimate Warrior tourney that we see on TV?

The CNMI governor was raving mad about the newspaper article that came out a week ago that featured a report from the federal ombudsman's office. Apparently, the governor was hurt with that report prompting him to write a letter to David Cohen, DOI Deputy Secretary, last week and he ranted about the ombudsman's report, saying that the report jeopardizes tourism business in the CNMI.

Question is, why would the local government intervene with the federal office just to make the CNMI look good when in fact it is deteriorating? Enlighten me with this.

Just wondering.

The Reveler