Political and Hypocritical Predators Forgetting to Tell You Why We’re In This Mess and How Much Palacios Has Done to Repair the CNMI

A Tale of Two Governors…

 

Opinion By Edwin Propst for Kandit News & Views

Under former Governor Ralph Torres:
2021 : $66 million deficit
2022 : $38 million deficit

Under Governor Arnold Palacios:
2023 : $3 million deficit
2024 : NO DEFICIT

Governor Ralph Torres had $500 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to spend unilaterally however he pleased. Despite half a billion in [these] federal funds, he still managed to overspend. Close relatives and supporters mostly benefited from these funds. Two family members opened up a company for the first time and knew nothing about sanitizing government buildings and made over $1 million in sole source contracts.

Under the very corrupted BOOST PROGRAM, one BOOST recipient was partners with one of the BOOST distributors and she received more than $1.3 million in BOOST awards. All six of her companies received BOOST funding. More than 1/17th of total boost funding all went to her. More than 2,300 applications were submitted, and most were denied, but somehow, all six of her companies received funding. And this recipient is always seen with her partner who decided which recipients were awarded BOOST money. What is even more insulting is that most of her companies were not even in operation before the pandemic.

Under Governor Torres, the Real ID program for real IDs in the CNMI was supposed to be paid for by ARPA funding. It was never paid. That is why we don’t have Real IDs even though we all paid additional fees to get it. More than 80 brand new vehicles for Department of Public Safety were ordered and purchased and ARPA funds were supposed to be used to pay for it. They were never paid and that debt, along with tens of millions of other debts, were inherited by Governor Palacios and Lieutenant Governor David Apatang.

Governor Palacios entered the Administration on day one and discovered that much of the furniture in the administration had been given away to other departments and islands, including his desk. Even the Commonwealth seal was shipped off. He had no budget for staff due to overspending in the last days of Governor Torres. So he did what he could do and requested for local talent to assist in a voluntary capacity. That means they would assist and put in hours with no compensation. Despite at least three amazing people volunteering and devoting all their time in serving as cabinet members and trying to get the CNMI financially stable, trolls had the audacity to attack them on social media, trying to destroy their character and integrity. These are the shameful tactics of former pawns and beneficiaries of a former governor who miss that gravy train of money. They want to once again enrich themselves and their families while giving scraps to everyone else. They miss the days of making $300,000 in three months in bogus contracts that resulted in nothing for the people. No purchase orders or processing even required. Many payments today cannot be made because there were never any purchase orders processed…just promises of, “Don’t worry, we will win the election and take care of you.”

And now, these same supporters of corruption have the audacity to call for transparency and accountability in government spending. Just how stupid do they think our people are? They are hoping everyone has amnesia and want you to believe that a bankrupted economy can be fixed within two years. That is unrealistic and unreasonable, yet here we are with a balanced budget.

On another note, I want to laugh (or cry) on the silliness being displayed right now by the local Republican Party leadership. Just how petty do you have to be to violate your own by-laws? I thought the local Republican Party would welcome anyone and everyone to the “Party” as they claimed two years ago before the general election. Now they are writing to the Republican National Committee asking that Governor Palacios be rejected because he’s not living up to their standards of nepotism and cronyism.

Governor Palacios went beyond party lines and hired Democrats and Republicans and Independents and the local Republican Party claims he should only hire true local Republicans. Sadly, several of the local Republican Party leadership is about as Republican as a pigeon claiming to be an eagle. Republican ideals are supposed to be about being fiscally conservative and smaller government. We saw none of that under Governor Ralph Torres. We saw the exact opposite.

Living large and flying first class and living the bourgeois lifestyle where we were supposed to treat them like royalty is not good governance and certainly not true Republican ideals. Furthermore, anyone should be given the freedom to choose their own party, or choose to belong to no party at all. That is your decision to make, and someone who cries about Governor Palacios joining the RNC needs to grow up and stop being so petty. We have only had two years to stop the bleeding, and we have a difficult two years ahead. You can be a part of the solution if you like, or you can be that guy who has a problem for every solution, who will purposely try and destroy our economy just so that they can bring back the same old corrupt government leaders who bankrupted the CNMI.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS. I pray you make the right decision. Your Commonwealth and its future depends on you examining recent history and ensuring we learn from those tragic mistakes and misfits creating misfortunes.

You can say what you want about Governor Palacios and Lt. Governor Apatang. They have thick skin and endure criticism and attacks. After the election, remember that very few, if any, board members from Governor Torres submitted their courtesy resignation, which is something that happens under new administrations. Palacios and Apatang are still working with holdovers from Torres, and they are doing their best, in the spirit of cooperation and teamwork. They could have utilized executive orders as had been done in the past to get rid of board members and put in their own people, but they did not. They inherited huge deficit spending and saw the problems and found other solutions to rebuilding our economy instead of solely relying on China, which is currently the number one enemy of the RNC.

While some squabble about who can and cannot join their party, we currently have a governor and lieutenant governor who welcome everyone, are not vindictive, and look for a better future for all. They are pragmatic, realistic, and have done their best. And they have the humility to admit they can do better if we simply put politics aside and strive for good governance. Thank you.

 

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Edwin Propst is a member of the Commonwealth House of Representatives, a local businessman, and resident of Dandan, Saipan.