Roll back airport fees, terminate lobbyist, withdraw China support letter

By Tina Sablan

In recent weeks, the Commonwealth Ports Authority (CPA) has raised airport fees by an astronomical 90% and hired DC-based law firm Kirstein & Young at $775/hour to petition the U.S. Department of Transportation to exempt the Marianas from restrictions imposed on flights from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). According to the CPA board’s then-chair, the exorbitant fee hikes and eye-popping legal engagement were common-sense “business decisions,” necessary to “generate revenue” and keep CPA afloat.   

The CPA board’s agenda has thus far been driven by appointees of the notoriously PRC-friendly former governor Ralph Torres.  The terms of two of his appointees, including the chair, at last expired a few days ago. But we must still deal with the consequences of the “business decisions” they made that were neither sensible nor responsible, and ignored critical economic and geopolitical realities.   

CPA’s unreasonable airport fee hikes amount to extortion, squeezing the commonwealth’s remaining airlines and discouraging new prospects. CPA’s costly engagement with Kirstein & Young is funded by airport revenues that could be better spent improving airport facilities, retaining existing airlines, or reducing the burden of austerity on CPA’s public servants. And CPA’s use of government resources to pursue flights from the PRC dampens potential growth in other markets, contradicts commonwealth policy, and undermines national security.   

At the beginning of his term, Governor Arnold Palacios announced the commonwealth’s pivot away from its long-standing overreliance on Chinese investment, to focus on strengthening relationships and pursuing new opportunities with federal partners and allies in the region.  The administration’s position was a response to heightened national security concerns, the instability of Chinese markets, and geopolitical tensions associated with activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Marianas and the wider Pacific. 

CPA’s “business decisions” fly in the face of both commonwealth policy and national security. Whether they realize it or not, the CPA board has taken actions that impair the commonwealth’s economic recovery and play right into the hands of the CCP.  Board leaders have essentially gone rogue – courting Chinese investment, undermining the positions of the commonwealth and the United States, driving away remaining airlines, discouraging the development of new markets, and racking up outrageous legal fees in the process.  

Fortunately, new leadership is about to take over CPA; the Senate is poised to confirm three of Governor Palacios’ board nominees in the coming days. CPA’s new leadership will have much work to do in cleaning up the mess left behind by their predecessors. Their mandate must include realigning CPA with commonwealth and national policy, and resetting relationships with local and federal partners as well as the general public. 

The new board leaders will be off to a promising start if they move swiftly to roll back the excessive airport fee hikes, terminate the contract with Kirstein & Young, and withdraw the ill-conceived China petition.

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Tina Sablan is the senior policy advisor for Governor Arnold Palacios. She is a resident of Susupe.