Governor Fitial decided to give his State of the Commonwealth Address to the House of Representatives on the last day of the 17th Legislature. He is a lame duck (can't run for governor again) and he gave his SOCA to the lamest of lame ducks on their very last day in office. Included in the group were his supporters who lost their re-election in the last election--going from a CNMI Republican party majority to a mere 4 house members, one of whom is new.
His SOCA was ridiculous, but it did contain his admission of making mistakes. A mild statement for the corruption and complete ruination of the CNMI he has caused.
In this cartoon, I have crime clouds and corruption lightning, CUC in the oil-slicked pond (a reference to the CUC fiascos we've seen-from the ridlyme scandal to the current PPA sole source give-away). One lame duck is smeared with mud from the NMIRF quagmire, caused by the governor paying roughly 41% of employee contributions into the Fund, making it obviously underfunded and putting it on its deathbed. There is also the health jungle, a reference to the horrible state of the CHC, largely caused or exaccerbated when the governor decided to create a new governing board and then change funding from about $31 million a year to $5 million a year, and nailing the coffin with the assignment of Juan Nekai Babauta as the CEO. Three immediate jeopardy declarations, the threat of losing our medicare/medicaid certification and now fortunately some federal help still means the jungle of healthcare is a very real threat.
The first little guy mentions the obvious-that one lame duck is talking to the other lame ducks. The second one says "enough already," which is the sentiment that all the voters who voted out those 17th legislature lame ducks embraced.
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