More Milk

It's hot and muggy today, and still overcast but with sun, causing a glare.

This cartoon was inspired by the "whistleblower" concept.  The referee (the whistleblowers like Glenn Hunter and George Hasselback, and even the House members Joe Deleon Guerrero, Ray Yumul, Tony I. Sablan, Janet Maratita, etc.) is too little and ineffective to stop the onslaught of the 'roided up thuggish football players.  The illegal contracts in the CNMI have been pouring in--the Mike Ada contract was unethical, the CHC contract that got stopped in its tracks with a newly created Boise outfit, the $190M CUC contract for an unnecessary diesel power plant with another newly created outfit run by con-man Ken Mahmood,  the latest sole source contract for around $350, 000 (I've actually forgotten the details)...they're just draining the CNMI of what little money we've got and are piling up faster than anyone can stop.

The little people in the 'toon include a cheerleader concerned that Team Fitial isn't listening to the ref's whistle and her counter-part, Daling Ogumoro, with her ridiculous comment echoing that made to Alan Fletcher, suggesting that he should have stopped the governor from signing the sole source CUC power plant deal.

Drink Milk

Overcast, with a bit of sun. A heavy atmosphere.

Alan Fletcher was called to testify before the House Impeachment committee. He gave detailed and comprehensive testimony that included his opinion that the $190 million, sole-source contract with Ken Mahmood was a bad deal for the CNMI, that it was not needed and wouldn't save consumers money. The Governor responded in the media by calling Fletcher a liar.

I originally had Fletcher saying "nanny-nanny boo boo, I can tell on you-oo" because there was something of that feeling in the reports of his testimony, but I decided that could be more a function of the reporting rather than Fletcher's actual testimony.  It took some guts and professionalism to give his testimony.

(Later Fletcher came back to the committee, said he told the truth and didn't know why the Governor was slamming him, and further testified that he refused to sign the contract when asked to do so and told the governor it needed more analysis.)

Fletcher is often seen wearing Island-print shirts. The Governor usually has his big smile in place, no matter what trash he's spewing.

Saipan-A Blogger's Paradise!

Saipan is an interesting place to live. It is also a blogger's paradise! Lots to chat about in today's news.

CHC
You can read a good blog post at Ken's SOS site on Fitial's plan to take over DPH by declaration of a state of emergency. And Doctor Cornett's very small hammer rant(they're still not getting it) at the Tribune.

CUC
Fitial extends the state of emergency at CUC. He's had the state of emergency in effect since May 2008--that's 1 year and 4 months already.

This new emergency declaration seems to contradict earlier reports.

When the Aggreko generators were turned off, we were told CHC was in much better shape, that CUC's power generation could definitely replace what Aggreko had provided.

The Saipan Tribune reported, on September 1, 2009, as follows:

“Today, we can safely pronounce that the Saipan power production crisis is over,” Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said in a brief ceremony in the main control room of CUC's power plant in Lower Base yesterday.

And the entire reason for the state of emergency declaration in the first place was all about that power generation issue, wasn't it? Well, that was the original excuse, but in August 2009 Fitial said it's also about hiring adequate personnel.

Of course, CUC needs to hire adequate personnel. What or who is adequate personnel? The Legislature is trying to wean the CNMI government from its dependence on cheap foreign labor; and Fitial is addicted to cheap foreign labor.

So because he disagrees with the CNMI Legislature's policies and decisions for the CNMI (which limit how many foreign workers an agency or department may have), he declares a state of emergency at CUC?

We are all captives. Fitial is determined to prove that we need our fix; we have a right to cheap, foreign workers who are underpaid and get no permanent rights and are kept forever powerless. And we're all going to suffer power black-outs and worse if we don't buy into Fitial's view of the situation.

I have no problem with hiring technicians from foreign countries; I just think we need to pay them on scale with what we would pay for local/US hires. And then maybe there will be a greater incentive, a real incentive for our residents to enter the workforce, get skills, and do the work. And we'll be treating our foreign work force with the respect they deserve.

In the meantime, we're still in a state of emergency-which is to say that Governor Fitial refuses to follow the procurement laws, the hiring laws, and whatever laws the CNMI Legislature passes. First CUC, next CHC. Those "states of emergency" are convenient for grabbing power, neh?

OPA/AG
Then there's the bit about how the OPA has referred cases for more than $2.6 million dollars in misspent tax money for collection to the AG's Office.

1. $739,346 from Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission to UNNAMED CONSULTANT. (Why the hell don't we name names?)

2. $195,971 from Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission to "3 other individuals". (Why the hell don't we name names?)

3. $392,178 from Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission to ??? themselves??? for questionable travel expenses in 1996 to 2001.

Perhaps it should be called the Tinian Casino Gaming No-Control Commission?

4. $1.3 million from CNMI to "different professional service contractors." (Why don't we name names?)

5. $100,000 improper payments from CNMI??? to "a surveying contractor on Tinian." (Why don't we name names?)

6. $75,000 misused by former Finance Secretary (1995-1997). (Who was that?)

7. $$$ double payments from (now defunct) MPLA to "officials of...MPLA" for per diem, etc. 1992-1994.

8. $40,000 misspent by CPA.

9. $$$ unspecified overpayments to former officials of CUC.


NEARLY ALL of these are past the statute of limitations. The AG has said so specifically about #8 and #9. But the same can be said for #3, #6 and #7. So now we have to ask, when were these violations of law first reported to the Attorney General's Office? Why does the AG not proceed with diligent action (or are they always getting the cases too late to recover the funds)?

Why does it take so long for the OPA to find these misappropriations and misspent accounts?

And why aren't we at least identifying who is behind the problem at each instance, so we have names? And why do we want casinos when the Tinian Gaming Commission is one of the biggest drains on our limited tax resources?

Patrick Calvo
Found guilty on charges of sex abuse of a minor. His defense was that his 14 year old daughter was lying. This might work in some cases, but she's been a model student and otherwise fine person, and his other daughters came forward and testified against him also. For those victims from the earlier 2000 case who did not see justice when the case against Calvo was dismissed, this must be a small victory, too.

Writing
This is, after all, SaipanWriter! Walt Goodridge held a writer's workshop on Sunday, September 27, 2009.



Joe (Mango) Race brought up National Novel Writing Month! Yay! Interested in spending a month noveling? It's happening here in Saipan, as around the world, thanks to NaNoWriMo. Sign up. We write in November. (I'm the municipal liaison. If you need more information, contact me.)


And then there's Swine Flu in Yap
It must be bad, because the schools have now closed for 3 weeks.

But what's not in the news? the Philippine disaster-typhoon Ketsana. Thanks to Wendy for highlighting this story for the past 2 days.



And my own little off-topic "flashback" contribution:
I just found this bit about George W. Bush's favorite painting. This is such a laugh! As Art Blogger Bob says--narcissistic and stupid.

Still Waiting for CUC...

Typhoon Choi-Wan didn't hit Saipan. There were no reports of damages to homes. Some banana plants toppled, but, by all accounts, this was a mild storm, with wind and rain, but nothing terribly serious.

The electricity at my house went out during the storm--sometime Monday night. It's now Wednesday morning, and CUC has yet to even visit my house to assess the problem.

I've called. The trouble desk lines are almost always "busy" so you can't get through. On at least one occasion, the phone actually rang (no busy signal) and then rang and rang and no one picked up. On the few occasions when I did get through, the guys answering (Joe and Bill) were courteous, but had nothing to tell me. I have no idea where in the queue of complaints our little segment of San Vicente is. I have no idea when a crew might get to us. I'm still waiting for the promised --we'll call you when the CUC crew is coming--call.

I enlisted support from my family. My sister-in-law managed to learn a bit more--which neighbors are still without power--and she spoke with Tony Muna personally. But that's not much more than I already knew and still no idea of when; not much greater reassurance than the trouble desk provided.

Today's newspaper gives a sunny report that CUC is on top of the situation of power outages from the storm. But I think that is optimistic, and not entirely accurate.

What bothers me most about this power outage, besides the inconvenience and loss of food in the fridge, is that this was a MILD storm. If this is the level of response from such a minor weather event, what can we expect if we have a serious storm or typhoon that actually hits us?

Villagomez & Santos

The Department of Justice inmate locator still lists Timothy Villagomez, James A. Santos and Joaquina V. Santos as "in transit."

But they've added projected release dates for the Santos couple: Joaquina on 4/21/2015 and James on 4/22/2015.

Just saying...

Brief Reflections on the Trial of the Day

Ed Propst is reporting that the jury has already returned a verdict in the case against Lieutenant Governor Timothy Villagomez. According to Ed, guilty on all charges.

He says guilty on all charges in the cases against the co-conspirators, too. Confirmed. (thanks to Wendy for the cite).

I think we're all relieved. The rydlyme deal stank through and through, but that's not the same as being enough to convict on federal charges. There's also been a history of difficulty in getting guilty verdicts in cases involving corruption of public officials in the CNMI. We've seen others charged with cheating on construction contracts and such, and no convictions.

So I'm relieved that the jury was convinced by the evidence and strong enough to do what they found right.

I was most offended by the closing argument that included the phrase "choose the local mango." This was a thinly disguised attempt to turn back the clock to the time when being a Chamorro meant people owed you allegiance, especially against the US government. I'm glad that we have jurors who don't want a rotten mango at all, no matter what its origin.

I think the counsel for the accused (and now guilty) defendants seriously misjudged the mood of the jury and the people in the community. People are tired of powerful local politicians abusing their positions, enriching themselves, and causing the rest of us to suffer. Accusing Antonio Guerrero of being a patsy for the feds when he is just another regular guy being ill-used by them was incredibly offensive. The man was obviously working very hard to clear his guilty conscience. Describing FBI agent Dana McMahon as looking like a sheep but really being a wolf was another stupid ploy. She didn't testify and it was clear that the defendants were looking for any scapegoat they could get.

And the other closing arguments suggesting that the US federal government isn't "us" were also offensive. Just last November we elected a Delegate to serve in the US Congress. A record number of local men vied for the position--obviously not subscribing to the basic tenet that everything federal is bad. We're getting economic stimulus money from the US. We've been getting good press for our federally-declared national marine monument. We're heading into federal immigration and the US is respecting our wishes to have better dialogue and clear planning. We're seeing more US military in our neighboring island of Guam with spill-over tourism here.

Kudos to Eric O'Malley, who worked really hard and obviously came to court with his hammer and nails to close the lid on this mess.

(And if the reports of guilty on all charges are wrong or inflated, I still say kudos to Eric, and shake my head in disbelief and disapproval at the closing argument tactics of the defense counsel.)

Now we'll await sentencing. It's pretty clear that federal law will provide some real sanction for the wrongdoing, unlike CNMI law.

What's Happening at CUC?

Wallon Young will arrive and be the new deputy director at CUC, according to the Saipan Tribune. He'll earn between $156,000 and $180,000 per year.

In December 2008, American Samoa news reported that Wallon Young's business, Quantum Pacific, has a three month contract with the CNMI's CUC for $250,000, to act as consultants--unusual consultants in that they are to implement their proposals as well.

This seems to be part of the plan described in the Marianas Variety, also in December 2008--a $5.5 million plan.

Will it all work? Will we be able to end our one-year contract with Aggreko at exorbitant rates? And more significantly, is there a plan in place for routine and necessary maintenance when everything is repaired?

Here's hoping that something will work out right.

282. Those Stinking Rules

According to today's news, (and we had hints of this earlier thanks to Tina Sablan), CUC failed to comply with federal EPA permitting requirements.

Why?

They were in a hurry? They thought the US laws didn't apply to them (and don't confuse us with the concept of federalism!)? The money was burning a hole in their pockets?

Now our Governor "fears that the lack of permits or permitting process would postpone or eliminate" uninterrupted service.

Let's see...Joe Taotao doesn't comply with CUC regs in hooking up power to his house because he needs power now, his family will suffer without it, and doing it the right way would postpone his service. What would happen? I'm pretty sure CUC would disconnect him before you could say Governor Benigno R. Fitial.

Remember, this is the same Governor who was so terribly concerned about our schools complying with water quality PERMITTING from DEQ that he shut the schools down for not having permits-despite the real meaning of the water quality tests, the fact that schools had already addressed the issues, and the failure of DEQ, beyond PSS's control, to return and do follow up testing. It was so extraordinarily important that the PERMITTING requirements be complied with that he interrupted school for our children.

But now he's going to argue that the US is somehow wrong for suggesting the CNMI should comply with US permitting requirements for environmental quality? That making us comply would interrupt our power, so we should get a pass until we "eventually work" it out?

"We don't want to be stuck until all the "i's are dotted and all the 't's crossed..."
Charles Reyes, press secretary for the Governor's office

We don't want the rules applied to us the way we applied them to PSS?


Our government spends 1.5 million dollars without first checking to see if the "solution" is legal? And then tries to dance around the fact?

Brilliant.

266. Blame it on the Weather

Lame Excuse # ________ (Sorry, I've lost count.)

Tony Muna has assured us for a while now that the Aggreko generators would be up and running and providing us power by September 16. The Governor wanted PSS to postpone classes because, after all, we were going to have reliable power by September 16.

So today's headline in the Saipan Tribune:


Yes, that says "Bad weather hampers installation..." Bad weather?

This brings the definition of "bad weather" to an all time new low. It's rained a bit, that's all. Do you think rain is unexpected at this time of year? Do you think that Tony Muna, who has lived in the CNMI most of his life, couldn't have predicted that we'd have some rain at some time during the months of August and September?

So now Aggreko says they're having problems with the installation because of the "bad weather." And Tony Muna has kindly passed that word on to us, so we can know that it's seeming a bit questionable that Aggreko and CUC will meet the promise of September 16.

I can hear Tony singing "Don't Rain on My Parade," only he's a bit out of tune.

255. Too believable!

It's too sad and too believable...allegations that our Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Villagomez, not just in the distant past but right up to late 2007, was cooking up schemes to divert money from CUC into his relatives' pockets, money allegedy not reasonably due.

Good posts on blogs Must Be The Humidity and Beach Boy Brad.

It's funny how the small details upset me. Bad enough if what's alleged is true (that Villagomez's family sold a "scaling agent" rydlyme, to CUC at exorbitant prices on sole source contracts) , but somehow the fact that there's thousands of pounds of the stuff stored in Rota at the time of the latest "purchases" --that's the fact that really upsets me.

Why? Because it's not just that CUC pays too much for stuff to enrich his family, it's that CUC can't even use what it pays for...


And Dave Lujan and Joey P. San Nicolas as attorneys for the accused. I personally don't like their style. I'm wondering if anyone else, besides Tony Guerrero, will cut a deal...

I sincerely hope that, if the matter goes to trial, the jury is not subject to corruption but faces the task of judging honestly.

Power Outages Schedules

What I've heard is that power will be out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 6 AM to 6 PM.

We'll see.