Government departments, boards, and other agencies have only until today to submit their budget request and progress reports that will be the key consideration for Gov. Eloy S. Inos and Lt. Gov. Jude U. Hofschneider in deciding which Cabinet members and other appointees will be replaced.
“I want to look more into the manner in which they carry out their fiduciary duties,” Inos said after his first joint leadership meeting with lawmakers on Capital Hill yesterday.
Deciding which ones to retain and remove will not be determined by politics, he said.
“It's going to be performance-based. That's how it's going to be,” he added.
Since he and Hofschneider assumed office on Feb. 20, they have so far asked for and received two courtesy resignations-that of senior policy adviser Dr. John Joyner and former governor Benigno R. Fitial's executive secretary Lucy Cabrera.
Inos clarified that he did not ask for mass courtesy resignations because he wanted to give each agency, board, and commission the chance to report on their agency's performance, challenges, successes, and their goals then decide from there.
The governor said his administration is looking at “program performances.”
“At this point they are not really individuals; they are more on programs. There is reason, justification for everything that is happening or not happening,” he said.
Moreover, he said the administration does not want mass courtesy resignations because this might affect government operations.
“So we just want to make sure whenever we have a change in management that we always have a fallback because time is so critical, the issues are important that we don't have the luxury of time to have a void in the program system. [If] I ask this person to step aside, I should be ready to put somebody in charge to keep going,” he added.
Special assistant for management and budget Virginia Villagomez gave government expenditure authorities up to today to submit their proposed budget and spending plans for fiscal year 2014.
This will give the Office of Management and Budget time to prepare the administration's proposed budget, which must be submitted to the Legislature by April 1.
The 2014 budget or projected revenues available for government operations will remain at $114 million, just like the fiscal year 2013 level, Inos said.
Buckingham extradition
Inos also said his administration is still reviewing the Office of the Public Auditor's recommendation to extradite former attorney general Edward T. Buckingham. He said it's “not an easy thing.”
“It's a work in progress. And hopefully pretty soon, in the very, very near future we have closure to this,” he added.
On Tuesday, the House adopted a joint resolution requesting Inos and Attorney General Joey Patrick San Nicolas to extradite Buckingham to face criminal charges.
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