Cing to Crisostimo: Help unify party

The Northern Marianas Democratic Party’s official congressional bet has urged a fellow Democrat to drop his independent bid for the delegate seat and help reunify the party.

Former Sen. David Cing, who is representing the local Democrats in the November election, wrote a letter yesterday urging Sen. Luis Crisostimo to back his candidacy.

“I am appealing to you as a last-minute attempt to reunify the Democratic Party,” Cing told his supposed rival in the party’s canceled primary. “After all, you were the one who suggested very strongly back in June 2008 when you emphasized that we should support each other no matter who was selected by our party.”

Cing and Crisostimo were supposed to face off in a primary late last month. However, the party canceled the primary after Crisostimo refused to submit requirements. Shortly after, the party announced its endorsement of Cing as congressional delegate.

Crisostimo, who had begun putting up campaign billboards around the island even before he asked for the party’s support, moved forward with his candidacy plan. He has filed with the Commonwealth Election Commission as an independent candidate. He claims to be the official candidate of the National Democratic Party, where he is a member.

In his letter, Cing said Crisostimo’s decision “did very little to unify the Democrats.” He added, “I am asking you once again for the sake of your constituents to join me and make your place here in the Democratic Party so that we can all be victorious in November.”

Phone calls to Crisostimo were not returned at press time.

But in a previous interview, he said he withdrew from the primary because he did not believe the local Democratic Party could register enough members to conduct a fair and credible primary.

The NMI Democratic Party currently has less than 200 registered members.

In 2007, Crisostimo also sought the party’s endorsement of his senatorial bid. But the party rejected his application, choosing Gabriel Babauta over him.

In addition to Cing and Crisostimo, there are six candidates who have filed with the Election Commission as of yesterday. They are television talk show host John Oliver Gonzales, retired judge Juan T. Lizama, businessman Chong Won, Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Gregorio Sablan, Resident Rep. Pete A. Tenorio, and high school teacher John Davis.

The deadline for filing paperwork for the Nov. 4 election is at 4:30pm today, Aug. 6, 2008.