A new day is dawning for the CNMI

[B]By JOHN H. DAVIS Jr.[/B] [I]Special to the Saipan Tribune[/I] [I]Editor’s Note: All delegate candidates are being given this one opportunity to make their case to our readers through this section for the duration of the election season. This is separate from the Candidate Forum, which ended with the Oct. 17 edition.[/I]

Dear People of the Commonwealth: I don’t like to write long letters, however I think this is very important. On Nov. 4 you will decide who will be the first representative of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands to sit in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States. You are going to make an important and historic decision concerning the future of the Commonwealth. Before you vote, the question that you must ask yourself is whether you want to continue the good old boys system of politics. Do you want to continue the system of politics that have not served the Commonwealth very well? Do you want the politics of whom you know and into what family you happen to be born? Do you want the politics of negotiable principles and lack of integrity? Do you want the politics of self- aggrandizement and no morals or ethics? Do you want a representative without a real plan or vision?

Sure, you have heard the other candidates say that they will work with this agency or that agency. They say they will get you more rebate money. They say they will get more money for CUC. They say they will get more money for education. They say they will get you just about everything and anything. It all depends on to whom they are speaking. They depend on you not understanding the democratic process. Most of them have said the same things to you before. But what they deliver is money and power for themselves. They deliver to the rest of us bad plans for power and water. They deliver to the rest of us business closings and lack of economic opportunity. They deliver for the rest of us millions of dollars being sent out of the Commonwealth each year while nothing is brought back in. They delivered federalization of the most unique political association with the United States. Soon we will be little more than another U.S. territory. They should be ashamed, but instead they want you to elect them to Congress. Instead, they want to take the same failed nonsense to Washington, D.C.

On the other hand, I am the candidate who believes in the people of the CNMI. I believe in the future of the Commonwealth. I believe that the CNMI should be as self-sustaining and independent as possible. I believe that we should stand on our own two feet and demonstrate our self-reliance. I am the only candidate with a coherent plan for improving our economic situation. To that end: I will introduce legislation to have the U.S. Congress transfer the jurisdiction and control of the Exclusive Economic Zone and submerged lands surrounding the CNMI from the United States to the CNMI. I will ask for the establishing and locating of federal offices and agencies, such as Small Business Administration and other federal economic business incubator agencies, in the CNMI. I will introduce legislation to have a Veterans Administration medical facility built in the CNMI. I will lobby to have federally funded projects brought to the CNMI. These are but a few of the areas for which my campaign has already prepared legislation.

If you are tired of the same old failed politics, if you are tired of politicians lying to you, if you are tired of feeling cheated, if you are tired of looking backwards and are ready to move forward, then I ask you to vote for me, John H. Davis, Jr., number seven (7) on the ballot. A new day is dawning for the CNMI. It is time to vote for truth, honesty and integrity for a change. Thank you.

[I]John H. Davis Jr. is a candidate for CNMI delegate.[/I]