Jorgensen: Nomination’s withdrawal was unsurprising

Lawyer Bruce Lee Jorgensen said yesterday that Commonwealth Ports Authority board members are politically appointed, so it is not surprising that politics played out behind Gov. Arnold I. Palacios’ decision to withdraw his nomination to the CPA board.

In response to Saipan Tribune’s request for comments about the withdrawal of his nomination, Jorgensen said he does not know the political considerations, angles, or dealings that may have been discussed by and between Palacios and the Senate leadership, so he will leave it up to them to provide any such details.

He said the opportunity to be considered a prospective CPA appointee, however, is a privilege for any member of the CNMI community.

On Monday, Palacios wrote Senate President Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan) to express his intent to withdraw his nomination of Jorgensen. He did not mention a reason for the withdrawal.

The governor said he will be submitting a new nomination to represent Rota on the CPA board.

Palacios nominated Jorgensen last June 1.

The Senate Executive Appointments and Government Investigations Committee chaired by Sen. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan) held a confirmation hearing on Jorgensen’s appointment last July 26. Except for Jorgensen, all appointees who appeared before the confirmation hearing were subsequently confirmed by the full Senate.

The lawyer said yesterday that, while he remains uncertain as to exactly what considerations persuaded Palacios to withdraw his nomination as a CPA board member for the Rota community, he respects that decision.

He said he will leave it up to Palacios and the Senate leadership the opportunity to provide the details.

Jorgensen said that since this matter was informally discussed about a week ago, the governor’s decision was not surprising to him or to others.

He said he found it curious, though, that he received no advance courtesy call, and that the media learned about the decision before he later found an email telling him about it.

Quite frankly, he said, an unpaid multi-year tenure at CPA’s board was and will remain a daunting prospect for any CPA board nominee, given the dire circumstances CPA imminently faces.

He said his immediate hope is that future CPA board nominees will be selected based on essential qualifications such as competence, experience, capability, fiduciary adherence, and transparency in past and future CPA dealings and activities.

“And the equally important necessity of recognizing, divulging, and taking appropriate and swift action as to actual, tacit, and prospective conflicts-of-interest which, in the past, appear to have been significantly overlooked or ignored within the CPA board,” Jorgensen said.

He said in those and other respects, he made crystal clear his intention, if confirmed by the Senate, to shift the CPA board’s status quo.

“Many expressed opposition and hostility to any status quo modification, preferring, instead, the ‘business as usual’ operational model,” the lawyer said.

Jorgensen believes it will remain interesting in the coming months to witness whether necessary and meaningful changes in CPA’s status quo will be implemented and actually enforced, or whether “business as usual” will yet again prevail.

He noted that appointments to CNMI board positions should not be based on or be treated akin to popularity contests, that necessities like professional competence should not take a backseat to personal, political, or familial self-interests, loyalties, or agendas.

Jorgensen extended his best wishes and hopes to all future CPA board appointees for imminent and transparent CPA changes, for the well-being of the CNMI community.

At the July 26 confirmation hearing, many people wrote letters of support while some appeared before the EAGI Committee to support the appointment of Jorgensen, but CPA director Pete P. Reyes strongly opposed, calling Jorgensen an opportunist and who is not a resident of Rota and has a questionable character.

Citing a petition with 90 signatures and five letters from Rota residents who strongly opposed Jorgensen’s appointment, Sen. Dennis James C. Mendiola (R-Rota) requested the committee to thoroughly examine the concerns raised in the petition.

Last Aug. 10, Jorgensen downplayed Mendiola’s (R-Rota) opposition to his appointment, describing it as “rehashed old news” that were reported and dispelled more than a month ago, a repetition of personal criticisms, the senator’s own ignorance and disregard for facts, and “propensity for anti-white racism.”

Bruce Lee Jorgensen