I ran for US Congress
In a little over one week, I’ll be able to say that I ran for a seat in U.S. Congress and I [insert the will of majority voters here]. Up against an ever-thickening wall of partisan influence, nauseating political noise, and pandering party loyalists (formerly known as do-gooder, community activists), we mounted a simple campaign to offer a different choice—a choice beholden only to the collective interests of all who call the CNMI home, not to self-interests rooted on contrived party lines of red and blue.
Despite mounting pressures to keep up with the CNMI’s political machines, I held firm in my conviction not to out my silent supporters through requests for public endorsements and much less through requests for donations of their hard-earned money to promote me. I suppose if I hadn’t stopped drinking, $200-$250 tickets for happy hour with friends and other acquaintances might have sounded more alluring. But how could I reconcile in one hand lamenting the “suffering” and financial hardships of those we’re looking to represent and with the other raising a toast to the extravagance of political hypocrisy? Well… I couldn’t.
To be clear, I understand the need for and cost of advertising for exposure—and yes, we’ve invested into some signage and a bit of airtime—but I’m also of the belief that we live in a place where it is still possible to reach people through more direct and personal contacts absent the big money influence. I put everything on the line for me personally, in part, to test that belief. Additionally, I put myself up for intense public scrutiny because I feel strongly about the need for inclusive, even-keeled representation in government (and I don’t feel like the other candidates are representative of me). Our campaign has relied primarily on family and friends seeking support through direct networking whether in house-to-house visits, accidental meet-ups within the community, and other random engagements with people on the streets—you know, small community, grass-roots stuff. For those looking for more information about all of us candidates, we’ve had the great luxury of having been asked to participate in a variety of publicly streamed forums and one-on-one interviews hosted by various stakeholders in our community—we can be found on Facebook and YouTube at the very least.
While our campaign would have welcomed and likely benefitted greatly from public endorsements and greater infusions of financial support, I (much to the chagrin of those closest to me) have yet to ask anyone for it. To date, our Committee-to-Elect James M. Rayphand, a duly incorporated non-profit organization, has only accepted and received “unsolicited” financial donations totaling less than $5,000 through my mother, Jeanne H. Rayphand; my love and better-half, Ms. Marcia M. Nishimura; my brother, Benji Rayphand; my father, Sapuro J. Rayphand, and myself. I agreed to one small fundraiser of selling $10 lunches mainly because it also doubled as a message about healthy food choices and it gave me an opportunity to meet with people who ordered on my delivery routes to them. I explicitly asked the rest of our committee members—my niece and chairperson, Monissalynn I. Blas; treasurer, John Cabrera; secretary, Flory Wabol; my other siblings, Johnny Sam and Emi Norita along with their respective better halves, Maria “Kit” Iguel and Jeff Norita … oh and of course, my Uncle Ezra Bualuay along with Algen Serio, Estak Estep, and Nancy just to name our core group—not to put money into the campaign to which they’ve responded in-kind with all the love and on-the-ground support that any man could ever want. I will never be able to fully express my gratitude and appreciation to each and every one of those closest to me, but I hope to make all of them proud through the work I aim to do on behalf of our entire Commonwealth as CNMI’s next delegate in U.S. Congress.
As for the question of why anyone should vote for me? As I see it, I’m the only one of the candidates with actual experience of leading and directing a staff of people toward a common mission in service to our community and I’ve done so with a clear focus on service above self. More importantly, I’ve managed to do it without leaving any trail of questions about my integrity and without creating division within our respective offices much less our community at large.
Take away all the pomp and circumstance of this being a seat in U.S. Congress and what we’re left with is an office of people tasked with fielding and responding to concerns of our community—that is precisely what I’ve been doing for the past 20 plus years. Ask around or better yet…Google it.
Jim Rayphand is a former director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems Inc.
