OIA public relations campaign damaged CNMI –– Reyes

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes has stepped up his criticisms against the Office of Insular Affairs with a letter to U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) in which he slammed the agency for its alleged role in a political campaign that used CNMI issues as a weapon against GOP legislators.

“Actions aimed at political damage to those who have seen fit to take the CNMI’s side on our relationship with Washington seem to us just another part of an ongoing, questionable, federally-funded campaign by (OIA) against our best local interests,” he said.

The statement was part of the letter to Young, chair of the House Resources Committee which is currently conducting an investigation against key OIA officials for possible violations of the Hatch Act.

The probe has centered around the activities of its former public information officer David North whom the panel had accused of using government time and resources to offer damaging information to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) against House leaders and other Republican members.

Reyes and other Commonwealth leaders have welcomed efforts by the committee, noting the investigation would help shed light on several OIA activities in recent years which they said were intended to besmirch the CNMI.

According to the senator, North was widely viewed as the OIA “muscle” for its former director Allen P. Stayman to carry out what he called a national campaign to “blacken the reputation” of the island.

“We do not need access to North’s computer hard drive to know that his well-oiled rolodex was most effective in packaging and communicating the official OIA position,” Reyes said in the letter.

He also lamented North’s role in swaying national media to present the CNMI in a bad light, instead of promoting the island’s interests as well as efforts by both federal and Commonwealth officials to institute labor and immigration reforms here.

“A further hallmark of the OIA campaign is that all blame is heaped on the Commonwealth government,” Reyes explained. “Being ‘pro-active’ is apparently not a job performance requirement for Mr. North.”

Praising Young’s decision to undertake the probe, the senator urged the committee to raise awareness on the possible improper activities being practiced by OIA, which under the law should be the coordinator to extend federal assistance to U.S. territories like the CNMI.

“The public relations activities of (North and OIA) have done a large measure of damage to the CNMI that will take years and concerted effort to alleviate,” he said.

“We appreciate your present efforts to investigate the full scope of these activities and urge the committee’s continued aggressive pursuit,” Reyes told Young.