Mr. Babauta’s about-face

In his latest Washington newsletter, Resident Representative Juan Nekai Babauta claimed credit for narrowly averting the federalization of the CNMI’s minimum wage. Referring to a U.S. Senate bill sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), which would have raised the CNMI minimum wage to $6.15 an hour in less than two years, Mr. Babauta claimed that his “lobbying approach–both in correspondence between [himself] and Members and through staff-to-staff contact–has been to point out the danger of such an action, its unfairness to the Northern Marianas, and its impropriety as legislative practice.”

Mr. Babauta, in other words, presents himself as fully opposing the federalization of the CNMI’s minimum wage. And in so doing, he casts himself decidedly against Hawaii Senator Danny Akaka, one of the CNMI’s harshest critics, who supports it.

In fact, in his recent newsletter, Mr. Babauta gently chides Senator Akaka for arguing that every U.S. law must apply to every U.S. territory, saying “[Senator Akaka] did not mention, however, that the minimum wage in American Samoa is not uniform with the rest of the country.”

How right Mr. Babauta is on that point. He might have also added that the crux of the American system of government is democratic representation–that is, government of the people, for the people, and by the people. In other words, all laws must be made by the consent of the people who are most directly affected. This is the very heart and the very foundation of the American system of good government.

And this is precisely why Resident Representative Juan Nekai Babauta should not be considered as a future governor of the CNMI: because he doesn’t genuinely represent the best interests of our people, who adamantly oppose a federal takeover of these islands we call home.

Mr. Babauta’s federal takeover opposition is strongly suspect. It is a well known fact that Mr. Babauta used to be one of our critics. In the early 1990s, Mr. Babauta was an ardent champion of the federal minimum wage in the CNMI. He was highly critical of our local garment industry–about as critical as David North, Al Stayman, Danny Akaka, 20/20, Global Exchange, and George Miller (whom he once praised as a “genuine champion of human rights”).

Now we discover, according to Saipan Tribune Publisher John Del Rosario in his column last Friday, that Mr. Babauta may have contributed some of his own personal funds toward the political war chest of none other than Hawaii Senator Danny Akaka, Mr. Federal takeover himself.

Why did Mr. Babauta suddenly switch sides? Why is he now on our side? Could he be positioning himself for a run at the governor’s seat in 2001? Can we really trust Mr. Babauta to represent our interests by genuinely committing himself against a federal takeover?

We have to remember that Mr. Babauta was extremely critical at former Governor Froilan Tenorio’s decision to hire Preston Gates and court American conservative Republicans. Mr. Babauta characterized it as an unwise partisan ploy which could backfire. And yet he may have been in bed with Akaka, David North and the others all along.

The people of the CNMI deserve an adequate explanation. Mr. Babauta? Care to explain yourself, sir?