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Tenorio asks Crisostimo to resign
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Posted on Oct 28 2004
Former Gov. Froilan Tenorio is challenging Democratic partymate Sen. Luis Crisostimo to resign from his post now if he believes he can beat him in a gubernatorial primary.
“I challenge him to step down now. The CNMI Constitution provides that he should resign his Senate seat once he is certified. But why wait after primary? If he thinks he can beat me, he should resign now. Do it before the primary,” said Tenorio in an interview.
Tenorio, who made known his intention to run again for governor, said he has no choice but to agree to a primary because party by-laws calls for it.
“We’re supposed to have a primary if there is more than one candidate. I will honor that. I don’t have any choice,” he said.
Tenorio currently serves as the Democratic Party’s central committee chair.
This as Crisostimo recently disclosed that he would be seeking the party’s endorsement for next year’s gubernatorial elections. He said he would challenge Tenorio in a party primary.
“If he [Tenorio] beats me, then fine, he can go ahead but if I beat him in the primary, I’m the one running for governor and he’d be my lieutenant governor,” he said.
Crisostimo, 43, a first-term senator, thinks that he is the right party candidate being its highest elected member.
He said he also feels that the Democratic Party “needs a great leader, a leader with a new vision, who can steer the government in the right direction.”
“[It’s] not somebody who has been a governor,” he said.
Tenorio had served as governor from 1994 to 1998. He had later attempted to get elected for the same post but failed.
In 2001, he formed his own Reform Party and ran for the 2001 gubernatorial race. He lost to the Babauta team.
Recently, he decided to go back to the Democratic Party, with his eyes on next year’s polls.
For his part, Crisostimo—after several attempts—finally won a Senate seat in the 2003 midterm election. Crisostimo was reported to have had the highest campaign spending of $67,311 for his senatorial bid.
