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Misrepresentation of legislative expenditure figures
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Posted on May 30 2005
The recent Saipan Tribune story discussing the overall expenditures of the CNMI Legislature had some misrepresentations in it. Because it is important that the residents of the island community are not misled in terms of who actually overspent, it is important to provide clarification on where the misrepresentation is.
The story stated that the House and Senate had an allocation of approximately $8.988 million. According to the Tribune, the House had an allotment of $3.928 million and spent approximately $3.860 million. The difference is approximately $68,000.
If you subtract the House allotment of $3.928 million from the total allocation of $8.988 million for the House, Senate, and Legislative Bureau for FY 2004, you will get a total of $5,060,000. As far as who is actually at fault for the “overspending” of the $64,000, one can only ascertain this by looking at the expenditure figures of both the Senate and Legislative Bureau and compare it with the actual allocation for each entity.
Clearly, the House did not allow for any “deficit spending” and Speaker Benigno Fitial kept the House budget balanced and in the black. The over-expenditure of some $64,000 took place with the Senate, Legislative Bureau, or both.
I am pointing this out to eschew the cliché “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” This is not to imply that the media lied. However, if a misrepresentation of the facts regarding expenditures by the CNMI Legislature is not rectified publicly, then the electorate is not getting the “true picture” about who is actually the fiscal culprit in terms of going into the red with the designated budget.
Dr. Jesus D. Camacho
Delano, California
