Senate holds off action on Arriola • Legislators slam Woodruff for pushing approval of resolution backing legal counsel

The Senate balked at an attempt by its legal counsel to press approval of a resolution that will authorize him to take legal action against any court decision disqualifying lawyer Joseph Arriola from representing private defendants due to the latter’s contract with the Legislature.

Senate legal counsel Steve Woodruff was admonished by some senators for his insistence to push the legislative measure, noting that it contains provisions which may create “more conflict” with the executive branch.

Woodruff told a session Friday that “time is off the essence” in adopting the resolution in light of the court’s inclination to grant the Attorney General’s Office’s motion to disqualify Arriola from defending clients charged with illegal gambling.

But senators agreed not to act on the measure while discussing further its merits. They went into a closed-door meeting immediately after the session.

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes said there were concerns on the language of the resolution which would be too late for them to correct.

“As our legal counsel, you would have recommended for us to take time (before adopting the resolution),” he told Woodruff, saying senators from Rota and Tinian had yet to study the proposal.

In the motion filed by the AGO, it alleged that Arriola violated the Government Ethics Act which prohibits public officials and employees from representing private individuals contesting a government entity before a court.

The case involves the illegal gambling charges on Cheung Ping Yin and seven others brought up by government lawyers following a raid on Abracadabra shop in Garapan last July.

But Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy Bellas last week asked Arriola to choose whether he wants to continue serving as Senate legal counsel or pursue his private law practice.

The lawyer, who has been hired by the Senate to provide legal services since June, has said he would not drop his independent contract with the Legislature.

The resolution, if approved, will give authority to Woodruff to challenge the court’s decision, while at the same time “preserving the Senate’s right to counsel of its choosing.”

Sen. David M. Cing, author of the measure, later withdrew it from the floor and asked to keep it in the Senate agenda until members decide to tackle it once again.

During the two-hour session Friday, Woodruff dismissed the AGO’s motion as he claimed that this was prompted only by Arriola’s earlier motion questioning the authority of acting Attorney General Maya B. Kara, who was never confirmed by the Senate.

“As long as we don’t have an AG valid in office, the enforcement is jeopardized,” he said.

He maintained the Ethics Act does not forbid independent contractors of the government to represent private individuals, noting that attorneys have for years been retained by CNMI entities without being disqualified from practice of law.

Woodruff warned the court’s ruling will only undermine the Senate’s authority to contract outside legal counsel. “It’s got nothing to do with the individual, but on the Senate’s ability to contract someone,” he told senators.

While by adopting the resolution does not mean that senators condone illegal gambling, Woodruff believed it must be immediately passed to act swiftly on any contrary decision by the court on Arriola’s job as legal counsel for the Senate.