Lang eyes comeback in 2001 election

Eyeing another shot at the highest post in the Commonwealth, former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio disclosed last Friday he would launch his bid for the gubernatorial election next year under the Reform Party.

At the same time, he criticized the present administration for using him as a scapegoat for most of the problems dogging the CNMI, saying it is time for a change in order to improve the island’s economy.

But Mr. Tenorio said he has yet to pick a running mate for the 2001 elections, whom he added he wants to come from the Democrats — the party he deserted last year to form the new political party.

The former governor, who lost the three-way race in the 1997 polls to his uncle, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, became the fourth politician to make an announcement of his candidacy for next year’s balloting.

CNMI representative to Washington, Juan N. Babauta, Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan, and former Lt. Gov. Jesse Borja have all openly expressed intention to seek the top post.

Mr. Tenorio, however, said he would formally announce his bid next year as he hoped that he would be the only bet of the Reform Party.

Both Mr. Babauta and Mr. Sablan will run in the primary for the Republican Party, while Mr. Borja, who also failed in the 1997 elections, is expected to get the endorsement of the Democrats.

Asked what his chances are this time, Mr. Tenorio said it will be better than the last time. “A lot of people have told me that they regretted not voting for me. I understand that [because] at that time I guess many people didn’t understand what I was doing. Now they have realized that,” he told reporters in an interview.

Citing the surprise victory of Sen. Ramon S. “Kumoi” Guerrero in the last November elections, the Reform Party stalwart believed that people will vote for him, regardless of their party affiliation.

“I feel that many people will vote for me because of me as an individual and not because I’m from the reform party,” he pointed out.

Taking a potshot at Teno administration for tracing the financial difficulties confronting the government now to his four-year term in office, he said it is about time that they look for solutions rather than pinpoint

“I think this administration is running out of excuses. They have to start doing something about it,” Mr. Tenorio said. “I assume the governor [Teno] ran because he thought he could do a better job than I was doing. Why should he now turn around and blame me for everything?”

The current administration has inherited more than $80 million in budget deficit that accumulated during the last year of Froilan’s administration, some of which were spent by the governor’s office for professional service contracts and off-island trips.

“I don’t mind [if they are blaming me]. That’s the name of the game. Governor Tenorio has to find solutions to the problem and not to continue to blame me, or blame President Clinton or blame anybody,” said Mr. Tenorio.

If elected in 2001, he said he would work to turn around the economy. “I have no doubt that I can do it,” added the Reform Party stalwart. “If the [General Accounting Office] of Congress acknowledged that we did a good job… I want to make it very clear that most of these things happened in the last four years when I was the governor.”