Mr. Babauta’s motives

When Mr. Juan Nekai Babauta supported the immediate Federalization of our minimum wage in the early 1990s, he may have done so for at least two reasons. First, he may have wished to score local political points against the Larry I. Guerrero administration; and second, he may have wanted to impress his Democratic friends in the U.S. Congress, who held the majority position at the time (right before the 1994 Republican revolution).

In 1992, when the bag of labor and human rights abuses first hit the fan, Juan Babauta obviously wanted to exploit it to his local political advantage. He wanted to scrape the smears and hurl it at his political opponent at the time: then Governor Larry I. Guerrero.

Note that Mr. Babauta never questioned the validity or veracity of the Federal allegations at the time. He did not question where it came from. He did not bother to question the motives of those leveling the labor and human rights charges.

Whether they were outright lies, whether they were grossly exaggerated or whether they were just misleading–it did not matter a whit to Mr. Babauta. He did not care to carefully examine the charges in the early 1990s. He did not care whether the special interests of the protectionist labor unions were fully in play. He did not care whether the American media had a highly liberal political bias. He was not initially concerned about the neo-colonial agenda of the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs.

The only thing that mattered to Mr. Babauta at the time was that his political opponent, Mr. Larry Guerrero, had a potential liability he could fully exploit to his advantage. By George (Miller!), let us not forget this episode in Mr. Babauta’s political career. He was apparently quite willing to drag the CNMI’s reputation through the mud in order to score gubernatorial political points for himself, which is simply reprehensible.

The second apparent influence on Mr. Babauta’s original pro-Federal takeover position may have revolved around his relatively cozy connections to U.S. Democrats. Check out Mr. Babauta’s Federal campaign contributions over the years, as reported to the Federal Election Commission, for instance.

He gave to our nemesis, Hawaii Senator Danny Akaka. He gave to other Democrats as well. It took him a while to get with Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska. It took him quite a while, if he ever accomplished it at all, to establish relations with the Republican majority members of the US Congress.

When voters go to the ballot boxes next month, let them think about the future–but let them also remember the past, which may be a good indication of the future.

Strictly a personal view. Charles Reyes Jr. is a regular columnist of Saipan Tribune. Mr. Reyes may be reached at charlesraves@hotmail.com