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Speaker mourns Reagan, recalls better days
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Posted on Jun 08 2004
House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial yesterday expressed sorrow over the passing of former President Ronald Reagan.
“I join President Bush and the nation in mourning the loss of a great president,” said Fitial.
Fitial served as the Speaker of the House in the 3rd and 12th NMI Legislatures. In 2003, he was elected to the House of Representatives and again became Speaker in the 14th NMI Legislature.
During Fitial’s term of office in the 1980s as the Speaker of the 3rd Legislature, he observed the unprecedented prosperity the CNMI enjoyed during the Reagan era. The Speaker credits Reagan for the growth and development of the CNMI’s economy during the 1980s.
“To tell you the truth, he is my favorite President,” said the Speaker.
As the 40th President of the United States, Reagan devalued the dollar against the Japanese yen, which contributed to an increase in Japanese tourism into the Commonwealth. Reagan also provided millions of federal dollars in Covenant funding, and granted NMI residents U.S. citizenship.
During his presidency, Reagan appointed Fitial as the chairman of the NMI Commission on Federal Laws, a body created to explore the applicability and appropriateness of federal laws in the NMI.
During the Reagan presidency, the CNMI did not encounter any federal takeover threats.
Ronald Reagan served two terms as President of the United States in the 1980s, a great period of economic prosperity for both the mainland United States and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
Fitial credits the prosperity of the Reagan era to the President’s brand of free market economics. Reagan was a devout advocate of low taxation to stimulate business growth and investment.
Fitial has pledged not to increase CNMI taxes during his tenure in the 14th CNMI Legislature, saying it would be a burden on businesses.
Fitial is the only current elected legislator to have also been an elected official during the Reagan presidency.
