King-Hinds begins delegate boot camp

Delegate-elect Kimberlyn King-Hinds has officially flown off to Washington, D.C to begin delegate boot camp where she will essentially be briefed on her role as the CNMI’s newest champion in the US Congress.

Last Monday, King-Hinds left for the U.S. capital after having had visited the islands of Rota and Tinian where she expressed her gratitude for their support during the general elections held last Nov. 5.

King-Hinds will be in Washington, D.C. from Nov. 12 to 22.

In a video-post to social media last Monday, King-Hinds acknowledged all veterans who fought for America and expressed that it is their service that inspires her to do the same and begin the fight for a better CNMI.

“Today I leave to attend U.S. Congress bootcamp and I leave today to begin the work of advocating for all of us. To all veterans, just as you went out to fight for all of us and our freedom, today’s very special because I get to leave, to learn, and begin the process of fighting for you and becoming your champion. I know it’s going to be hard because the problems aren’t only here in the CNMI but across all rural communities in America, but as you were willing to give it your all, I am willing to give it my all. Thank you, and I love you all,” she said.

In a previous interview with King-Hinds, when asked about her priorities, King-Hinds said as CNMI delegate, she will be taking a three-pronged approach to address the CNMI’s issues.

“The first is to restore the tourism industry, the second is to immediately work on the CW-1 situation which is about to end here in 2029, and three work on trying to improve the cost of living by addressing the utilities issue,” she said.

King-Hinds adds that separate from that she would like to be the type of delegate that consistently engages community stakeholders.

“After things get a little bit settled down, I want to just start reaching out to different stakeholders in the community to sit down and have a conversation about where gaps are, where are areas of opportunities, and work out a plan where we’re not duplicating resources or manpower and just strategizing on how to bring a whole of government approach to some of these health and human services issues that is impacting our community,” she said.

King-Hinds shared that her work as delegate has already begun.

“I’ve had several federal officials call so I had to return those calls and just begin that dialogue and conversation. So, the work is starting now in terms of reaching out to our federal partners and having these conversations about what the priorities are. The governor also reached out and gave his congratulations and I told him that we’re going to have to sit down to discuss what his priorities are and how this position can assist for him to be able to accomplish some of those priorities and to also assist with the follow-ups for the 902 consultation and make sure that that stays as a hot topic agenda item that needs to be addressed because I do believe that those are very critical issues that that need to be addressed. We all work for the people. We have to put politics aside and I’m reaching across the all the aisles to be able to have those conversations,” she said.