Truth 68: IPI & CC—I told you so!
The truth of the matter is I told you so about IPI and the need for the governor to take over the negotiations with IPI and true to my foresight IPI is now requesting to meet with the governor ignoring the Commonwealth Casino Commission that should have been gone over a year ago anyway. I knew the only thing left for the CNMI to do with IPI was basic decision making on how to move forward in the best interest of the People. Now the governor is on the spot to resolve the issue just like I suggested over a year ago, as each day we delay in resolving the IPI issue the sooner we can start to turn Garapan around. We have wasted or should I say lost over a year waiting on the CCC that is just waiting on IPI! Garapan has been nothing but a disaster ever since the Republicans call themselves “fixing something that didn’t need fixing.”
Garapan is our downtown district for the lack of a better term and I’m sure readers with common sense know that it is critical to our tourism future that we fix Garapan in a way that it will be attractive to all of our tourists from the various destination countries. History has already taught us that as the Chinese begin to come, the Japanese begin to leave—duh! Heck, we even helped destroy our Japanese tourism by not renewing the lease with the only Japanese hotel while we were poli-tricked into giving the hotel to IPI for free and now look at the defunct Marianas Resort—Republicans! It was a double loss of two hotels with IPI, so we must also pick a side or at least be extremely tactful as it’s virtually common knowledge that the Japanese and Chinese don’t get along, so any plans must be cognizant of this all-important fact.
In fact, it is critical that I reassert the need to one gaming commission to handle all the gambling that is taking place within the CNMI, as separate commissioners on each island have proven to be more of a scam than actually promoting a productive gaming industry that is virtually nonexistent, except for the poker machines that are not monitored and checked for fair play. I used to bring machines in from Belgium to sell and install that were similar types of gaming machines on Guam and I know for a fact that these machines can be tightened and loosened to allow for a high to a low winning or losing percentage—in other words, they can be fixed! So, who if anyone is doing the due diligence random checking of these machines and making sure the machines are not too tight (winning percentage) and that they reflect the total amounts on the GBR for each quarter—it’s called accountability! The CNMI needs a gaming commission for all if we are to continue with gambling.
We have only two commissions that are being paid extremely high salaries and it is just interesting that neither of these commissions are worth the paper and ink that established them. We may forever be losing money with the Commonwealth Cannabis Commission that we don’t need and the casino commission has been stalling and even being negligent when it comes to doing what is in the best interest of the people. Why isn’t there anything filed in court for the people, as we only hear about this never-ending license thing when it’s clear IPI violated our contract rendering IPI null and void—it’s really that simple—be gone IPI. I’m sure citizens agree we must turn the page for the new and better! But kudos to Rep. Flores for at least trying to address the problem!
We the people desperately need to move on and beyond IPI that is literally holding our downtown district in limbo with Chinese decorations and a white elephant hotel. Just as I said over a year ago, the governor needs to take over the negotiations and expedite the resolution for the people to move on with the two structures in our downtown district. Stop letting the CCC stall around with our future and find a way for the people to establish new beginnings in Garapan—it’s just that simple. Maybe one day they will learn to listen—I told you so!
Ambrose M. Bennett is an economist who minored in sociology, political scientist, a retired teacher, and former CNMI Board of Education member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. constitutional scholar), a Fulbright-Hays and lifetime humanities scholar who resides in Kagman III in the CNMI.
