Predicting the predictable

So, the part-time Legislature proposal is now dead. Why does that not surprise me? Oh, yeah, because I predicted it. Yawn. Can anything get more banal than this? Doesn’t it become quickly boring when people are so predictable that you can actually plot their next moves, their next lines, their next dialogue? If this is a betting game, I would be making money hand over fist by now.

People who say “I hate to say ‘I told you so,’” are lying; they actually relish saying it, and I am no exception. I told you so. I knew that the proposed initiative for a part-time legislature was a goner from the get-go, yet seeing it soar, only to go on a free fall is still somewhat disheartening because it only goes to show that those who conspired to shoot it down have not woken up yet to the practical reality that the Commonwealth is hemorrhaging due to the enormous amount needed for the upkeep of its government. The ship of state is foundering and the government is already performing sleights of hand with its finances to pay off its obligations, yet some lawmakers still insist on closing their eyes to this reality on the lame excuse that it cannot be done. Yeah, right. Tell that to lawmakers in Nevada, Minnesota, Tennessee, and North Dakota, among other states with attendance- or session-based compensations.

House Legislative Initiative 14-8 should have been given the chance to be placed before voters to find out whether they would support it or not, but no. Some lawmakers were so afraid of the initiative actually making it through that they had to stomp it down before it could even draw breath. And who are these lawmakers? Again, no surprises there. The House minority bloc has always opposed the idea of cutting down the size of the Legislature and they—together with majority bloc member Rep. Janet Maratita—ran true to form when House Legislative Initiative 14-8 went before the chamber in a session last March 15.

Even during the 13th Legislature, when the minority bloc was THE majority bloc then, the idea of downsizing the Legislature never had a chance to take root. Yes, there were some who half-heartedly raised the idea but I remember running into Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, then the House speaker, and discussing the matter with him and he all but said that a part-time legislature would never happen. So there you have it. It will now obviously never happen because they will see to it that it never happens.

The initiative’s proponent, Rep. Clyde Norita, stated it best when he said: “I’m disappointed with the minority bloc on their stubbornness to see the validity and the true and sincere public service that the initiative would make of the Legislature…I’m disappointed with their grandstanding against the passage [of the measure] without a valid reason.”

The question now that comes to mind is: What are these lawmakers afraid of? It may be facile to say that they are afraid of losing their cushy remuneration package (that’s $39,000 in annual compensation and $155,000 in operational funds at a minimum) but that is one of the more obvious conclusions that one gets. Or are they afraid that they may not be able to obtain jobs to supplement their income once their funding is scrapped? If they are forced to get jobs in the private sector, they will ACTUALLY have to work and, to keep their jobs, they will have to show proof of productivity. That could be too much of a painful reality to deal with. So, please, could somebody speak up and explain why the CNMI cannot afford a part-time Legislature because, they way things stand right now, it appears that lawmaking has less to do with public service and more to do with keeping oneself comfortable.

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It is very interesting what an election year can do in terms of ratcheting up the level of activity within the usually deliberate and easygoing halls of government. The Legislature and the Executive Branch have lately been very busy scraping a few barnacles off the ship of state, giving the impression of busy ants scurrying hither and thither, squeaking “I’m already late. I’m so late.” It would’ve been funny if it weren’t so obvious. Intelligent voters can surely see through this belated drama and will be voting accordingly.

(The views expressed are strictly that of the author. Vallejera is the editor of the Saipan Tribune.)