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‘Better be neutral with national parties’
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Posted on Apr 21 2005
Local political parties should remain independent from their national counterparts to prevent the Commonwealth from getting involved in partisan politics in Washington D.C., former governor Froilan Tenorio maintained yesterday.
Tenorio, the standard bearer of the local Democratic Party, said this as his rival Luis Crisostimo attempted to link up with Democrats in the U.S. mainland.
Crisostimo, who lost the local party’s endorsement for the gubernatorial candidacy to Tenorio, recently formed his own group called the “Popular National Democratic Party.”
According to Tenorio, there is currently no need for the local political parties to seek affiliation with the national organizations since the Commonwealth does not have a delegate to the U.S. Congress.
“We’re not like Guam or other territories that have a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives. I might change my mind when we have a delegate, because then our delegate will need to be affiliated with either the Republicans or the Democrats,” Tenorio said.
He added that it would be more practical for the CNMI to steer clear of the partisan politics. This way, he said, the Commonwealth could continue having a good relationship and asking assistance from either parties.
“We should remain neutral. It’s better to be non-affiliated so we can go to any party… so we will have no problem asking for help if we need help,” he said.
