On My Mind

The Christmas season may be upon us, but you wouldn’t know it from driving along Beach Road. There’s not a Christmas decoration in sight—except at the hotels and the Joeten stores. Seems like the pretty neon-rope designs various organizations sponsored in the past have deteriorated, and the few that were left were given to Chamolinian Village, which is displaying them only in its part of Garapan.

The Marianas Visitors Authority, which has played a role in putting up Christmas decorations in the past, doesn’t have the funds this year, so it is not planning to do anything.

Nor could anyone I asked (Governor’s Office, Saipan Mayor’s Office, governor’s public information office—where Pete Callahan, after observing that dealing with Christmas decorations was not included in his job description, did call Department of Public Works and the MVA to no avail) tell me who was responsible for seeing that the tree near the Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe gets decorated and lit. Apparently, Public Christmas decorations are not a line item in anyone’s budget.

Of course, there are a number of reasons to be Scrooge-like this year: The high cost of power, the poor economy, the end of one administration but not yet the start of the next one…. Still, seems a shame, particularly for a community as devout, as dependent on tourism, as is the CNMI.

Not only for those of us who live here, but also for the tourists—including the crew of the USS Pasadena, in port for a brief visit—festive lights at Christmas help bring hope, faith, cheer, a spirit of friendliness, sometimes even wonder and awe. Could the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, perhaps, persuade its members to share some of their lights with the rest of us?

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What with the distractions of the holiday season and the transition in government—the 14th Legislature effectively at an end, the 15th not yet in being—it was probably the wrong time for the Saipan Chamber of Commerce to present a report on something as critically important as the Commonwealth Development Authority’s Qualifying Certificate Program, which it did at its regular Chamber meeting last week.

As outlined at greater length in a Saipan Tribune story last week, and mentioned as well in the Variety, the report was rather damning. Put together by a sub-committee of the Strategic Economic Development Council, and presented by Stephen Brock, SEDC sub-committee chair and manager of the Bank of Hawaii, the report, among other things, questioned the need for approval of QCs by the governor, saying this practice taints the decision-making process by appearing to make it political. It said the application fee charged by CDA bore no relationship to the expense of administration and review of QC applications. It said the current program provides no room for negotiation between applicant and the CDA board—the QC is presented on a “take it or leave it” basis. It said that the additional requirements tacked on by CDA—such as the requirement to hook up to CUC or minimum wage requirements—were outside its scope and authority and should be dropped.

The original QC program goal, Brock noted, was “a pretty simple” approach, and pretty ingenious in its simplicity: “To promote economic development, by offering tax incentives, in exchange for development of desirable facilities or activities (NOT in exchange for other policy initiatives or political agendas no matter how well-intentioned they may be).”

Quoting a Variety editorial comment of several months ago that with the economy not good and government revenues down, it was not a good time to be generous to the business community, Brock asked, “If not now, when?” CDA, he said, “would appear not to understand the value of investment incentives and the multiplier effect of investment on a macro economic scale…”

Moreover, CDA board members, in assuming the present tax base will not erode, appear not to understand the effect of the program on the present tax base either, and not to understand the full range of enhancements to the economy that additional investment to the CNMI can bring, the report found.

With only two new investors (one of which, Sand Castle, is debatably not new) having taken advantage of the QC program since its inception five years ago, there is an urgent need, Brock concluded, to revise the program if it is to serve any useful purpose.

Alexis Fallon, tax attorney, in a brief follow-up presentation assured COC members and guests that such tax incentive programs are successfully being implemented around the world, and that a better model could be developed for the CNMI if it were based on a comparison of proven programs.

The issue before the SEDC and the Chamber is when and how this information will now be presented to the incoming legislature—and by whom—for it will largely be up to the new legislature to enact the changes required to make the QC program work as intended.

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Of course, there are those who claim that tax incentives are not cost effective. For example, a special report, “Texas Economic Development Issues” issued in 2003 for the Texas Legislature, states that, “In general, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of economic development incentives either in the form of tax abatements, training or other tools to enhance growth. It is virtually impossible to estimate what would or would not have occurred without the abatement, training or other assistance.”

And in a 2004 publication of the Economic Policy Institute, “Rethinking Growth Strategies: How State and Local Taxes and Services Affect Economic Development,” author Robert G. Lynch states, “An analysis of the relevant research literature, however, finds little grounds to support tax cuts and incentives especially when they occur at the expense of public investment as the best means to expand employment and spur growth.”

So perhaps the whole idea of qualifying certificates should be re-studied.

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Short takes:

A “P.S.” to the malpractice insurance story of a few weeks ago: Seems like Guam is also discussing the impact of the high cost of malpractice insurance on local physicians. There, according to a recent Pacific Daily News story, one of “the few, if not the only” insurance agent offering such insurance admitted that it is cost-prohibitive. At least Guam has a mandatory arbitration process that must be applied before a malpractice suit can be filed.

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“Ben&Tim” may have won the vote as incoming governor-elect and lieutenant governor-elect, but that should not mean that they are above the law. The latest deadline for removing campaign posters was Dec. 5, yet their flamboyant sign still sits at the intersection of Middle Road and Monsignor Guerrero Highway. There is no excuse for such flouting of the law.

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People say that the law should be changed to require that election of the governor and lieutenant governor be determined by a majority of the votes cast. Given that the incoming politicos won by virtue of less than a majority, wonder what the chances are that they would sign off on such a proposed law—provided that the Legislature went so far as to pass it?

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Still on matters legal, I wonder what principle was followed in declaring illegible post-marks as invalid votes, as the Election Commission did in last month’s vote count. Just as abstentions can be declared to count as either yes or no votes, so, it would seem, such post marks could be declared as either valid or invalid. After all, the problem was not of the voters’ making, so it does not seem fair to deprive them of their vote.

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And: When will the media share with the public some of the goings-on in civil and family court cases, instead of focusing only on criminal court cases? Their coverage doesn’t seem very balanced, somehow.

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Sounds to me like the proposals to put up a commercial building or a multi-million dollar floating hotel at the so-called Garapan fishing base—which the Marianas Public Lands Authority is said to be considering—aren’t very compatible with an earlier plan to develop the site as a fishing base and market. Or has that proposal become another victim of changing plans willy-nilly?

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On a brighter note, venues for display of artists’ works keep expanding. Not only are there now works on display at the Arts Council, but also at Marianas Eye Clinic, Coffee Care, and The Beans, where attorney and artist James Bowie has now also hung some of his large, colorful circle-based works.

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Those who try to watch calories might want to note that comparing calories per serving of various products is not enough. I discovered that the cereal I chose, while lower in calories than most others, was basing that count on only 3/4 of a cup per serving, rather than a full cup per serving. So it looked like less, until I read all the fine print…

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Despite its many sexual displays—fully justifying its “PG-13” label—the movie “Rent,” now at the Hollywood Theater, is very satisfying. The wonderful vocal harmonies, the lively dancing, the story’s relationship to the opera “La Boheme,” the mostly original cast, all do their part in making “Rent” a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

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This coming week’s movie offerings: One “G,” one “PG,” and five “PG-13’s.” Getting better…

(The writer is a librarian by profession, and a long-term resident of the CNMI. To contact her, send e-mail to ruth.tighe@vzpacifica.net)