An apology to Justice Villagomez’s family!
The IT team has been accusing the HY campaign of “dirty campaigning,” but the latest tactic to smear Heinz Hofschneider takes the cake for being the “dirtiest,” if not the lowest and most insensitive tactic thus far in the campaign.
Last Friday, a letter was shared on Facebook that was meant as an attack on Hofschneider’s character. The letter was from the late justice Ramon G. Villagomez accusing then-speaker Hofschneider of doing wrong. I’m not sure who initially leaked the letter, but I first saw it shared on Les Ogumoro-Uludong’s account, shared from a post by Shelane Charlice. It has since been shared on the official CNMI Republican Facebook account and also on the “IT Squad” page.
My biggest issue with the letter is that it uses the words of the late justice, who is deceased and has a great legacy in our community. How dare you let a well-respected and deceased man in our community fight your fights? You have now put his surviving wife and children in a position where they must defend their late father! Leaking this letter was done neither with the family’s consent nor their endorsement. You choose to smear Heinz’s reputation with the words of a man whose wife and children are still around to witness such exploitation. That’s low and shows that the IT camp is not thinking.
I don’t know who this Shelane is, but Les is a well-known daughter of Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro. This is a shame. I’ve been following the elections and Rep. Ogumoro had run a clean, honorable campaign. It is sad that one of her supporters would come out and share this. And it is a shame that the CNMI Republicans are capitalizing on it, too. This is defamation.
You all owe an apology to the Villagomez family. I would expect an apology from all those who shared the letter as well as one from Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro, as one of her most visible supporters thought it was alright to use the “Ogumoro” family name by sharing the letter. You don’t have your supporters do your party’s dirty work and get away with it. We don’t dishonor the dead like this in our culture. This is unbecoming of the entire Republican Party.
From what I’m told, the Villagomez family is not happy about this and would rather have it taken down.
When a man isn’t around to defend himself, don’t use his words to do your dirt. As respect to the governor’s health, we saw Democratic candidate Edward Deleon Guerrero and Heinz both back off from the first scheduled Chamber forum. The sentiment that some got was that “the governor isn’t around to defend himself” (although Juan N. Babauta didn’t feel that same way), which is important in having a fair discussion on the issues.
So, I ask that both parties: Keep it clean. How about we keep the election to being about the issues, not trying to smear candidates? Why use a dead man’s words when our candidates can use their own words to persuade us?
Governor Inos has yet to accept the invitation to a forum and said a few days ago to the paper, “The campaign committee is looking at that right now and they will make a final recommendation and give their advice.” What’s there to recommend? What’s there to advise? The people want a forum! What’s there to hide from the people that the governor has to be recommended? If his health is a detriment to his participation, will it be in his term if he’s elected? The people of the CNMI should not go without a candidates’ forum before making a decision as important as deciding the next gubernatorial team that will lead us for the next four years.
Marie Camacho
Capital Hill, Saipan
politics is so dirty they have to bring in the name of a deceased person, especially when that person is the late justice villagomez, a man known in the community for his integrity. leave dead people out of your campaigns, desperation to win the highest office is uncalled for.
Buenas fan4life,
We agree with you that politics is so dirty in the CNMI. It must be nice to be political connected in the CNMI and so we can be afforded the perks of all the things that comes with it. It seems that your candidate had enriched his family and himself from the perks of being elected official in the past. Why is your candidate so concern about our future? Why is he after the highest position in the CNMI Government. Can you let us know what did he do for the CNMI during his tenure at our legislature? Based on many of the people we represent, he used his position to enrich himself and his family indirectly. If he had did something good for the underprivileged brothers and sisters in our island chain in the past, we would be the first in line to give him our votes. But according to our underprivileged brothers and sisters in the CNMI, your candidate is after the highest position in CNMI for himself. his family and his cronies.
Just remember that in the CNMI people would forget good deeds but they would never forget bad deeds.
We as a group don’t advocate for anyone for the highest position in the CNMI government, but we would air our concerns against individual who had shown that their self interest comes first.
Si Yu’us Ma’ase
i don’t have a candidate or shall we say “gazu”. politics is so dirty i try to stay away from it. to bring in a deceased person name to soil him is unacceptable, if they can do that to a dead person, imagine what they will do to a live one. i have said heinz will come up short again, no pun intended.
hafa adai
For the record, I have not been a “political-supporter/blogger” (nor do I have any plans to become one) for either of the two camps, but the Hofschneider/Yumul (HY) political attack ad “Titanic”, printed in both local papers, was in very, very poor taste–especially when you consider that the “Titanic” was a tragic event in which 1,500 passengers/crew tragically lost their lives. And, to use such a depiction for a paid political ad is just something else (there were too many words that came to mind). Out of all the possible political attack ads one could potentially come up with, that was what was decided on? It would be interesting to know who made that recommendation and who supported the decision to use that “Titanic” reference and image?
In today’s letter to the editor it was recommended that an “apology” be made to the family of the deceased (late Justice Villagomez) for an old public document that was obviously leaked to discredit one of the gubernatorial candidates. If that is the rationale to suggest an apology, then we would think that the same apology would be due, if not more so, to the families of those who tragically lost their lives on the “Titanic”, and considering that the “Titanic” ad, was a paid ad, and was used strictly as a derogatory reference for political
campaign/gain.
The letter was not leaked; it obtained was obtained through the Open Government Act. Anyone can share and post on social media. Great insight on who Heinz really is though.
Vote IT for 9 Xtra years of:
*Zero Dollars contribution to Retirement
(Courtesy of Thank you for 20years service but take your money so I don’t need to deal with you people)
*3 years of high utility bills courtesy of CUC’s $300M Contract deal
(Blackouts, High LEAC Rate, No to Energy Resources for 3 painful years)
*15% less for Education Funding. Vote 18-12 to increase Education $
*For Governor Inos to show up 10% of the time to serve the people of the CNMI
*40% budget cut for Education, CHC, and DPS
*Invite foreign Investors to buy you out
*Backstab the CNMI people after voting “No To Casino” and moving forward with Casino
*So he can lie on his health issues and not answer to the people of the CNMI on where is Governor Inos? You serve the community therefore We, the community need to have the right to know if you are fit to run as Governor….
BIBA IT – A road to failures, setbacks, and No real solutions