KUDO Awards

And this week’s “KUDO” awards go to the following winners:

1) Deanne Siemer for “transparency” above and beyond any government official (with several exceptions). In writing a secret letter to Cinta Kaipat on “how to deal with that freshman upstart Tina Sablan,” this upstanding “volunteer” lawyer copied the letter to—yes—Tina herself. It’s hard to conceive of a noted attorney doing something like this by accident (that would be too foolish for even a government official). So one must assume that this was done in the grand spirit of transparency. If only all officials would follow this lead, the people of Saipan might begin to fathom the workings of our government.

2) Press secretary Charles Reyes Jr., for his most entertaining comments, providing the readers with daily chuckles. His latest understatement, regarding Siemer’s letter to Sablan, was sent “by mistake, apparently” (ya think???). Hmmm, somewhere I seemed to have missed any real response regarding the negative impact of this very disturbing letter. Oh well, business as usual. Charlie: keep up the daily rhetoric; very entertaining, amusing, and better than reading the funnies. Your current job is great preparation for a future as a Comedy Central stand-up comedian…or a puppeteer.

3) The Executive Branch who is telling everyone to tighten their belt, that the economy is belly up, and that we all must make great sacrifice during this time of economic hardship; and then overspent their FY 2008 budget to the tune of $11.9 million, far exceeding any other governmental agency. Not much comment needed here. Guess one could conclude that there’s not much belt tightening on Capital Hill.

4) And the top KUDO award of the week goes to CUC’s executive director Tony Muna for threatening to turn off power to PSS—and then somehow justifying it by placing the blame on Shell, Mobil, Agrekko, space aliens, cosmic dust, cancer, and brown tree snakes. Now, am I missing something? Are not CUC and PSS part of the same CNMI government? Further, if the Executive Branch stayed within the limit of their budget, the power could stay on, the kids would continue to learn, and the adults will look like they might know what they’re doing. Maybe the space aliens would do a better job. For that matter, let the students run the government…it would be a lot cheaper and a heck of a lot more productive.