Reyes not running

Senate President Pete P. Reyes yesterday set the record straight that he is not running either the position of the governor or the lieutenant governor.

Reyes told Saipan Tribune he feels compelled to go on record that he is not interested in declaring his candidacy for the two top positions in the Commonwealth since a lot of people have been asking him about his plans.

The Senate president also encouraged those interested to run as senators to express their intentions now because at this point he is also considering not seeking re-election next year.

“I am considering not running. I may just support the party and contribute anyway I can to find a way to do something with our economy,” he said.

Reyes said he is committed to support the Republican Party, but at this time he is not ready to take sides with any of the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.

“I know I already have a preference on who I want to support. The important thing here is that I am announcing that I have no plan to run,” he said.

The Senate president said he wants to remove any notion that he will be declaring his candidacy.

“I don’t feel it is the time for me to run or that there is any desire for me to run for either the governor’s or lieutenant governor’s position,” he said.

Reyes urged people who have been asking and waiting for his commitment to instead support all the candidates running under the Republican banner.

“We need to support our party. I am a Republican so I feel that I owe my loyalty to the Republican Party,” he said.

The Senate president said economy is the top challenge for the next governor.

“Everything is around the issue of economy. Our Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is about economy. Everything else is about economy. So we fix the economy, we fix CUC, we fix every other problem that we have,” he said. “It doesn’t matter which governor. We just need to have the Legislature and the Executive branches working together. That is the most important thing. Put party aside once the election is over.”

He said he is proud to say that during his tenure as Senate president, lawmakers managed to put politics aside.

“Our commitment to work with the Executive Branch is based on the desire to find how we can make life easier for our people,” he added.