Island notables to attend Sablan’s swearing in

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and outgoing CNMI Resident Rep. Pete A. Tenorio are among the current and former Northern Marianas officials invited to witness Delegate-elect Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan as he takes his oath of office as the Commonwealth’s first-ever representative to the U.S. Congress.

All members of the incoming 111th Congress will be sworn-in on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2009.

According to a news release issued by Sablan’s office, Fitial, Tenorio and Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan have accepted invitations to the historic event. The governor will bring his wife, Josie.

Sablan invited both Senate President Pete Reyes and Speaker of the House Arnold I. Palacios, but neither will attend.

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will preside over the ceremonial event in the Rayburn Room just off the main floor of the House of Representatives.

Sablan has also invited a number of men who have been instrumental in developing the political relationship between the United States and the Northern Marianas.

Invitee Edward DLG. Pangelinan was the chairman of the Marianas Political Status Commission, which negotiated the Covenant of Political Union during the mid-1970s. Pangelinan also served as the first resident representative to the United States, a position that will cease to exist when Sablan becomes a member of the U.S. Congress.

Tenorio, who as the current resident representative was directly involved in the passage last year of U.S. Public Law 110-229—the law creating the new Northern Marianas Delegate position—is another of the important CNMI leaders who will be present. Tenorio has a long career in elected office, including service on the Marianas Political Status Commission and as a two-term lieutenant governor.

Howard P. Willens, who provided legal services to the Commission during its negotiations with the U.S. government and is co-author of several books chronicling the creation of the Commonwealth, has also accepted an invitation to the event. Willens now serves as special legal counsel to Fitial and helps with the lawsuit that the governor has filed against the federal government to contest the labor provisions of the new immigration law.

“It is an honor to be representing the people of the Northern Marianas on this historic day,” Sablan said in a statement. “And I am particularly thankful that so many of the CNMI’s leaders have chosen to recognize the importance of this day by traveling to Washington to be present.”

Family and friends will accompany Sablan for his swearing in. Wife Andrea, son Jesse and daughter Patricia are all traveling to be with Sablan when he takes his oath office.

Sablan has also invited his friend and niece Merced Aldan-Ada to be present and his uncle Joe Borja. James D. Livingstone, a former assistant attorney general in the Northern Marianas, who served as counsel to the Commonwealth Election Commission while Sablan was executive director and who is now a prosecuting attorney with the State of Massachusetts, is another of Sablan’s friends who will be on hand.