‘Get that money!’

This letter was inspired by the $4.5 million in federal ARRA highway funds the CNMI might miss out on because we were the only state level government in America that hadn’t done its home work and filed the proper documentation. The facts are in the details and anyone with common sense can see that someone was asleep at the wheel. I have often questioned how the present administration seems to be incapable of “multitasking” and the loss of $4.5 million is an excellent example. The inability to multitask was obvious to me when the governor couldn’t accomplish the simple task of appointing a teacher to the Board of Education, which is required by law. Our leader has been so busy fighting that he forgot the CNMI was supposed to collect $4.5 million before passing go—figuratively.

“Get that money!” is a slang you will often hear in many of the poor areas of America and it made me think about the fact that more than anything our next governor must be able to get that money if the CNMI is going to ever get out of this financial hole we have dug. If he doesn’t find new sources of income for the CNMI that hole may very well be the burial site of a failed economy and that’s for true. I’m not trying to scare anyone but when it comes to the many challenges facing our next governor, the primary solution to an overwhelming majority of our problems being solved boils down to finding new sources of federal funding and the creation of new industries.

When I thought about who among the candidates for governor was best suited to get that money it was really a no-brainer because its common knowledge among the people as to their identity. I wanted to share this common sense phenomenon with the public and to make sure this letter is printed I didn’t mention the candidate’s name. But if you want to know the answer as to which candidate is best suited to get that money you only need to ask yourself three questions about the candidates for governor: 1. Who has secured way over $100 million for the CNMI in the past decade? 2. Who has the best established working relationship with the federal because our future is directly dependant on our working relationship with the feds? 3. Who is best suited to work with investors who are approved visitors by the feds to enter the CNMI, especially South Korea and Japan? I’m sure your answer will likely be the same one I got in my poll that showed 54 percent knew the right candidate, 16 percent didn’t have any idea, and 30 percent picked the wrong candidate. I’m asking every voting citizen to do their homework on the candidates and think about the right answer to these three vital questions when you make the most important voting decision to-date about the CNMI’s leadership for the future because the CNMI needs a governor that can get that money!
[B] Ambrose M. Bennett[/B] [I]Kagman[/I]