‘Another leak from OPA; another attack from Killili’

Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham lashed out yesterday against Public Auditor Mike Pai and CNMI Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan, saying both “will never miss an opportunity, even without merit, to attack me and the governor.”

Buckingham was particularly incensed by Sablan’s statement relating to the Office of the Inspector General report that the people of the CNMI “can have little confidence that the Office of the Attorney General will press charges or seek recovery of funds.”

Buckingham said he was limited by law as to his comment because he received a report labeled “privileged and confidential” and limited to “official use.”

He said he would confirm that he knew late last week that the Office of the Public Auditor had issued a confidential document to the governor, lieutenant governor, president of the Senate, speaker of the House, and attorney general.

“Privileged and confidential means that a document is legally restricted,” said Buckingham. “You don’t see AGO documents routinely leaked to the press or unauthorized to serve personal or political purposes. Here, once again, the [OPA] has failed to ensure the confidentiality of OPA documents and seems to be working, like they have in the past, with Congressman Sablan to make good headlines.”

When asked why he signed off on the contract with Mike Ada’s firm, Buckingham said: “There are five main reasons I signed off on the contract. First, the issue of Mike Ada being the contractor was looked at by Mike Pai as the public auditor. He offered the following comments: ‘OPA is aware of Mr. Ada’s exhaustive knowledge of the ARRA program and understands the need for continuity and compliance with the reporting requirements. Indeed, your letter presents a persuasive rationale that would seem to justify the sole sourcing of Mr. Ada’s contract.’

“OPA was silent about the ethical issues.

“Third, the contract was reviewed and approved by the CNMI Procurement Director.

“Fourth, the Commonwealth Department of Commerce reported that it was incapable of performing the review of ARRA funds.

“Last, the Commonwealth had nearly $100 million in federal funds at risk of monitoring and reporting did not continue.”

When asked if there were ethical issues present, Buckingham said: “Yes, there were ethical issues. These were troubling. In the end, it was a question of balancing interests.”

Asked if he had ever done something similar Buckingham said: “All contracts in the AG’s office are reviewed by at least two attorneys. I get one of three recommendations: sign the contract, no problem; maybe sign but there are some legal issues; or ‘don’t sign’ because there are legal problems. I recall one case where I got a contract with a ‘don’t sign’ recommendation. There were significant legal issues present. The contract was for blood for the hospital. Without authorization, the hospital would have been without blood. I decided to approve the contract and send a letter so that the legal issues would be addressed in the future. Just like this contract, that represents a judgment call.

“I stand behind the decision I made to approve the contract for the blood. And, notwithstanding the ethical issues, I believe approval of the Ada contract was appropriate.

“I do believe, personally, that Mike Ada put the governor and the Commonwealth in a very difficult situation by leaving government service and then contracting privately for his services. That was unfortunate but it’s a choice Mr. Ada made.”

In contrast to the past, Buckingham said he won’t remain silent while critics speak out. “It’s not right for OPA to allow information to be improperly disclosed in violation of the law, misused and misquoted to serve political ends.”

“OPA”, Buckingham said, “seems recently to stand for the “Office of Pai’s attorneys.”

He disclosed that Pai has now retained a fourth attorney for OPA. Buckingham had previously filed suit against Pai for hiring Joseph Pryzuski.

Buckingham said: “Since Congressman Sablan is interested in ensuring ‘public confidence’ I call on him to answer these questions: Why does Congressman Sablan criticize the Office of the Attorney General but remains silent when the Office of the Public Auditor hires a ghost employee in Hawaii? Doesn’t Congressman Sablan know that the real anger and motivation for Mike Pai against Buckingham is that the Attorney General of the CNMI stopped OPA from becoming “prosecutors?”

Buckingham said he’s “just about had it with OPA being more interested in press releases and expanding its authority rather than doing the public’s work.”

“Mr. Pai’s job is not, as I understand it, releasing confidential information to Congressman Sablan so a press release/headline can follow,” he added.

Buckingham said that Pai’s actions have included refusing to meet on areas of AGO/OPA interest and being upset that Buckingham removed OPA’s prosecution authority after Buckingham became AG

“Mr. Pai wants the job of being both auditor and prosecutor. That’s not his job. I told him this back in 2009 and he has been angry ever since. He continues to avoid working with the Office of the Attorney General on issues that really warrant our attention.”

Buckingham said it’s proper for OPA to keep watch on the AGO. “It’s also proper for the AGO to keep watch on OPA.”

He disclosed a recent e-mail where Pai refused to meet with him again on AGO-OPA audit issues. Instead, Pai wanted to meet to discuss Buckingham’s pending lawsuit against Pai.

Buckingham said: “In hiring a person who was repatriated to Hawaii as a ghost employee with a fictitious duty station of Saipan, Mr. Pai has not followed the law. Our office will enforce the law. That’s the reason for the lawsuit. Even while we may disagree on the hiring of a ghost employee in Hawaii, we should still do our assigned tasks.”

He called on Pai to “work as hard on the business of the Commonwealth as he is working on press coordination with Congressman Sablan.”

Pai earlier described Buckingham’s complaint as “the latest of what appears to be a series of attempts by the AG to disrupt OPA’s access to legal counsel and to challenge its autonomy.”

“Pai asserted that my office delayed his hiring of a fourth attorney for the Office of the Public Auditor. He said our office held a contract from July 8 with no action. He is incorrect in his accusations and his facts.

“Notwithstanding that the contract calls for an additional OPA lawyer at the expense of $40,000 and a $10,000 retainer, the contract is legal and I signed it.”

As to whether a fourth attorney for OPA is proper, Buckingham said the Office of the Attorney General might question whether a contact is proper but that is separate from whether the contract is legal.

“Normally, I would probably have spoken with the agency head about a contract like this. But, it seems Mr. Pai won’t talk with me and insists that most communication occur through his lawyers. That’s too bad because the AG and OPA head should work together.”