Claudio K. Norita slammed Gov. Benigno R. Fitial for terminating him as chief of the Department of Public Safety, saying the reasons given were \u201cunsubstantiated, ridiculous, frivolous, unfounded, and nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claiming insult, Norita hinted that he may bring a defamation of character lawsuit against the governor. He also cited the Fitial\u2019s senior policy adviser, Ray Mafnas, as the one who \u201cfanatically\u201d pushed for his ouster.<\/p>\n
Press secretary Charles Reyes Jr. said the governor understands that Norita is not happy with the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand and respect his position. But the governor made a decision that\u2019s well within his rights and we\u2019re prepared to move on,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClyde is mature enough. He is intelligent. But he will soon get over this issue and move on and we only wish him the best of luck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
New Commissioner<\/p>\n
Fitial officially appointed former DPS commissioner Santiago F. Tudela as the new department chief effective on Friday. He will serve in an acting capacity until confirmed by the Senate. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have great confidence in Mr. Tudela. He knows DPS and he is respected by the DPS staff,\u201d said Fitial in a statement issued yesterday.<\/p>\n
In the termination letter issued Thursday, Fitial told the former commissioner that, although he is pleased with Norita\u2019s efforts, he is terribly concerned at the substantial revenue losses suffered under Norita\u2019s administration at DPS.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraffic revenue has ranged +\/- $300,000 per year for the Commonwealth. This results from an average of 20-35 new misdemeanor cases per week plus payable offenses,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n
In the last two years, Fitial said, a high of 72 new cases were heard on arraignment day in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubsequent to your arrival, there have been multiple weeks of \u20130- cases and a typical week is now 3-7 new cases,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n
In addition to revenue losses, the chief executive expressed concern regarding investigative work that, according to Fitial, Norita rejected based on his personal determination of what investigation material is needed to prosecute a case.<\/p>\n
\u201cProsecuting attorneys, not the commissioner, are the ones trained, licensed and responsible to present Commonwealth cases before the Superior Court,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n
Fitial also stated that Norita did not coordinate with agencies historically involved in recruitment and training of new police cadets.<\/p>\n
He said the commissioner\u2019s office has overseen a candidate selection process that now includes candidates who do not meet the criteria for law enforcement officers, including convicted felons and fugitives.<\/p>\n
Fitial said he is exercising his constitutional authority to conclude Norita\u2019s service as commissioner of DPS immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish you well in all of your future endeavors, and I thank you for volunteering to serve the administration when you were called upon to serve,\u201d said the governor in his letter.<\/p>\n
Surprise<\/p>\n
In his response letter to Fitial on Friday, Norita said he is surprised at the reasons listed for removing him, describing them as \u201cunsubstantiated and ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was prepared to accept your removal letter, citing just your sole authority to remove me. However, I am insulted that you would accuse me of such unfounded allegations,\u201d Norita told the governor.<\/p>\n
On the revenue losses issue, Norita said anybody in law enforcement knows that traffic enforcement is not about collecting revenue through citation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has never been the practice for DPS to put a quota on traffic citation and revenue generation. The sole purpose of traffic enforcement is to educate the [public] and prevent injury and death,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n
Norita, a former police officer, explained that when citation numbers go down, there are a lot of reasons such as the motoring public is complying with traffic laws or there are fewer vehicles on highways.<\/p>\n
\u201cLess vehicles on the highway is justified because of the high cost of fuel and the exodus of people from the CNMI,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
DPS, Norita emphasized, is not in the business of citing people for the sole reason of generating revenue.<\/p>\n
On the alleged manipulation of investigative work (which Norita said is a serious accusation), he demanded that the Attorney General identify a specific case.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy not citing the specific case is just another attempt to persecute my name in the public media. I find this as grounds to bring about a civil suit for defamation of character,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Press secretary Reyes pointed out, though, that the governor did not publicly publish the reasons for removing Norita. \u201cIn order to have a defamation case you have to publish it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As for hiring criminals, Norita reminded Fitial that DPS got the list of candidates to interview from the Office of Personnel Management.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one was not a shot from the hip but way below the hip. Whoever fed you this crap didn\u2019t do his homework,\u201d he told the governor.<\/p>\n
Norita explained that all applicants are processed at OPM, then OPM prepares a certification list that it delivers to DPS.<\/p>\n
At DPS, he said, all candidates are advised to take the English Placement Test and, upon passing the test, are made to take the physical agility test.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they pass the physical agility test they are interviewed by an interview committee. The interview committee then grades the candidate and then we run their names through our criminal records check,\u201d Norita said.<\/p>\n
The criminal records check, he added, is separate from the court clearance that the applicants initially submit to OPM.<\/p>\n
DPS is prevented by federal and CNMI laws from hiring individuals with felony convictions for police officer positions. Federal law prohibits felons from carrying firearms and cannot be police officers because of this restriction.<\/p>\n
Norita suggested to Fitial to closely look at an Attorney General investigator \u201cwho has been hired and has a conviction for cultivating marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally brought this to your attention,\u201d he reminded the governor.<\/p>\n
He said he is disappointed that Fitial didn\u2019t give him an opportunity \u2018to respond to this nonsense.\u201d \u201cHowever, I am confident that my removal is more political than my actual performance,\u201d Norita said.<\/p>\n
Norita was off-island when he received his termination letter. He was set to return to the island last night. <\/p>\n
Six Reasons<\/p>\n
In his farewell letter to DPS personnel on Friday, Norita cited six reasons why he was removed:<\/p>\n
First, he said, for having Lt. Gov. Timothy Villagomez sign his travel authorization.<\/p>\n
Second, Norita said, for not giving in to an official\u2019s \u201cridiculous\u201d reasons to give up his agency\u2019s obligation to provide aids to navigation and then complaining to Fitial when the U.S. Coast Guard stood by DPS\u2019 decision on its grant funds.<\/p>\n
The other reason, Norita said, was his refusal to transfer experienced detectives from DPS to the AG\u2019s White Collar Crime Unit because, according to the special prosecutor, their own investigators cannot do the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is demoralizing to hear, especially when the AG investigators are getting paid $40,000 plus a year while our police officers are struggling at $17,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fourth reason, Norita said, was his refusal to sign an AG-initiated memorandum of understanding on a long-term transfer of experienced detectives to the AG Investigative Unit without giving DPS an opportunity to provide input to the MOU.<\/p>\n
The other reason, he said, was when he acknowledged to the media the Attorney General\u2019s Office\u2019s delay in prosecuting a year-old traffic fatality case.<\/p>\n
Norita said the last reason he was kicked out was his being \u201cloyal to a friend.\u201d He did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to credit Mr. Ray Mafnas for fanatically pushing for my removal. As for why? I leave it up to you to arrive at your own conclusion which I suspect would be the same as mine and probably everybody else reading this letter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reyes said, though, that it was the governor\u2019s sole decision. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we can attribute [the decision] to any other Cabinet member. He [Fitial] made the decision and the decision only rests with the governor,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
Norita told DPS personnel that the commissioner serves at the pleasure of the governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the position that I was appointed to and the conditions of such appointment. However, Claudio K. Norita does not serve at the pleasure of the Governor, but rather the people of the CNMI,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Claudio K. Norita slammed Gov. Benigno R. Fitial for terminating him as chief of the Department of Public Safety, saying the reasons given were \u201cunsubstantiated, ridiculous, frivolous, unfounded, and nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}