Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said yesterday he respects the opinion of some members of the CNMI Republican Party who are unhappy with his selection as party president, and advised them to \u201cdrink milk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody has his own mind so let them speak their mind. I have my own mind but I will never address them,\u201d he said, adding that he has been meeting with Republicans every week.<\/p>\n
He said he \u201cwill never force people to do what they don\u2019t want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if they don\u2019t want to be with me, I respect that. So my prayers go to them,\u201d he told reporters yesterday.<\/p>\n
The governor, at the same time, said his being the president of the party again and his connection with the Republican National Committee will bring \u201ctangible benefits and advantages\u201d to the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the wonderful thing about being a Republican now because it\u2019s a Republican year. The Republicans in the United States are becoming stronger so, you know, you develop relationship and now that relationship translates into tangible benefits, advantage for the Commonwealth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fitial was unanimously chosen by those present at the meeting on Saturday when Juan N. Babauta stepped down to devote his time as chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Health Corp.<\/p>\n
But sitting Republican lawmakers said they were not invited to the Saturday meeting nor were they informed about amendments to the party bylaws that paved the way for an elected official to become party president.<\/p>\n
Fitial, however, has this to say: \u201cMy word to them? Drink milk\u2026That helps remove ulcer\u2026I think they have problem with ulcer so my advice is for them to drink milk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Ray Tebuteb (R-Saipan), one of those with misgivings about Saturday\u2019s meeting and Fitial\u2019s selection, said when Fitial talks about his connections to the Republican National Committee, he also needs to mention his connections to disgraced Washington, D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, and the others.<\/p>\n
Tebuteb said as for the \u201cmilk\u201d advice, he said he\u2019s already drinking coconut milk anyway.<\/p>\n
House minority leader Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan) said the governor\u2019s statements are not worth responding to.<\/p>\n
Fitial said he received congratulatory letters from the Republican National Committee, which he said is standard when someone becomes state chairman of the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he\u2019s going to run as delegate candidate, he said this is a separate matter.<\/p>\n
Some Republican lawmakers said Fitial betrayed the Republican Party when he abandoned it in 2001 to form a new party for his gubernatorial bid, and he therefore \u201cshould not be made to lead the same party he had betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
They questioned how Fitial and his core group could promote unity among Republicans when they failed to give courtesy to Republican incumbents about a meeting and amendments to bylaws.<\/p>\n
Fitial founded and headed the CNMI Republican Party until he formed his own Covenant Party for his gubernatorial bids in 2001 and 2005. Babauta ran against Fitial in these two elections. Fitial was re-accepted to the Republican Party early this year, and called on other Covenant Party members to follow him. <\/p>\n
Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos and other Covenant members remain with the Covenant Party. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said yesterday he respects the opinion of some members of the CNMI Republican Party who are unhappy with his selection as party president, and advised them to \u201cdrink milk.\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-156556","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\/156556","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=156556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}