Some House of Representatives lawmakers want to expose the names and fees of \u201clobbyists or consultants\u201d on the payroll of the Saipan casino, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC, with a particular focus on those paid to lobby the Legislature or government.<\/p>\n
During a meeting with the casino regulators yesterday, House Commerce and Tourism committee chair Joseph Leepan Guerrero (R-Saipan) asked regulators to, at the earliest convenience, provide the listing of \u201cso-called lobbyists\u201d that Imperial Pacific have listed down on their master vendor list so they could \u201creadily identify who are behind\u201d these individuals.<\/p>\n
Leepan Guerrero told Saipan Tribune after the meeting that the regulators, the Commonwealth Casino Commission, disclosed that \u201ca former congressman and respectful individuals submitted their intent to lobby for\u201d Imperial Pacific. \u201cWe want to track those down and make sure it does not impact our ability to enact laws. We don\u2019t want to be put into the spot where we are working with lobbyists related with Best Sunshine [International, Ltd]. We want to make sure everything is transparent\u2026We don\u2019t want any special interest we are giving to Best Sunshine [casino company under IPI], we want to make sure that the community is protected at large.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said these consultants are \u201caffluent people, adding that, \u201cmost of them are local people from here in the CNMI\u201d and saying that lawmakers want to \u201caccount for them\u201d and know who these individuals are.<\/p>\n
Leepan Guerrero, though, when asked, said he did not know these individuals\u2019 names and that the commission needs to \u201ccategorize\u201d these consultants and work with Imperial Pacific to signify \u201cwho is lobbying for the Legislature, or the government, and who is lobbying for the hotel and casino industry and so forth,\u201d adding that it was particularly important to know who is paid to lobbying the government. \u201cWe need to make certain,\u201d he said, \u201cthat we are not put in the spot that we are in favor of the IPI. I for one support the intent of the casino, which is to generate revenue. I am looking forward to the completion of the Grand Mariana Casino Resort\u2026The economy of the CNMI people is going to boom.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commission was invited by the House tourism committee to speak to lawmakers yesterday on 10 questions sent earlier\u2014ranging from tax to hotel and casino operations information, among others\u2014that also asked for a list of \u201clobbyists\u201d Imperial Pacific employed.<\/p>\n
According to the July 6, 2016, report provided to the Legislature, the House asked for the number of casino lobbyists including names and their fees. <\/p>\n
\u201cIPI report submitted to the Commission on July 1, 2016, reported Mr. Alfred Yue as their casino lobbyist with a monthly fee of $5,000,\u201d commission chair Juan Sablan said in the report. \u201cHowever, IPI Monthly Master Vendor List shows several hundred vendors some of which were recorded as performing consultancy work.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the meeting yesterday, commission lawyer Michael Ernest said that Alfred Yue was the one \u201cregistered\u201d lobbyist under IPI licensed by the Commonwealth Election Commission. Ernest noted he believes there are only four or five registered in the entire Commonwealth this year, with \u201cthe only listed IPI\u201d being Yue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a gentleman who was a former legislator who has a lobbying license but did not disclose his principal. I know his name, I just do not know who he is working for,\u201d Ernest said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know if they are so-called consultants-slash-lobbyists,\u201d commission executive director Edward C. Deleon Guerrero told Saipan Tribune after the meeting. \u201cThey are some general description of what their purpose is,\u201d he said. But Public Law 19-24, or the amended Saipan casino law, allows them to disclose anyone on the master vendors list if it is gaming-related.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not know what the contract agreement is below $100,000. It is below our regulator licensing requirement\u2026But now we are going to approach IPI to give us a copy of those agreement, of those consultants, and if they are gaming [related] then we will release it to the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if these are locally based consultants, Deleon Guerrero said \u201csome\u201d were, adding some help with construction and design. \u201cSeveral locals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked if they are related in anyway to political parties and if the commission vets for this, Deleon Guerrero said, \u201cI don\u2019t know\u2026 We don\u2019t really look at political parties. But we are concerned now that it be gaming,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t know that until we see the actual agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero stressed that \u201clobbyists are defined differently\u201d than casinos under the casino law where lobbyists are required to register under the election commission. \u201cBut in the context of consultant, you may not be a lobbyist but you may be consultant. So if you are gaming\u2014which we will find out\u2014then we need to report it to the Legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero acknowledged, though, that he could imagine consultants doing similar jobs as lobbyists do but emphasized, \u201cthe law treats lobbyist very specifically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero assured Leepan Guerrero yesterday that they would provide a list of the consultants as soon as they get clarification if they are \u201cgaming-related\u201d consultants, as the commission believes that the Saipan casino law limits them to releasing information for those on the vendors list only if they are tied to casino gaming. <\/p>\n
Rep. Edward Propst (Ind-Saipan) believes they may have to revisit the gaming law to make it more transparent for the public, when sought for comment on the issue of consultant work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that nothing is kept in the dark,\u201d he said. \u201cFinancial disclosures are very important. We want to know where the money is coming in from and we would like to know the breakdown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Propst said it was \u201cabsolutely\u201d a concern that these consultants might pose some clout or influence politically and said \u201cthey need to know who they.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to know their end game,\u201d Propst said. \u201cSo if they are politically paid lobbyists that will shed some light on what their positions are with this. As representatives, we speak for the people; we are hired by the people. These are lobbyists paid for by a special organization to get there way so that is a very valid concern.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some House of Representatives lawmakers want to expose the names and fees of \u201clobbyists or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[3126,152,12497,67],"class_list":["post-232158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-commonwealth-casino-commission","tag-deleon-guerrero","tag-ipi","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232158","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}