{"id":31233,"date":"2014-04-01T17:24:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T09:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tribune.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=31233"},"modified":"2014-04-01T17:24:31","modified_gmt":"2014-04-01T09:24:31","slug":"propst-vies-precinct-1-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/propst-vies-precinct-1-house-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Propst vies for Precinct 1 House seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed Propst, a long-time advocate for a transparent, accountable, and corruption-free government, will seek a seat in the House of Representatives representing Precinct 1 in the November elections. He will be an independent candidate.<\/span>
\nPropst, 43, said that instead of a \u201cplatform,\u201d his team will be preparing a \u201ccontract\u201d with the people of Precinct 1 that spells out \u201cthe things that I will do and will not do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with platforms is that as soon as they\u2019re written, they\u2019re ignored and they\u2019re thrown away,\u201d Propst said in an interview yesterday.<\/p>\n

Propst said the \u201cculture of politics up at Capital Hill needs to change,\u201d adding that the CNMI needs to have leaders that are \u201cgoing to read the bills, debate and discuss bills, and look what is really in the best interest of not the select few but all of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[People] have asked me, \u2018what are you going to do when none of your bills gets passed?\u2019 I\u2019ve been telling people the job of a legislator is not [only] making sure that the bills get passed but [also] ensure that bad bills don\u2019t get passed. We\u2019re the watchdog of the CNMI and we have to protect our assets with little money we have,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said his main motivation is \u201cthe ability to help others,\u201d coupled with \u201cfrustration with the way things are done for far too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Propst was among those who publicly supported the 17th and 18th House\u2019s impeachment resolutions against former governor Benigno R. Fitial for corruption, felony, and neglect of duty, and has been vocal about what he perceives as the government\u2019s improper handling of public affairs, including the Saipan casino gaming bill that he said was \u201crushed\u201d to passage without the benefit of a public hearing and without proper review by lawmakers.<\/p>\n

For about a month, Propst weighed the pros and cons of seeking elected office and he came up with a decision on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Propst is a graduate of Marianas High School. He went to Northern Marianas College, and graduated from University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1999 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in communications. He is currently program manager of the Public School System\u2019s Head Start.<\/p>\n

Precinct 1 has six available seats but the number of declared and potential candidates is now much more than that as of this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed Propst, a long-time advocate for a transparent, accountable, and corruption-free government, will seek a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[182,26,67],"class_list":["post-31233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-capital-hill","tag-cnmi","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31233","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}