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Magofna[\/captionfna<\/p>\nThe House of Representatives has raised concerns about the lack of a two-party system in the Senate\u2019s impeachment proceedings for Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.<\/p>\n
The Republican-controlled Senate is gearing up to initiate impeachment proceedings against Torres starting with a hearing Tuesday on the governor\u2019s motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment. <\/p>\n
In the memorandum calling for the attendance of the Senate body for Tuesday\u2019s hearing, Senate president Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) also noted that selected House impeachment prosecutor, Rep. Corina Magofna (D-Saipan), will not be allowed to attend.<\/p>\n
Magofna[\/captionfna<\/p>\n
In a statement from Magofna over the weekend, she raised her concerns about how the proceedings will move forward without a two-party system. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow will the Senate proceed with the impeachment hearing without the necessary two-party system, the defense and prosecution, and most importantly, without any impeachment record,\u201d she asked. <\/p>\n
Magofna said she just hopes that the Senate president\u2019s plan to initiate impeachment proceedings without the proper parties is in the best interest of the people of the Commonwealth. <\/p>\n
\u201cI sincerely hope that Senate president Hofschneider\u2019s conduct to initiate the impeachment proceeding [this] week without the proper parties involved and the necessary evidence is within the best interests of our people, and that his \u2018novel\u2019 approach does not, in a practical sense, hinder our legislative progress and injure the future of our people for years to come with his act,\u201d Magofna said. <\/p>\n
In her statement, Magofna claims that the Senate majority has made it difficult for the House to carry out its impeachment of Torres. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been quite troubling these past few months with our legislative counterpart. The Senate majority has made it extremely difficult for members of the House to exercise and engage in our constitutional oath and duties during the impeachment of Go. Torres\u2019 proceedings at the Senate level,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
With the upcoming hearing on Torres\u2019 motion to dismiss the articles of impeachment against him, the Senate has issued guidelines for public access to the Legislature in what it said is meant \u201cto ensure access for the public and to preserve the integrity of the hearing proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Livestream<\/strong> Admission<\/p>\n All persons seeking admission to the Senate gallery or lobby shall sign-in at the Senate entrance.<\/p>\n After signing-in, each person shall receive a numbered pass that shall be worn by the person in plain sight. <\/p>\n When exiting the Senate gallery or lobby, the pass shall be returned to the door-person on duty.<\/p>\n Once a person exits the gallery or lobby, they shall only be allowed re-admittance if seating is available.<\/p>\n Seating<\/strong> Select seating in the Senate gallery is reserved for media access. Proper pass or credentials must be shown to gain admission to the Senate gallery and lobby.<\/p>\n Rules during impeachment hearing<\/strong> \u2022 No food, beverages, or gum; <\/p>\n \u2022 Mobile phones, PDAs and related electronic devices must be turned OFF (vibrate is not acceptable); <\/p>\n \u2022 No cameras;<\/p>\n \u2022 No electronic music devices or games;<\/p>\n \u2022 No talking, clapping or other demonstrations; <\/p>\n \u2022 All persons shall remain seated at all times except during recess.<\/p>\n \u2022 During recess, all persons except the Senate members and authorized persons, shall exit the Senate gallery.<\/p>\n Tents<\/strong> A violation of any of the rules and guidelines will result in the immediate removal from the Senate gallery or lobby and bar readmittance for the remainder of that day of the impeachment hearing proceeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The House of Representatives has raised concerns about the lack of a two-party system in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":356735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366527","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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe impeachment hearing proceedings will be livestreamed for the public on cable TV on Channel 23 and\/or Facebook at www.facebook.com\/enmilegislature.<\/p>\n
\nSeating in the Senate gallery and lobby shall be available to the public on a first come, first serve basis.<\/p>\n
\nAll persons seated in the Senate gallery and lobby shall abide by the following guidelines:<\/p>\n
\nTents may be set up outside the Senate in the designated concrete area near the parking lot of the Legislature upon request to the director of the Legislative Bureau.<\/p>\n