![\"Cohen\"](\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/David-Cohen.jpg\")
<\/a>Cohen said the solution in restoring the public\u2019s confidence in the process of picking a winner of the minimum $2-billion integrated casino resort is to not just \u201caward one license, [but] award two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cohen said that the reason they oppose HB 18-195 is that they object the \u201ctactic of repealing and reenacting the Saipan casino law rather than simply amending it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is only one conceivable reason to use this tactic, to kill the anti-casino referenda, the referenda specifically targets Public Laws 18-38 and 18-43 for repeal,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf HB 18-195 were enacted, the referenda would be rendered moot because PL 18-38 and 18-43 would already be repealed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Cohen told Rotary members that public laws would be replaced with an \u201calmost identical law with a new number.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat new number would protect the casino law from the referenda, but it would not address the concerns of the thousands of voters who have signed petitions against this casino law, those voters are petitioning their government to change the policy, not the bill number,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen also told the Rotary that they disagree with HB 18-195\u2019s attempt to close the door on judicial review.<\/p>\n
The reason for the disagreement of closing those \u201cdoors\u201d is that it would create suspicion that casino supporters are trying to shield \u201ca flawed process\u201d from accountability.<\/p>\n
Another reason is that if casino were to come into action on Saipan, the community would need an \u201ceffective and independent watchdogs\u201d to protect the community\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be dangerous and unwise to shut out the judiciary, which is one of the most important watchdogs for the people,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
According to Cohen, there was supposed to be an independent casino commission in place with the governor and the mayors of Rota and Tinian all appointing members with all three legislative delegations involved in confirming the members.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe selection process was designed to be broadly inclusive, involving both the CNMI government and the municipal governments, both the Executive and the Legislature,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen also said the casino commission was supposed to determine the criteria for awarding the casino license.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of being driven by the independent casino commission, the process has been implemented by the Executive branch only: The authority to establish selection criteria has been usurped by the governor and lieutenant governor and other important authorities for the casino commission have been usurped by the Lottery Commission,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen also said that the process \u201cas actually implemented\u201d lacks independence, formality, deliberation, broad participation, public input, transparency, and checks and balances that the Legislature properly intended.<\/p>\n
He expressed the fact that the process has been \u201cimproperly transformed\u201d and is completely controlled by one branch of the government and that HB 18-195 would approve that transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would this Legislature want to shut itself out of a process that will have such an impact on the future of the CNMI?\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen also said that the powers of the Lottery Commission should be transferred to the independent casino commission.<\/p>\n
He noted that the selection of the licensees should not be under the executive branch because they lack independence and minimum qualification standards.<\/p>\n
Cohen\u2019s reasons for a two casino license is that CNMI will get a total of $30 million per year from both rather than just $15 million from one.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach applicant will get half a loaf, but the CNMI will get twice the revenue for the retirees, for health care, for schools, for infrastructure, for everyone,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen noted the fact that in Macau, the economy soared when it introduced competition into its casino industry, and its gaming revenues surpassed those of the Las Vegas strip quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompetition also lowers the risk that the CNMI will be dominated by one big corporate behemoth that will inevitably become more powerful than the government,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost importantly, a non-monopoly assures the integrity of the process, removing any suspicion that legislation was rushed, or designed, for any one bidder,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Cohen said that the rushing of the casino law is likely to get wrong, and is putting the very future of the CNMI at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it worth exposing future generations to that risk, just so we can speed up the retirement increases by a couple of months? I doubt that most retirees would want us to risk the future of their grandchildren by making monumental decisions in haste,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David B. Cohen, a former deputy assistant secretary for Office of Insular Affairs under the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":39711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[256,26,194,928],"class_list":["post-39709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-casino","tag-cnmi","tag-house-bill","tag-lottery-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39709","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\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}