Attorney general Pamela Brown expressed alarm yesterday over the \u201cpossibly defamatory statements\u201d made in Chamorro by lawyer Pedro Atalig during a court hearing on the lawsuit that seeks to block to the release of land compensation to the lawyer\u2019s client, the Malite estate.<\/p>\n
Brown, who is facing a lawsuit that seeks to unseat her as attorney general, also defended her confirmation by the Senate, saying that she never assumed the post\u2014even in an acting capacity\u2014until she obtained Senate confirmation and was sworn into office.<\/p>\n
The Malite estate controversy apparently triggered the filing of the lawsuit that seeks to unseat Brown. Former Senate President Juan S. Demapan, represented by Atalig, filed the complaint in court on Thursday last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m somewhat saddened that Demapan agreed to be the plaintiff,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have an axe to grind against anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown said she was \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by Atalig\u2019s statements during the Malite estate case hearing. She characterized the statement as one that could have made one wash a child\u2019s mouth with soap if the latter said it, based on a translation by a Chamorro-speaking person.<\/p>\n
In that hearing, Atalig spoke almost entirely in Chamorro. He explained after the hearing that Brown had no authority to bring the lawsuit to court, questioning the validity of her confirmation.<\/p>\n
Brown said the AGO is in the process of translating Atalig\u2019s statement in court, adding that she is open to legal options, such as looking into the lawyer\u2019s ethical behavior.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy attorneys conduct themselves with civility,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe go on facts and law\u2026.I expect civility in the court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attorney general also noted the motivation behind the filing of the suit against her amid the Malite estate controversy. She said that, when Demapan filed a similar lawsuit against former attorney general Maya Kara, the former Senate president was facing illegal gambling charges.<\/p>\n
Brown said the 90-day clock within which she needed to be confirmed upon her nomination by Gov. Juan N. Babauta did not expire before her Senate confirmation, explaining that she never assumed the post from June to Dec. 30, 2003.<\/p>\n
Atalig pointed out that Brown failed to muster the constitutional requirement for confirmation within the 90-day deadline following her appointment by the governor on June 16, 2003. The lawyer said the 90-day deadline fell on Sept. 14, 2003, when no Senate session was held.<\/p>\n
\u201cThus, the Senate did not confirm Pamela S. Brown as attorney general on Sept. 14, 2003. Plaintiff [Demapan] contends that as soon as the 90-day Senate confirmation [deadline] expired, Pamela S. Brown\u2019s nomination as attorney general was rejected and she could not be re-nominated,\u201d Atalig said in the suit against Brown.<\/p>\n
Atalig cited 1 CMC \u00a72904, which states: \u201cIf the appointment is not confirmed by the Senate\u2026within 90 days from the date the person was temporarily appointed, the appointment shall automatically terminate, the position shall become vacant and the person nominated shall not be re-nominated.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sept. 17, 2003, the Senate explicitly rejected Brown\u2019s nomination, according to Atalig. The Senate action transpired when the then minority bloc led by Sen. Pete Reyes took control over the Upper House\u2019s leadership. The new leadership called for a session and with four senators present, three of them voted to reject Brown\u2019s confirmation. One lawmaker abstained from voting.<\/p>\n
On the same day, Reyes, who took over the post of Senate President, wrote a letter to Babauta to inform the governor that the Senate rejected his nomination of Brown.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 17, 2003, however, five senators convened on Rota to regain the Senate leadership. The four minority senators who had taken over the leadership were absent. In that session, the five senators unanimously voted in favor of Brown\u2019s confirmation.<\/p>\n
The suit against Brown also alleged that she has been receiving salary and incurring expenses as attorney general unlawfully. It asked the court to compel repayment of funds received by Brown from the government in the form of salary and expenses as attorney general.<\/p>\n
The suit also asked the court to permanently bar the CNMI government from paying Brown the salary and expenses of an attorney general, whether in official or acting capacities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attorney general Pamela Brown expressed alarm yesterday over the \u201cpossibly defamatory statements\u201d made in Chamorro by lawyer Pedro Atalig during a court hearing on the lawsuit that seeks to block to the release of land compensation to the lawyer\u2019s client, the Malite estate.<\/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-86394","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\/86394","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=86394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}