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‘Let the courts decide Saipan casino bill’s legality’
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Posted on Nov 02 2011
By Mark Rabago
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
His belief that the Saipan and Northern Islands Local Delegation did everything by the book and eagerness to find revenues for an ailing CNMI economy prompted Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) to file a lawsuit against Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s veto of the local Saipan casino bill.
“It took us awhile to put it together. We, the leadership, did meet with the governor prior to him vetoing the bill. We tried to ask the governor to ‘leave it to the courts. Let the courts decide because none of us are lawyers.’ I believe we went through the process based on the legal opinion of the two legal counsels that we have,” he said in interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.
The chairman of the SNILD Committee on Judicial and Governmental Operations on Friday filed a petition in Superior Court seeking declaratory relief that House Local Bill 17-44, as enacted by the delegation, be declared as a Commonwealth law.
“The findings are based on their [House legal counsels] legal opinion, we stand behind them. They’re saying that it’s constitutional and Saipan law is Commonwealth law. I was hoping that the governor would not veto it and let the court decide,” said Palacios.
Aside from infusing badly needed revenue to the CNMI’s depleted coffers, Palacios believes that allowing the courts to decide on HLB 17-44’s legality will help lawmakers finally settle the debate whether a local law is a CNMI-wide law.
“If this issue is not resolved now, future legislators may do the same thing and they may just repeat the process. With all due respect to the governor, it’s not really a lawsuit. It’s to declare which is which-whether it’s legal or not, whether it’s constitutional or unconstitutional,” he said.
Palacios said that he’s not a gambler and he and his delegation colleagues are just looking for means to raise revenue so they could help government employees out of the 64-hour austerity. He also believes that a Saipan casino industry will create more jobs.
“I hope the governor doesn’t take it personally. I hope he just looks at it in a way that we lawmakers are just trying to revive our CNMI economy and help generate revenue.”
