AG: Unethical? Victims? Puh-leeze!

Amid the Senate’s request to have him investigated, Attorney General Ed Buckingham said yesterday there’s nothing unethical about his decision to approve a sole-source contract that will ensure tens of millions of dollars in ARRA contracts will be properly administered, adding that he would have made the same decision to sign off on the contract even today.

Buckingham threw back questions to the Senate: “What did I do that’s not ethical? Did I get some money for this contract? Did somebody give me a kickback? Reasonable people can disagree but when one disagrees, that does not make it unethical.”

He said “unethical” is such a big word that many do not really understand it.

The attorney general also said former Commerce secretary Michael Ada and Procurement and Supply director Herman Sablan, along with former Finance secretary Bob Schrack, are not “victims,” contrary to what senators said last week.

Buckingham and assistant attorney general David Lochabay, the chief of the Office of the Attorney General’s Civil Division when the almost $400,000 sole-source contract was awarded last year, said that Sablan and Schrack, among other government officials, signed off on the contract before that contract reached the attorney general’s desk.

The attorney general said he did not influence the decisions of these government officials to sign off on the contract.

“I didn’t influence their judgment,” he added.

He said only the governor could say they are a “victim” because the governor was the last one to sign off on the contract.

“Mike Ada, who got the benefit of the contract and is getting money…now admittedly he’s working for it, he’s earning it, and he’s delivering services to the Commonwealth. I make Mike Ada a victim? My comment there is, ‘Please,’” Buckingham said.

The attorney general also said he does not feel like he’s being turned into a sacrificial lamb or a victim although he said it is “very unfortunate” that these issues take time away from more important matters.

“Am I feeling like a victim? No. I don’t feel like a victim. I feel that the Office of the Attorney General and me as the attorney general are subject to public review, to public criticism. I respect that there are and should be different views. What I promise to do is to do the best I can to serve the Commonwealth… I have never and will never promise to be perfect,” he added.

The attorney general also said Public Auditor Michael Pai could have raised concerns about ethics when Gov. Benigno R. Fitial wrote him in September, asking for an opinion before the administration decided to go ahead with a sole-source ARRA management contract to Ada’s private firm, days after Ada resigned as Commerce secretary and CNMI ARRA czar.

Buckingham also said he’s grateful that Lochabay was willing to say something on the matter.

He said the only regret he has is if this matter causes any harm or embarrassment to the hardworking people of the OAG.

Buckingham and Lochabay said the AG’s decision to sign off on the contract considered all the things happening at the time the contract was presented—the tens of millions of dollars in ARRA contracts that had to be administered, running the risk of losing ARRA money and having the federal government coming down on the CNMI if ARRA was not properly administered, the validity of the contract, the sole source justification approved by Procurement and Supply, having the then acting Commerce secretary saying that Commerce could not administer ARRA, the risk of waiting for three to six months to wait for bids, and not having any concerns raised by the Office of the Public Auditor.

“Do I regret the decision that I made? No, I do not,” Buckingham said. “Now someone wants to criticize now. That’s easy to do.”

The Senate adopted last week a resolution asking the CNMI Bar Association to investigate Buckingham for alleged ethical violations when he approved a sole-source contract for ARRA management.