GOP picks Bolis as delegate bet

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s Republican Party picked on Wednesday night John Oliver “Bolis” Gonzales as their candidate for nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 6, although Gonzales asked for a week to either accept or reject the nomination.

Some party members said yesterday that Gonzales is “90 percent” likely to accept the GOP nomination, given his good showing in the 2008 delegate race by finishing third in a nine-way race won by two-term Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP).

“We’ll let the public know in due time,” Gonzales told Saipan Tribune, when asked for comment yesterday.

Gonzales addressed some 100 Republican members and officers during Wednesday night’s meeting at the governor’s private residence in Gualo Rai, party members said yesterday.

He is expected to announce his official response on or before next Wednesday’s meeting of the Republican Party, also at the governor’s house.

Once he officially confirms his acceptance of GOP’s offer, Gonzales will only be the second candidate for the post; the first is Sablan, who is seeking a third term.

Sablan, when asked for comment yesterday, said, “This is our democratic process and it is a good process because elections give people a choice.”

“So it doesn’t change anything for me because I am not going to be running against anyone. I am running so I can continue the work we have been doing for our people and our Northern Mariana Islands,” Sablan said.

Sablan, who is currently on Saipan, said he is “grateful to our people for the opportunity to have served them in Congress for two terms and I ask the people for their continuing support. But, as always, I will put my complete trust in our people to decide who can represent us best in Washington.”

Fitial, chairman of the Republican Party, wants Sablan, an independent aligned with the Democratic Party in Congress, to be replaced by a Republican from the CNMI. Fitial and Sablan don’t see eye-to-eye on a host of issues.

GOP fundraising chair Juan Reyes said Gonzales “has got the best chance to beat Kilili.”

“If you look at the 2008 results, the vote difference was not that much. And at the time, many Republicans backed Kilili; this time, they will support Bolis. He is 90 percent likely to accept the nomination,” Reyes said in a phone interview.

In the historic 2008 delegate election, Sablan got 2,474 or 23 percent of the total votes cast, followed by former CNMI resident representative to Washington, D.C. Pete A. Tenorio who received 2,117. Gonzales came in third with 1,855 votes.

Ramon Salas, GOP treasurer, separately said, “Everybody was upbeat and happy that we finally got a candidate although still unofficially because he has yet to confirm.”

“He said he will still talk to his family, relatives and supporters. I personally believe that Gonzales will accept the nomination, but he wants to make the confirmation after Holy Week,” Salas said.

The CNMI is the last U.S. jurisdiction to get congressional representation, albeit a nonvoting member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as a result of a law that President Bush signed on May 9, 2008, when President Bush signed a law that also allowed Washington to take over labor and immigration controls in the Commonwealth.

The Republican Party also completed its recount of the votes cast for the six of nine delegates to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in August.

The six who will help represent the CNMI in the RNC are, from the most vote-getter to the least: Efren M. Atalig of Rota; Commonwealth Ports Authority board chair and businessman Joe Lifoifoi; Zoning Board member and GPPC business development manager Diego Blanco; GOP fundraising chair Juan Reyes; Jack Ogumoro; and GOP treasurer Ramon Salas.

They will join Fitial as party president, national committeeman Bo Palacios, and national committeewoman Viola Alepuyo to the national convention.

Reyes said all the delegates to the national convention will pay for their own airfare, accommodation, and all other expenses, which could total at least $5,000.

“But it’s all worth it, knowing that we will get to choose a presidential candidate. If a Republican candidate wins, we will already have a direct connection with the Republicans there, that’s why it’s important that our own delegate to Congress is a Republican,” said Reyes, a former Public Works secretary.

The voting was held during a March 10 caucus wherein CNMI Republicans also picked Mitt Romney among four Republican presidential candidates.

Romney picked nine delegates from the CNMI, all vowing to vote for him during the national convention in Tampa, Florida.