Glenna out; Melchor Mendiola takes over as LB director

The Legislature will have a new Legislative Bureau director effective Oct. 1, the start of fiscal year 2012, lawmakers said yesterday.

This came after the House and Senate leaderships decided not to renew the contract of Glenna SP. Reyes and voted to pick legislative assistant Melchor Mendiola as her replacement during a closed-door meeting yesterday afternoon.

Reyes’ contract as LB director expires today.

There were 15 leadership members from the House and Senate who attended yesterday’s meeting. Some of those who were interviewed requested that their names not be published.

On a piece of paper, the 16 members wrote the name of either Reyes or Mendiola as to the question of who they want to be LB director.

There were nine members who voted for Mendiola, and only six for Reyes.

“The House leadership wants to make it right by following the Constitution, that every Legislature gets to choose the LB director. But because the current director was given a contract by the previous Legislature, we just went ahead and tried to honor that, though we thought it violated the Constitution. Now that her contract expires Sept. 30, the joint leadership should decide on her replacement,” one of the members who was at the meeting said.

Another member said it was not a matter of not renewing Reyes’ contract, but “just making it right.”

Article II Section 17(a) of the NMI Constitution holds that the LB shall be “appointed by the joint leadership of the Legislature consisting of the presiding officers, vice presiding officers, floor leaders, and the chairmen of the standing committees.”

The joint leadership wanted to ensure continuity at the LB, but has yet to decide whether Reyes could be hired for another position at the LB. Some members said that Mendiola is familiar with the bureau’s operation and transition won’t be a problem.

Some members interviewed said they thank Reyes for her service to the bureau, the lawmakers and the CNMI in general.

House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) sought a meeting between the House and Senate leadership early this week to tackle the LB director’s position, given that the current director’s contract signed by former speaker Arnold Palacios and senator Frica Pangelinan expires today.