Saipan delegation wants end to ‘lavish’ Liberation fest

Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation chair Rep. Ray Tebuteb (R-Saipan) said yesterday that the CNMI government and the community are financially broke yet the Saipan Mayor’s Office still pushes for usual “lavish” Liberation Day festivities that last a month instead of just having a meaningful Fourth of July Parade. Such one-day festivities, he said, does not make Saipan less patriotic.

“We are broke, and the last thing we should be spending our limited money on is a monthlong or few weeks’ celebration that costs taxpayers some $69,000 or $70,000. That could help with other more critical needs such as medical referral,” Tebuteb told Saipan Tribune.

While he cannot make a decision unilaterally, he believes that SNILD will support a proposal to have a one-day festivity instead of one-week or one-month festivities.

“After all, it’s called Liberation Day, not Liberation Month,” Tebuteb said.

Henry Hofschneider, officer-in-charge at the Saipan Mayor’s Office, said yesterday that the Liberation activities are “not lavish at all.”

“We’re not asking for one month. We’re looking at least one week. Even the mayor [Donald Flores] is open to just a parade on July 4. Even that will cost money,” Hofschneider said when asked for comment.

He said the almost $70,000 they spent last year was for a “bare bone setup.”

Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan), chair of SNILD’s Ways and Means Committee, said the mayor’s office is contradicting itself when it said it was able to hold Liberation festivities without funding from SNILD and is now threatening to not have any festivities at all because SNILD does not provide them funding. Yumul said he defers further comments until next week.

Tebuteb issued a memo yesterday, calling for a SNILD meeting with the Saipan Mayor’s Office on Tuesday at 9am in the House chamber. “The purpose of this meeting is to discuss issues with regards to 2012 Liberation Day Festival,” Tebuteb said.

Hofschneider said the mayor and other staffers will be attending the meeting.

The delegation presented again yesterday the kind of expenses that the mayor’s office incurred last year during the Liberation Day festivities.

For example, the mayor’s office reported only $426 in raffle ticket sales yet spent $6,000 in raffle prizes and $1,445 in raffle tickets/letterhead printing.

The largest expense was tents rental at $12,960; followed by emcee/entertainment at $8,774; stage/sound system at $7,900; meal coupons at $5,250; float prizes at $4,500; and $4,102.33 in construction/electrical materials.