The only team with a record of proven leadership

We are in unprecedented times. The worst pandemic of our lifetime has set back the economies of the world, and the CNMI has not been immune to this. We must be able to work together to get through and beyond this pandemic and back to an economy of growth that supports jobs and opportunities for all.

One thing we can all be assured of is, despite the terrible natural disasters that have beset the Commonwealth over the last five years, our Republican leaders have in exemplary fashion expedited our recovery and navigated us back onto the path of economic growth. Our Republican leadership has repeatedly led our triumphant return to a growth economy.

After years of the worst economic depression in the CNMI’s history, and typhoons and historic super typhoons, Republican leadership not only set us on a course for the return of our visitor industry and economic growth, they set us on a course of historic economic growth with the highest GDP in CNMI history, the fastest growing tourism market in the nation, the most new airlines, the highest median wage in CNMI history, the highest funding to education, and the most residents in employment in CNMI history. We saw investors return to the Commonwealth, new businesses open, new services and facilities for our people, the likes we have never seen in such a short period in the history of our Commonwealth.

Our Republican leadership also saw the Retirement Fund saved from insolvency and at the point where retirees were faced with the threat of losing their pensions. Our leaders worked with the courts on the Settlement Fund, which provided stability for the Fund and ensured that our retirees would not be under threat of losing their pensions any longer.

The CNMI Republican Party brings a clear history of responsive, capable, and proven leadership to the table. It is the reason our community has fared as the safest place in the United States during this pandemic. It is why, despite our geographic location, we were able to secure adequate personal protective equipment, and tests, and set up protocols to prevent the spread, and to see the opening of our Alternative Care Site, so that even in a worst-case scenario, our community will have access to the care they need.

That our Senate and House have been able to work together and work with the administration has been a critical component of our ability to tackle our issues and critical to decisions that bear on our economy. Simply put, we would not have seen the incredible strides we have with the economy, our visitor industry, our median wage and quality of life, our public services, and our address to major natural disasters, had we not had the leadership and team effort we’ve seen between our Legislature and administration.

We need only look to our history. When our legislative houses have been divided, we have suffered gridlock and setback. When our Legislature and administration have been divided, we have suffered gridlock and setback. When our Legislature and administration have worked as a team to meet our challenges and chart our way forward, we have been met with record-breaking success.

One party in this election has been the party of divisiveness, unwilling to work together to meet those challenges, unwilling to work together to see our economy flourish, instead expending their energy and our resources trying to undermine efforts to grow the economy, undermine efforts to recover from disasters, and undermine efforts to get us safely through this pandemic. The Democrats are not a party of teamwork, they are a party of divisiveness and a Legislature torn by their continued antics will only serve to harm any efforts to get us safely out of this pandemic and get our economy back on track.

The stakes are too high for us to have a Legislature that is embroiled in political battles and that cannot function. Our CNMI Republican Party has repeatedly proven that it has the leadership and experience necessary to overcome every challenge. It is the only party that can claim that, and this is needed more than any other time in our history as a Commonwealth.

I humbly ask for your support for our Republican candidates in this election.

John Paul “Pacho” Palacios Sablan is the floor leader of the House of Representatives in the 21st Legislature and is a representative of Precinct 2.