Yumul undecided whether to align with Dems

Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (R-Saipan) said yesterday that he has not decided yet whether to align with the Democratic Party in the coming 22nd House of the Representatives and that “everything is up in the air.”

“Right now, we’re looking at [all] options. Obviously, everyone is looking at me as the person, that, you know, might switch or align, if that’s what they call it,” said Yumul in an interview.

There have been persistent talks that Yumul will align himself with the Democratic Party, a move that will likely make the Democrats the new majority in the House.

He said right now he’s looking at what’s best and how the dynamics of the next Legislature will be and how to serve the CNMI to its greatest potential.

“I haven’t decided yet. Obviously, there was a lot of offers being made by both sides,” said Yumul, adding that he works well with both Republican and Democratic parties.

When asked when he is going to make a final decision, Yumul said that, based on his past experience with the 19th Legislature, it went all the way to the 11th hour or early morning of the inauguration day when they found out how the leadership was formed.

He said it depends on the two leaders who are interested in becoming House speakers.

“So that’s something we’re looking at now,” said Yumul, stressing that he’s not interested in becoming a speaker.

He said there’s somewhere they differ in ideals and that’s something that he is going to look and see what the formulation of the next House leadership and he will go from there.

“I don’t want to see a Legislature that’s going to go to an impasse or a split, you know that’s something that will not benefit anyone. There will always be fighting on both sides. So we’ll see what will happen,” the lawmaker said.

Yumul has been serving as Precinct 3 representative since the 18th Legislature.

In the 22nd Legislature, Yumul said his priority is seeing the revival of Little League games, that it’s been two years since people haven’t seen any activities from Little League.

“And so I like to see that happen this time. Two years of not seeing sports in the villages is quite a long time. So we’ll be focused on that. This is bringing back the fields back up to date so that kids can start playing and hopefully get to play abroad,” Yumul said.