Sablan not recusing self from Impeachment Committee

Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan), who is the NMI Democratic Party’s candidate for governor in the November 2022 gubernatorial election, made it clear yesterday that she is not going to recuse herself from the Special Investigating Committee on Impeachment and that she will vote “yes” for the impeachment of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.

In response to Saipan Tribune’s request for comments, Sablan said Torres does not get to dictate the terms of his own investigation and impeachment.

Sablan said if it were up to Torres, based on the “criteria” he has set for the component of the impeachment committee, 15 of the 20 sitting members of the House of Representatives would be disqualified and the Special Committee on Impeachment would consist entirely of his political allies remaining in the House.

“My position is already known and very clear: I support impeachment. I signed that resolution. I will vote yes when it comes to the floor,” she said.

Gilbert Birnbrich, who is the counsel for the Office of the Governor, requested House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) on Tuesday not to include Sablan in the impeachment committee since she has already announced her intent to run as governor.

Birnbrich said the committee should also not include representatives who have previously expressed an opinion on the guilt of Torres as alleged in the impeachment resolution.

Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan)

Birnbrich said it would also be unseemly for the committee to have any members who are themselves accused of criminal activities.

At a radio press briefing Monday, Torres said Sablan should not be included in the committee because she is running for governor and so has a motive to make sure that she try everything she can to remove him because that’s one less opponent for her.

Sablan is also a member of the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee, which is investigating Torres’ expenditures of public funds and travels.

Despite Birnbrich’s request, Villagomez went ahead and appointed Sablan to the nine-member impeachment committee.

Sablan said yesterday that her position is based on two years of extensive review of thousands of pages of the governor’s records of expenditures, and hours upon hours of hearings with witnesses who testified under oath that led her to conclude that Torres has abused his powers as governor and that these abuses rise to the level of impeachment.

“Impeachment is a remedy provided in the Constitution for the Legislature to hold the governor accountable for abuses of power,” she said.

The lawmaker said she has considered the facts, the evidence, the guidance of the Constitution and their duties and responsibilities as legislators, to reach her conclusion.

She said all other representatives will be called upon to do the same.

Sablan said she reached her position on impeachment long before she agreed to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for her as candidate for governor.

She said she will not recuse from participating in the Special Investigating Committee on Impeachment or voting in this process.

Sablan said upon consulting with a legal counsel, it is clear that nothing in the rules or the law would require recusal of any member merely because they are running for governor or lieutenant governor.

“Again, we are legislators, we have a job to do, and part of that job is providing checks and balances and holding the executive accountable for misconduct and abuses of power,” she said.

Sablan said the same has held true at the federal level as members of the U.S. Congress running for president at the time still participated and voted in presidential impeachment cases, and they were very vocal and open about their positions.