‘Impeachment record a disorganized jumble’

Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) described yesterday as a “disorganized mess” the House of Representatives’ impeachment record, adding that this demonstrates a lack of proper leadership in the guidance of the House prosecution.

Hofschneider, who is the presiding officer in the impeachment case against Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, said in a press statement that the product (impeachment record) the House presented as “meticulously prepared” was a disorganized mess.

He said this happened perhaps due to the House’s refusal to participate in the impeachment proceedings in any meaningful way.

Hofschneider

The Senate president said House clerk Linda Muña cannot be held responsible for the inappropriate impeachment record as such responsibility lies with the group of representatives that have claimed to be the prosecutors for the House.

House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan), vice speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan), and Rep. Corina L. Magofna (D-Saipan) have all declined the Senate’s appointment for each of them to serve as House prosecutor.

Villagomez instead filed a notice to the Senate for Attao, Magofna, and Reps. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan), Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota), and Leila Staffler (D-Saipan) to serve as the House prosecutorial team.

On Wednesday, Muna asked for an additional 30 days to have the deficiencies in the impeachment record corrected as she was only given 48 hours to do it. Hofschneider declined the request, noting that the House was given ample time, including an earlier extension.

Senate clerk Dolores Bermudes informed Muña Monday that her office had identified numerous deficiencies in the official House Impeachment Record.

In his press statement yesterday, Hofschneider said the Senate has not received an impeachment record from the House that conforms with the Impeachment Rules in even the most “forgiving” reading of the rules.

Hofschneider said the proposed record claimed to include documents that were not present at all, pages lacked page numbers or any identifying marks, pages were out of order in the document, and over 3,000 pages were missing from the final document.

He said the Impeachment Rules placed an “extremely light” burden on the House for the impeachment record.

The Senate president reiterated that those rules required the impeachment record to be organized by three very simple reasons—consecutive pagination, a table of contents, and organized first by Article of Impeachment and second by chronological order.

Hofschneider said it is apparent that the House clerk provided to the Senate exactly what was provided to her.

“Unfortunately, the documents provided to the House clerk did not include all of what was claimed to be included,” he said.

To make things worse, Hofschneider said, the House chose not to include any transcripts of the proceedings as required by Rule 9 (b). He said the House provided no explanation and, instead, maintains that the record was in substantial compliance.

Hofschneider said from the date of the passage of Impeachment Rules last March 3, the House had 14 days to prepare the record. He said the House asked for and received a seven-day extension pursuant to Rule 9 to provide the record to the Senate.

The Senate president said the House could have requested an additional extension pursuant to Rule 9 of any reasonable time it needed to submit the record. He said the House never made any such request.

Hofschneider said if the record was in such disorganized state, the House had ample time to request an extension. He said now the House is requesting an extension not supported by any rule and demanding an accommodation while simultaneously complaining that the format the Senate has requested is illogical.

The Senate president said it is not illogical to request documents be ordered by page number. “To suggest it is easy for all parties to find a document that is given a page number but does not appear in the record in page number order is illogical,” Hofschneider said.

He said in short, the record as submitted was a disorganized jumble of documents listed out of order or missing altogether.

He said an organized and responsible prosecutor would have overseen the submission to guarantee it matched the requirements.

Hofschneider emphasized that Muña has personally performed as well as could be expected in the absence of guidance from a prosecutor or House leadership. He said it would have been more appropriate for the House leadership to request an extension based on a legitimate desire to provide a record in compliance with the rules, while citing a provision of the rules that would permit such an extension.

“If we were to vote to impeach, the impeached official would have solid grounds to overturn the impeachment for failure to follow the established rules,” the Senate president said.

He said the House leadership should have accepted its role, recognized its error, and made a request that the Senate had the authority to accommodate.

He said the House has also refused to permit its prosecutor to act as a prosecutor, instead insisting that it will only proceed if its demand to name five House members is accepted by the Senate.

Hofschneider said the House’s failures do not result in dismissal of the impeachment.

“We take this duty seriously and have moved with all deliberate speed to the goal of a hearing,” he added.