Lawmaker moves to make officials’ finances public

Rep. Christopher Leon Guerrero (Cov-Saipan) will be prefiling as early as this week a bill that will make readily available to the public all elected and appointed CNMI government officials’ statement of financial interest, including those of the governor, lawmakers, justices, and judges, similar to what over 30,000 federal officials do under the law.

Leon Guerrero said the list of officials required to file their statement of financial interest with the Office of the Public Auditor “may” be expanded to include those in supervisory level or those with responsibility over other government personnel.

“It’s not about knowing who’s the richest or the poorest elected officials. It’s about knowing where they are getting their assets, where they get their money besides from government salaries. Are they getting funding from certain interests?” Leon Guerrero told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

This comes some three months after Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) sent an open letter to the Legislature for a piece of legislation that will make public government officials’ financial statements filed with OPA. The delegate reiterated his call last week.

Leon Guerrero, who just came back from Florida, said he has done research about financial disclosures and believes it’s about time those elected and appointed to office should be more transparent with their finances.

Echoing Sablan’s statement, Leon Guerrero said if thousands of federal officials could release their financial records to the public, then there must be no constitutional issues or privacy concerns.

“Unless they are hiding something,” Leon Guerrero said. “This bill is again part of my mission to make this government more transparent and more accountable.”

The delegate, for his part, said since public officials make decisions that affect the financial interest of everyone in the CNMI, “it is only right that we should all know how those decisions affect the pocketbooks of public officials.”

Just recently, data from OPA showed that nearly 21 percent or 70 of 334 CNMI government officials required to file a statement of financial interest for calendar year 2013 continue to fail to file their statement beyond the May 31 deadline. They have since continued to accrue a $10 daily penalty.

Unlike many other jurisdictions and countries, CNMI law does not make financial statements public. The assets and liabilities of elected officials are not readily available for public inspection. OPA can only release the documents with the consent of the filer.

“I am hoping that my colleagues will support this bill,” Leon Guerrero added.