Stop the ego trips

Hello Saipan, it’s been awhile since I’ve written, but in light of the recent news events in the CNMI, I felt compelled to throw my two cents into the mix.

I have a question for Uncle Ben and Froilan regarding your latest comments to the people of the CNMI. What did you think would happen when you both acted like a couple of little school girls on the playground and started your name-calling and finger-pointing games regarding the latest casino bill fiasco? If the politicos of Tinian and Rota are, as you say, getting back at you for calling them stupid by killing your casino bill, well then, you got exactly what you deserved. You totally disrespected them on TV and you expected cooperation after the fact?

The first thing little girls learn in the schoolyard is that you catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar. You want them to play nice? Then that is what you should be doing-by having some dignity, showing respect, and leading by example. Vinegar is exactly what you were using when you opened your mouths and insulted the very people you were elected to represent.

So, now, after the people of Saipan have already spoken loud and clear with their votes in the past about not wanting a casino, you two elected officials are choosing to ignore the voice of the people and are trying to force the issue down their throats. If memory serves, wasn’t the original intent of not having a casino on the island of Saipan was to allow the islands of Tinian and Rota to have the casinos, thereby ensuring they had income and a viable industry on island? So, by voting against you, the senators and representatives of Tinian and Rota were making a mature and wise decision by actually protecting their constituents from you. What part of “you-work-for-the-people” don’t you understand?

If either of you had conducted any thoughtful and intelligent research regarding casinos helping the local economy, you would have learned that that is not the case. It has been shown that the arrival of a casino in any area only creates fewer jobs and makes for unfair competition for businesses in the immediate area of a new casino. How does this happen, you ask? It’s very simple: when a casino comes into a neighborhood and becomes an all-inclusive destination, with restaurants, stores and bars, it takes away business from the very same local business establishments, thereby driving them out of business. It is a proven fact. Do some research and you will find that this is why new casinos are being denied licenses here in the United States faster and far more often than new Wal-Marts. Because they destroy the local economy by driving the small businessman out.

In case you forgot what your mother and father taught you, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. It’s time to put your petty differences aside, stop the ego trips and do your jobs: work for the betterment of the CNMI. If you want to keep calling people names, we’ll have to wash your mouth out with soap and send you to your room.

Paul H. Beebe
Spokane, Washington