How Babauta made it happen with a difference

In May, the Covenant Party released its platform via the media. The five “E’s” of the platform involved the Economy, Education, Environment, Essentials, and Ethics. The theme of the platform, “Better Times with Ben and Tim,” explained what it and all of the Covenant Party candidates will strive to do if elected into office as public servants.

It has been approximately a month since the Covenant Party made their platform public and none of the other gubernatorial candidates have formally announced what they intend to do if elected as the highest public servant in the CNMI. The only way the electorate will know what a candidate and/or party intends to do if elected is for the candidate to lay out a concrete platform and present it to the island community.

The political billboard in various places of the CNMI for the incumbent governor stating that he and his Lt. Governor are “Making It Happen with a Difference” is actually quite accurate. For the past three and one-half years the Babauta/Benavente tandem has been successful in making the following things happen and with a difference:

• Run up the government deficit from $98 million to nearly $115 million since the incumbent governor took office in January 2002. This deficit will weigh heavily on the financial stability of the CNMI government.

• Consistently fail to pay the government’s utility bills to the tune of $18 million. The situation now is very serious and appears that it might get worse before getting better. Is there ever a power outage at the governor’s mansion?

• Fail to pay contributions on a consistent basis to the Retirement Fund. The outstanding debt on the Fund is nearly $81 million. It is the governor’s fiduciary responsibility to keep the Retirement Fund solvent.

• Travel all over the world and expend over $6 million of taxpayers’ dollars in the process. How much was government business and how much was pleasure?

• Exceed the salary cap for several select individuals and continue to place more people on the government payroll despite the fact that the government is cash strapped and experiencing serious cash flow problems.

• Tell that island community that things are “pretty darn good” (referring to his situation since he does not have to worry about paying for utilities or gas for his car) when in reality things are not pretty darn good for all residents of the entire island community (referring to the residents who are struggling to make ends meet and living “hand to mouth while supporting their families; and paying for the utility bills and gasoline for their automobiles).

Now it appears that the Babauta/Benavente tandem is campaigning in the summer of 2005 to make more of the same happen with a difference for another four years. Even without the formal announcement of a platform, I suspect that the incumbent governor and his running mate could use the abovementioned points and call it the six “CTDTST’s” or “Continue To Do The Same Thing” from 2006 through 2010.

The electorate must ask themselves: Will the quality of life be better for the residents of the island community if they are confronted with four more years of CTDTST’s? Since the quality of life right now in the CNMI is far from being copasetic and the fiscal situation is dismal, then the answer to that question will certainly not be in the affirmative.

Dr. Jesus D. Camacho
Delano, California