Flaherty: ‘Mission accomplished’

Former chief prosecutor Brian Flaherty left the Office of the Attorney General, where he served a total of two and a half years, with a feeling of “mission accomplished.”

Flaherty’s last day in office was on Saturday. He joined OAG in July 2012 as an assistant attorney general, then as chief prosecutor of the OAG’s Criminal Division for a year.

Flaherty

Flaherty said he feels his job was done successfully by a team that worked together while he was doing his part to help in the transition to his successor, Leonardo Rapadas.

Flaherty said he was given the job as chief prosecutor and that he feels that his goal has been accomplished. He recalled that he was given a specific task when he was offered the position by then-attorney general Joey Patrick San Nicolas and that was to implement some changes that have been recommended and to prepare for a transition to a new team.

Flaherty said the new attorney general, Edward Manibusan, however, wanted to get his own management leadership team, “which is the right thing for him to do.”

“For me and for my history, that kind of job is the kind of job that I enjoy and I see it now as something that I fulfilled that mission,” he said.

Flaherty will spend a few days on the island, figuring out his next steps.

“Home is definitely one of the possibilities. But I do love the Commonwealth and I do love Saipan. It’s really beautiful,” said Flaherty, who is from Iowa.

He said his primary goal over the last three months of his contract with the OAG was to work toward this transition and to make sure that he could do as much as he could to have the Criminal Division in a place for the new chief prosecutor and for the new AG to take to the next step.

“I’m very excited about what the office will be able to do under the new leadership,” he said.

Flaherty said the job of criminal prosecutor in the CNMI is a very important one, and sometimes misunderstood by the public.

“But the people who do the job are very dedicated public servants to the Commonwealth and to justice, to law and order,” he said.

Flaherty said he had found his interactions with law enforcement officers, fellow attorneys, and with the courts to be very amicable and very professional.

“I had a very good time working here…the opportunities that were given to me particularly by former AG Joey Patrick San Nicolas and by AG Edward Manibusan,” he said.

He stated that the Commonwealth has been a great place for him to enjoy the outdoors and to enjoy its recreational facilities and the beauty of this island.

“I will miss the camaraderie as well,” he said.

He said he will miss working with his group at the Criminal Division.

“The attorneys who are here are very good attorneys that can do good things for the Commonwealth,” he added.