Governor hits deadend on Kara

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio said Friday it would be impossible to resubmit the name of acting Attorney General Maya Kara to the controversial post after the Senate has adopted a report rejecting action on her future renomination.

The six-page report is the latest in a series of attacks the nine-member body has unleashed against Kara to convince the governor to abandon plans of seeking anew the approval of the Senate, which had twice bypassed the acting AG’s nomination in the past.

“How can I renominate her? The Senate has said they would not confirm her,” Tenorio said in an interview.

According to the governor, he met with Kara Thursday after the Senate approved the report, which also sought her ouster as acting chief government lawyer. However, Tenorio refused to give details on what transpired during the meeting.

The report prepared by a special oversight panel says that Kara is “unfit to hold the office of (AG) and that any future nomination of Ms. Kara to that office will be summarily rejected by the Senate.”

Tenorio’s advisers are divided whether to allow Kara, who had served as chief legal counsel for the House of Representatives for eight years, to hang on to the post to save the governor from further embarrassment since nominating her in July.

“There is discussion on what to do with Maya Kara. Some feel this is very humiliating for the governor,” a well-placed source from the administration said.

Another source who declined to be identified said, “The report is a very strong indication that her nomination is doomed. She should take the hint and step down.”

Kara earlier told the Tribune that she has offered to resign, but Tenorio allegedly turned it down.

The governor recalled her nomination in September just before the Senate was to reject her confirmation due to her alleged role in a $2.2 million settlement deal with Japanese advertising firm I&S Corp., whose legal counsel represents a law firm to which Kara’s husband is a partner.

She, however, denied involvement in the settlement agreement.

The embattled acting AG found herself again in the center of controversy for bringing onto the island a Seattle-based applicant to the chief of investigation post using government money that has outraged a number of senators.

Kara has offered to reimburse the money spent for the roundtrip plane ticket of John H. Race from the mainland to Saipan amounting to $1,821.50.

Earlier reports said Race’s trip cost the financially-troubled government more than $3,000, which also included expenses for hotel accommodation, car rental and per diem. Kara, however, maintained CNMI only spent for his airfare.