Governor to launch own lobbying effort

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio is set to meet with Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) next week in Washington D.C. to lobby for support against a federal proposal that will set in motion the takeover of local minimum wage and immigration.

Tenorio is leaving on Saturday for the US capital to attend the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association and the Pacific Basin Development Council.

A meeting with Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has been scheduled on February 23 in another attempt to win the sympathy of the lawmaker against plans of the Clinton administration to introduce a new legislation on takeover.

It will be recalled that the governor appeared before an oversight hearing called by Murkowski that heard comments on a White House-sponsored bill seeking to extend US laws on immigration and minimum wage to the commonwealth.

Washington officials are drafting a new legislation that will include a transition period before the application of federal laws because of discontent on local efforts in addressing a host of problems arising from the islands’ heavy reliance on foreign workers.

Section 902 talks between CNMI and the US, the commonwealth’s main economic provider, aimed at ending long-standing disputes over control of local immigration and minimum wage ended without agreement last month on Saipan.

Local officials maintain that taking way its power to set minimum wage and control immigration at this time would only worsen the financial and economic woes confronting the island government.

Aside from Murkoswki, the governor is scheduled to meet with John Berry, assistant secretary of the Department of the Interior which has jurisdiction over the Northern Marianas and other US territories.

The four-day gathering of governors in Washington will include a meeting with President Bill Clinton and a dinner reception hosted by the US leader and First Lady Hillary Clinton at the White House.

The governor is still arranging separate meetings with other key members of Congress to seek support.

Tenorio will be accompanied by Michael S. Sablan, his special advisor on budget and finance; Mike Malone, special assistant on policy and research, and Julia Sandvold, legal counsel of the lieutenant governor.