Political attacks by OIA

It is very unsettling that the former Director of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, Allen Stayman, knew of overt political activities undertaken by his subordinates against key members of the US Congress. He failed to slam the brakes on such illegal agenda.

Such activities are prohibited by federal law–Hatch Act–which disallows federal employees from engaging in political activities during government working hours.

It boggles the mind how the “we few” people at OIA could blindly abuse their positions and completely neglect their fiduciary responsibilities in order to engage in alleged illegal political activities to ensure that those who give the administration a “hard time” are soundly defeated by flaky loyal followers rather than leaders with vision.

If Stayman had known of these alleged illegal activities, we quiz why didn’t he blow the whistle on his subordinates that such activities are contrary to law? But then, if you recall, he too hired private investigators to prop-up his case against the apparel industry here in warpedly written reports. Unfortunately, his very action in this regard boomeranged when the US Justice Department told the US Senate Energy Committee it can’t be used because it can’t be verified!

If anything, the ongoing negotiations between the federal government and the Republic of the Marshalls and the Federated States of Micronesia has, on the other side of the table, the so-called “levelheaded” chief negotiator from the federal government. If anything, too, the leadership of the two island governments must be wary of Stayman’s track records in his handling of the CNMI with sterling ruinous agenda. It’s obvious now that he and his cronies have blindly donned the shameful robes of bootlickers of the US Textile Labor Unions.

Not only was OIA’s agenda bent on inflicting strife and soured relationship unnecessarily between the CNMI and the federal government, but it also played a key role in ascertaining unequal application of federal policies that effectively alienates these isles from the rest of the country. Stayman took an adversary role not only against the CNMI, but apparently against key Republican members of the US Congress who support the accomplishments of the CNMI basically alone and without a sincere sense of partnership from the lead federal agency.

It’s inconceivable why the adolescent attitude against the CNMI when OIA’s former helmsman was fully wary of the downturn of the local economy from the unrelenting assaults of the Asian crisis. Rather than extending a helping hand so the CNMI doesn’t sink into total economic meltdown, he sought, in every conceivable way to shut down our apparel industry in apparent hopes that we sink into the nether world of bankruptcy and ultimately, helplessness.

All these illegal political activities while spending US taxpayers money for their mini-version of the US Department of Justice. All these to ensure that the ultimate result of their agenda is to force US mainland taxpayers to fork out more of their hard earned income to subsidize the daily lives of this group of US Citizens who are proud to have accomplished no other US territory has attained in recent decades–cut the umbilical cord of US grant funds for local government operations.

But for all their self-inflicted travails, we hope that Congressman Don Young pushes investigation of every OIA staff in Washington, including field representatives in the CNMI to the hilt. Si Yuus Maase`!