GOP moves to control damage • Morgen exhorts partymates to accept people’s will

Defeated incumbent Sen. Juan P. “Morgen” Tenorio refused to blame anyone for losing his reelection bid as the Republican Party tried to assess yesterday the fall of at least seven GOP legislators at the Nov. 6 polls.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, meanwhile, congratulated all the winners during last Saturday’s political exercise, which saw the stunning defeat of his brother and six incumbents.

“I hope the winners will continue to do what is best for the people they represent,” he told reporters in an interview.

In a talk during a meeting of Republican leaders at their headquarters in Garapan last night, Morgen said that it was easy for him to accept his defeat, but felt sorry for supporters who worked hard to get him a new mandate as Saipan senator.

“It hurts,” he told his party mates, “(but) we are a team and we have to put our acts together in this time of crisis.”

Saying it is now history, Morgen urged Republicans to begin assessing what went wrong in the midterm elections and try to lay down a strategy for the 2001 polls.

“The people have spoken, we should be careful next time,” said the one-term senator who also called for party unity in all precincts.

Being a “good loser,” he said he has gone back to the same routine as he used to do everyday and even commended his rival, newly-elected Sen. Ramon S. “Kumoi” Guerrero, for campaigning so hard during the elections.

“Kumoi walked an extra mile and Morgen walked just this mile, but the buck stops here,” he said.

At the same meeting, Republican leaders agreed to make an assessment of the party’s performance last Saturday, as well as in previous polls, in preparation for the gubernatorial elections in November 2001.

Aside from Morgen, six incumbent House representatives failed to seek fresh terms, including Reps. Karl T. Reyes, Ana S. Teregeyo, Manuel A. Tenorio, Herman T. Palacios from Precinct 1; Melvin O. Faisao from Precinct 3; and Frank G. Cepeda from Precinct 4.

House Speaker Diego T. Benavente downplayed their defeat, saying it would not derail policies put in place by the Republican-dominated Legislature and the administration.

He said Precinct 1 has always been a bailiwick of the Democrats and that victories of GOP in the past were result of “frustration” from previous administrations.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to say ‘ah, it’s about time to change policies,'” Benavente said in an interview. “A lot of people would understand the current situation with the financial problems we are facing and I still maintain that this administration is doing the right thing in what has to be done in order to provide public service.”

He also attributed Morgen’s loss for the party being “overconfident” of his reelection and their failure to explain to the public the root cause of the financial woes facing the government, which he blamed to excesses of the previous administration.

But Benavente believed that only a small fraction of the votes for Kumoi were a result of problems by Tenorios with certain individuals. “If we had worked harder, we would have also won the Senate seat,” he said.