‘Personal, private, political solicitations not allowed’

Forget about asking your legislators or public officials to use their (public) funds for your personal items, travel expenditures, utilities payment, private fundraising and expenses associated with political campaigns, as these would not be granted.

House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial issued a memorandum last week informing all House members “to strictly adhere to the Public Purpose tests and follow the same set of legal guidelines when entertaining requests for public funds, so that we enjoy consistency and avoid discrepancies.”

Public purpose, as contained in Public Law 12-2 refers to specific appropriation or expenditure that is considered “a culturally and traditionally significant part of the community.”

Fitial issued the order after finally receiving—“after months of delay”—a set of the guidelines from the Department of Finance. The guidelines, sent by Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig on Oct. 6, 2004, said that that while it is difficult to determine what constitutes a culturally or traditionally significant part of the community and what constitutes a legitimate community interest, guidelines can be issued to see whether a request meets the public purpose test.

He said a public purpose requires that it “confers a direct benefit to a culturally or traditionally significant part of the community and that the community has an interest in having the individual or individuals benefited.”

The regulation, he said, contains samples showing “personal and political expenditures are not allowable.”

These include solicitations for food or clothing, personal membership fees, and contributions in cash or donation of any tangible or intangible item or product to any person; travel expenditures for persons for medical treatment such as airline tickets, hotel accommodations, meals, gifts, and related expenses; travel expenditures for people who are not government employees; expenses for private individual’s utility: water, electricity, gas, telephone, and similar payments; sponsorship of CNMI sports teams, fundraising activities for private individuals, and any expenditure associated with political campaign functions.

At the same time, Atalig said that the following expenditures are considered public purpose: school-related activities such as donations for students joining Close Up or Junior Statesman programs; funeral donations in kind such as food, water, and tents; business lunches/entertainment which would fall under official representation; sports teams donations given to the overall association and not a particular sports team; community and cultural events donations like food, water, and tents; and promotions for special events such as New Year’s Day, Christmas, Veterans Day, etc. and congratulatory messages for honored citizens.

As to the school-related activities, Atalig said that a request for solicitation should come from the association president or school principal.

He said that any donation should be made to the association or school, not one individual.

“In the past, we have denied requests for class trips and class reunions,” he said.

For business lunches/entertainment, the expense should be completely documented with the name and position of persons entertained, nature and purpose and its direct relationship to CNMI government business, description of matters discussed, and original receipts.

“Based on the regulations, these expenditures are authorized for entertainment of off-island government guests, or to promote goodwill or public interest,” said Atalig.

Atalig said that both the House leadership and the Office of the Public Auditor brought up the issue on constraints imposed by the law. .

He said the regulation makes use of “foremost test” which requires that any expenditure should show direct or indirect benefits to the community.

In his letter, Atalig said that tradition and custom as well as particular facts and circumstances of each case should be taken into consideration when determining whether a public purpose is served.

The House of Representatives leadership earlier asked OPA to give lawmakers a clear-cut policy on how to implement solicitation procedures.

Lawmakers usually receive solicitations from people for different projects or activities some of which could not be considered culturally significant “but help promote the Northern Marianas.”