‘Support our administration and have faith’

By BENIGNO R. FITIAL
Governor

The following is the text of the inaugural address delivered by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial during the Inauguration Ceremony on Jan. 9, 2006.

As I stand before you today, I cannot help but think how much easier my job would have been if I had been elected governor four years ago instead of last November.

Four years ago, the CNMI government was in better financial shape. Our Commonwealth Utilities Corp. was in better financial shape. The CNMI Retirement Fund was in better financial shape, and our government’s deficit was lower than it is today.

Four years ago, our apparel industry was still thriving and Japan Airlines was still operating in the CNMI. Back then we had more Japanese investors.

Today, many of our apparel factories have closed, leaving many workers stranded and unemployed.

Today, the CNMI government faces its greatest financial challenge since we became a substantially self-governing Commonwealth of the United States. Today we have our work cut out for us.

As the 6th elected Governor of the Northern Marianas, I believe I face a monumental challenge: to revive our slumping economy and restore the financial integrity of our government. This is not going to be an easy task, but I have every confidence in our prospects for success.

Our situation today has an historical parallel: The United States in 1980, as President Ronald Reagan assumed office after the Carter Administration. In his first inaugural address, President Reagan recognized that the United States was “confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions.”

But President Reagan said that there should be no misunderstanding: America was going to act. “The economic ills we suffer,” said Reagan, “have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away.”

Today, I feel the same way about our government. Our economics ills will eventually go away if we manage our government properly, and we will.

Though our financial challenges are formidable, we remain undaunted, steadfast, and resolute, committed to taking all necessary actions for the preservation of our Commonwealth.

The Fitial-Villagomez administration’s ultimate goal is to achieve a healthy, robust, and growing economy—one that will provide decent jobs for our local people and sufficient tax revenues for our local government.

By working collaboratively with a united 15th Commonwealth Legislature and our private sector, we hope to create prosperity for our communities. We seek expanded business activity and more business opportunities for our local residents.

Encourage responsible investments and welcome responsible investors—people committed to hiring and training our resident workforce, and respecting our natural environment.

Some of these investors are already here. The Lt. Governor and I have already met with many of them and they are sincere in believing that our new government will restore lost trust and confidence in the Northern Marianas.

The Commonwealth has a lot of potential, but it will take resolve to convert this potential into jobs, business opportunities, and prosperity.

Tim and I have the resolve needed to revitalize our economy. We resolve to plan intelligently and work to better the future of our islands.

To do this, we must re-focus on Japan, the second largest economy in the world, with a $5 trillion, growing economy, only three flight hours away. Japan has 127.5 million people, but all we need is a million Japanese tourists a year to dramatically alter our economic landscape for the better.

That is our goal: 1 million tourists a year.

The Commonwealth has already proven that it is a viable market when 726,000 tourists visited our islands in 1997. We have dropped 27 percent since that peak year, and now we’re down to 530,000 tourists a year, while Guam enjoys a million visits per year. We must not neglect our core Japanese market.

In the days ahead, Tim and I will deal with a Commonwealth government addicted to spending beyond its means. We will rein in the excesses and insist on financial accountability for our taxpayers. We will focus on economics rather than politics. We will remove the regulatory roadblocks impeding commerce and stifling our economic growth.

We will address the problems at the Retirement Fund and ensure that every government retiree is adequately protected.

We will address the enormous problems at CUC and ensure that we make significant progress in delivering reliable power and water services, so that our economy will not be compromised by frequent power outages and the unreasonably high cost of public utilities. We will find ways to abolish the fuel surcharge and pay the government’s debt to CUC.

We will make sure that we retain control of our immigration and nonresident workforce, so that local residents are hired when jobs are available. We will repatriate nonresident workers no longer needed by our private sector and bring in those who are needed, if local workers are not available in sufficient numbers. But our emphasis will be on maximizing local employment.

We will also appoint a competent and ethical attorney general—someone who will duly enforce the laws of the Commonwealth. Someone with credibility and a good measure of objectivity.

Although we intend to prioritize education, we realize that we can only improve education when we have a strong economic foundation to fund programs, buy books, hire teachers, and build classrooms.

This administration’s top priority is the economy—the foundation for education, public safety, health and welfare, infrastructure development, and social programs.

Tim and I will be the “Economy Governors.” Because we were elected on that basis and under this economic crisis. And because we cannot serve our constituents well if our economy continues to languish as it has for the past four years.

Although Tim and I are committed to making improvements, I know it is still hard for many of our residents to believe that things will actually get better under our administration. People are skeptical. It isn’t just the press or the critics.

And we can understand why some people might be reluctant to believe in our administration. After all, public cynicism easily develops after so many past promises have been broken—after previous administrations have failed to deliver.

But we ask you to support our administration and have faith.

Believe in a brighter future and help us to realize our vision of Better Times for the Commonwealth. Believe me, it can be done. We can deliver better public services. We can deliver a better economy and better government. But we need your help: the help of our Legislature, private sector, federal government, investors, government employees, and citizens alike.

Thank you and God bless you.

Biba CNMI!