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‘Alepuyo did not break any law about ex parte communication’
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Posted on Mar 21 2022
Personally, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres doesn’t think any law was broken in his lawyer’s ex parte communication with the Senate on the impeachment matter.
Responding to questions about the subject during a radio press briefing last Friday, Torres said he makes sure to follow the law. The governor said he just learned about the matter last Thursday and that he asked his personal legal counsel, Viola Alepuyo, about it. He declined to divulge details of their conversation, saying he wishes to keep that conversation confidential and just between Alepuyo and himself.
The issue arose last Thursday after Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) disclosed the alleged ex parte communication between Alepuyo and the Senate’s privately retained special legal counsel, Joe McDoulett, in drafting the impeachment rules that the Senate will follow in hearing the case against Torres. Ex parte means one side only.
Torres
Manglona (Ind-Rota) urged House of Representatives Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) and Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) to investigate the matter, saying there appears to be an “egregious breach” of ethical conduct that may have broken multiple criminal statutes, some Senate rules, and the American Bar Association’s Rules of Professional Conduct.
Torres said he has not communicated with any of the senators about the impeachment matter.
“If you have any other questions, go ahead and ask my lawyer for that question,” Torres said.
He said his message to the community is that he has asked his counsel since the beginning that he does not want to prolong this impeachment process.
The governor said the House has investigated him for two years and they did all their subpoenas and other stuff. “So all I want is to get this over with and the shorter that we address this, the better it is,” he said.
Torres said he does not want to speculate about the ex parte communication, but that when the time comes, they’re here to make sure that they follow the law.
