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Federal ombudsman’s position still vacant
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Posted on Sep 16 2008
The position of federal ombudsman is still vacant even as James Benedetto on Monday officially started working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In an interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday, Benedetto, now an assistant U.S. attorney, said the federal ombudsman’s position has yet to be advertised and that no one is assuming the position in an acting capacity.
He said the Office of Insular Affairs is expected to advertise the position very soon, go through the regular process, and pick somebody.
“Attorneys who are interested will apply and they’ll do their thing,” Benedetto said.
“Jeff Schorr [OIA field representative] is kind of like, if they [staff at ombudsman’s office] need gas for the van or if they have a problem that they need to run by somebody, they go to Jeff. But there’s no acting federal ombudsman,” Benedetto said.
The federal ombudsman’s office, located in Puerto Rico, Saipan, provides assistance to thousands of alien workers with labor and immigration complaints.
Benedetto was the second person to serve as federal ombudsman. The first was lawyer Pamela Brown, who later became the CNMI attorney general under the Babauta administration.
