CNMI delegate’s invite to House briefing uncertain

The Committee on House Administration is mulling whether to invite Gregorio “Kilili” C. Sablan to the briefing for new representatives in Washington, D.C. even before he is certified as CNMI’s delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Recent tally by the Commonwealth Election Commission showed Sablan was ahead by 360 votes over CNMI Resident Representative Pete A. Tenorio. However, the commission cannot yet certify Sablan as the elected delegate to the House of Representatives until some 655 absentee ballots are counted on Nov. 18.

This poses a problem for the Committee on House Administration, in charge of logistics, operations and personnel matters in the House of Representatives. The committee has already scheduled a new member orientation for freshman representatives from Nov. 17 to 21, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill.

The briefing aims to educate first time representatives about the fundamentals of House rules and on how to run a congressional office.

Based on the tentative schedule obtained by Saipan Tribune, the welcome session will be held at 10am at the Cannon Caucus Room, Cannon House Office Building on Nov. 17. There will be a Democratic caucus and Republican conference meetings on Nov. 19 and 20. The final day will be devoted to designating office space.

Sablan said he would attend the briefing “if invited.” He said he would caucus with the Democrats because “it’s the smart thing to do.”

“I have always been a Democrat. The only reason I ran as Independent was because the Democratic Party on Saipan was not very organized,” Sablan said in a telephone interview. “But I think it’s still early to talk about that until all the 655 absentee ballots are counted.”

Nonetheless, Sablan said he hopes to become a member of House committees on homeland security and natural resources, where the subcommittee on insular affairs belongs. The House Committee on Homeland Security has oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, an agency tasked with implementing new immigration laws in the CNMI.

In case he gets to D.C., Sablan said he wants to meet with Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawai’i). Sablan, according to his website, was appointed special assistant to Inouye.

Sablan said he also intends to meet with Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources staff member Allen Stayman and Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs director Nikolao Pula.