Kilili to travel to DC to start transition

The presumptive winner of the CNMI’s first ever-congressional delegate election will travel to the Washington, D.C. on Friday, Nov. 14, 2008, to attend the orientation for incoming U.S. House of Representative members for the 111th Congress.

Gregorio “Kilili” Camacho Sablan, in a press statement, said, “Although I will not have been certified the winner of the election by the time I leave for Washington, the people of the NMI have waited too long to be represented so I’m not going to miss any opportunity to start building relationships in Congress and learning about the tools the Delegate will have to improve life in the CNMI. Since I will already be in D.C. on the 17th, which is the 18th CNMI time, I will be there just in time for the orientations once the tabulation of absentee ballots is completed.”

During the trip to the nation’s capital, Sablan also plans to meet with the CNMI’s Resident Rep. Pete A. Tenorio to discuss transitioning the CNMI Washington Representative’s office into the new CNMI Delegate’s office.

The press statement read, “Now that the election is over, we must move forward and work towards our goals of bringing prosperity and sustainability to the CNMI and its people; we must all come together, in order to bring about the change that is desperately needed.”

Sablan said he had spoken to Tenorio and “we both understand the importance and historical significance of this extraordinary moment.”

He continued, “CNMI Washington Representative Pete Tenorio and I will work together to ensure that an orderly transition takes place between our offices. He has extended his hand to me in friendship and for that I am deeply grateful. The orderly transition of power is a hallmark of democracy. It reflects the will and conscience of a people. The road ahead will be long, the journey will be one filled with challenges, hope, opportunity and change. Working together indicates that we are already on the right path.”

In what he called an effort to “underscore the spirit of unity and bipartisanship,” Sablan will be accompanied by House Floor Leader Joseph Camacho, a member of the NMI Republican Party who has supported Sablan’s independent bid for congressional delegate.

During their trip, Sablan and Camacho will schedule meetings with key Congressional members. They plan to meet with Congressman Nick J. Rahall, II (D-WV), Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources; Congresswoman Donna M. Christensen (D-VI), Chairwoman for the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs; Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU), Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Fisheries Wildlife and Oceans; Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (D-AS), the dean of Non-Voting Delegates and a long-time champion of the federal law that created the non-voting Delegate for the CNMI; and Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Sablan also plans to meet with the Hawaii Delegation to Congress: Sen. Daniel K. Inouye who is expected to be the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Sen. Daniel Akaka who is the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee; Congressman Neil Abercrombie who is a member of the Natural Resources Committee; and Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono who serves on Chairman George Miller’s Education and Labor Committee.[B][I] (PR)[/I][/B]