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Pray remove the pudding
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Posted on May 11 2009
Regarding the letter in defense of Howard and Deanne, I would agree that the high road is best traveled and all deserve compensation for their labor, but residents of the CNMI have valid concerns regarding this matter. Anyone drafting Public Law 15-108, or helping with the disgraceful case against America, that vilified citizens including the federal ombudsman, attacked CNMI Rep. Tina Sablan, participated in ghost-writing letters for the CNMI Department of Labor, lobbied to block the first minimum wage increase here in a decade, or supported the status quo of servitude that has shamed the CNMI and America for a generation, should be considered a liability to the improvement and future of our Commonwealth.
Deanne Siemer’s reputation for ethics precedes her. Her past testimony has, according to Judge Roush—a highly regarded Washington D.C. judge who awarded $500,000 in a small matter that involved Siemer—lacked credibility. Read the full account of this tale at http://www.fr.com/jjs/breakingup.pdf and perhaps you will sympathize with the concerns decent citizens of the CNMI have with her involvement, paid or otherwise, in CNMI departmental affairs.
Siemer’s response letter to Tina was arrogant, shocking, and fundamentally deceptive. While volunteers have a noble past in health care, child protection, and social justice, free help with legal maneuvering, policy manipulation, and human exploitation pollute the term volunteer and could be used to cloak impropriety, or shield future liability. Disingenuous input into governmental affairs could irreparably harm citizens here and the CNMI may be better served by their removal. These unscrupulous antics should not tarnish the reputations of the good-natured people of these islands.
