Chamber pulls plug on runoff forum

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce announced yesterday that it will not be organizing a forum between Gov. Eloy S. Inos and former speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider in advance of Friday’s runoff election for governor.

“The Inos campaign could not confirm. This was our last possible date [to finalize] and but there was no confirmation from their camp. We’re unable to host,” said Chamber executive director Jill Arenovski.

She said the Chamber had tentatively made arrangements to hold the forum tonight at the Marianas High School Gymnasium as they already had confirmation that Hofschneider would participate. However, the lack of a response from the NMI Republican Party torpedoed those plans.

“We’re trying our best to make this event happen. We wish to thank all those that participated in our forum events this year. We appreciate your support during this election period,” Arenovski said.

In their defense, Inos said his camp doesn’t see the point of debating with his opponent when the community already knows about the local GOP’s plan for the CNMI weeks and even months back.

“Ralph and I have spent the last 20 months working on the issues and challenges that matter most to the people of the CNMI and our record of accomplishments speak for themselves. As governor, my agenda is very much public knowledge and, as we learned today with the news of the GDP growth for 2013, Ralph and I are excited about continuing our outreach to the community in the final days of the campaign.”

The governor also said the hosting of two similar forums on the same day complicated his camp’s decision.

“There was some confusion between the Chamber forum and KSPN forum occurring at the same time and as a result Ralph and I made the decision to continue meeting with voters in their homes during this valuable time.”

Heinz S. Hofschneider-Ray N. Yumul Committee-to-Elect chair David Attao said his camp is disappointed that Inos decided not to take part in the Chamber forum.

“We—along with the vast majority of the people of the CNMI who want change—are extremely disappointed with the IT camp’s decision not to participate in the debate/forum.”

The Chamber did conduct a gubernatorial forum of sorts last Oct. 30, albeit with independent candidate Juan N. Babauta the only one attending. Hofschneider and NMI Democratic Party bet Edward “Tofila” M. Deleon Guerrero snubbed the event, citing that they didn’t want to do it without Inos, who then was still in Manila where he had a follow-up checkup for his quadruple bypass surgery in 2008.

Babauta and Deleon Guerrero since then have endorsed Inos for the Nov. 21 runoff after the latter topped the elections on Nov. 4. Hofschneider came second.