Pai described as a ‘man of integrity’ in public hearing

Acting public auditor Michael Pai was described as a man of high integrity and more than qualified to merit a second term at the helm of the Office of the Public Auditor during Friday’s Senate Committee on Executive Appointment and Governmental Investigation public hearing.

Department of Public Lands Secretary Pedro A. Tenorio, who represented Gov. Eloy S. Inos at the proceedings, said the Commonwealth is better served having Pai remain as public auditor because he already has immeasurable experience in the job.

“The most important asset of Mr. Pai…is the fact that he’s occupied that position for six years, having been nominated and confirmed in 2008. Mr. Pai is not new to the position. Over the last six years he has performed his responsibilities with commitment, honor, and transparency. Gov. Inos is totally confident that Mr. Pai will continue his excellent record of managing the Office of the Public Auditor if again confirmed by the Senate.”

Tenorio said he’s personally known Pai for a very long time. He said Pai migrated to Saipan from Hawaii in 1983 and met his wife and raised his family here.

“I find him as a genuine and humble person. He has a very calm personality, easy to talk to, an excellent listener, and respectful to all. I’ve never heard of anyone say anything negative about him,” Tenorio said.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero said Pai is a person of great integrity and urged the Senate to reconfirm him.

“He is a person that currently enjoys significant amount of community support and is a person who was one of the very first agency heads who I had the opportunity to work with during my early term as police commissioner. There are a lot of things currently going on and I believe that going forward—just like any other project that the government is embarking—it is important that there’s continuity. We need people with integrity in certain posts and Mr. Pai is a person with great integrity and surely deserves another term as public auditor.”

Northern Marianas Technical Institute CEO Agnes McPhetres also vouched for Pai’s integrity at the hearing.

“You cannot be a Rotarian without high integrity… Mr. Pai has the highest virtue of integrity and that’s what you need in this type of position. He is also an individual that can communicate with people. I hope this committee will not take a long time to reconfirm him,” said McPhetres, who said she got to know Pai very well when the two were with the Rotary Club of Saipan.

OPA legal counsel and director of investigations George Hasselback, who spoke as a community member, said he has a unique insight into how Pai conducts himself as public auditor.

“I’ve had a great deal of experience in the CNMI government who interact with attorneys and interact with lawyers in their day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, sometimes people are tempted to ask lawyers not what their opinions are but they’re tempted to look at that attorney and tell that attorney ‘I wish to do something. Justify it for me.’ That’s the wrong way to approach attorneys in a lot of circumstances.”

Hasselback said he and Pai interact a lot on a daily basis where Pai asks him and people who work for him to make very difficult decisions on his behalf.

“He has never come to me and said, ‘I wish to do something. Justify it.’ He has come to me and asked me, ‘What is in the best interest of the people of the Commonwealth? What does the law require? Is it the right thing to do?’ And regardless of my answer, he has respected the opinions that are being given as long as they’re for the best interest of the community, what the law requires, and what’s the right thing to do. That in itself speaks volumes of Mr. Pai’s strength of character and commitment to the people.”

For his part, Pai is just relieved that the Senate EAGI committee has wrapped up its public hearing on his reappointment as public auditor.

“I’ve always considered, even during my first term, that the appointment to serve as the CNMI’s public auditor is really an honor and to have people hold you in that regard where they think you’re the person to be the public auditor, I’m very grateful for that. Now that this hearing is over I feel a sense of relief that another step toward the reconfirmation process is completed. We’ll just have to stay the course, finish the process, and hopefully I’ll be confirmed for a second term.”