Saipan is now casino country!

So-called leadership made many failed promises. But one thing it didn’t fail us: it wanted casino so it boastfully approved it in total silence. It demonstrated that government is about them not “we the people.” It boasts finding the salvation to the fiscal mess at home. Appalling!
Nevertheless, if it is to receive some $30 million from the casino license fee would this be sufficient to cover pension pay cut of 25 percent and other Fund expenses? It involves about $50 million in cumulative expenses that show that the expected casino revenues are way short right off the bat.

Furthermore, the NMI government owes the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. some $23 million in utilities in addition to some $13 million in DB withdrawals plus other obligations. This debt is about $36 million plus $50 million for Fund expenses for a total of $86 million. This is the net result of a casino legislation rushed through both legislative chambers and kept secret when it was signed into law.

This thorny issue has ripped us apart and how timely the unconstitutional reduction in pension pay so well timed to instill hardship against retirees. It grants the Inos administration and the Legislature the prime opportunity to approve an issue twice shot down by “we the people.” It’s the epitome of an historic political arrogance never before seen in our developmental history. But then the lack of depth and perception among policymakers lands this community in trash land.

The issue must be revived this November when we pull out the names of all pro-casino lawmakers from the ballot box. It’s time to vote for people with academic and professional competency not retired flunkies from the various agencies and departments who can’t even read substantive materials. Humiliating! It’s all up to us to make final replacements of half-cocked lawmakers who just have no clue what policymaking entails.

‘Beyond the sea’

The other day I was listening to some old songs (known as standards) of yesteryears. There was the tune “Beyond the Sea.” Though a love song, it was the suggestive thought of expanding our horizon beyond the stuffy territorial sea or provincialism that came prominently to mind. My initial reaction was, “I wish!” before it quickly faded elsewhere.

As we boasts of our shiny over Billion Dollar Debt Wagon (BDDW), don’t we have people at the helm with vision or folks who could see beyond the years? Or did they turn to the convenience of mediocrity planning by rather than planning for what lies ahead? It’s appalling and troubling the obvious lack of vision and conviction to do the right thing by doing it right. We thought we did but our sights are fixed right at the edge of our noses.

Perhaps the deep and thick fiscal mess or impotence is part and whole of the territory we often mouth off as self-government. Bankruptcy? Is piling heaps of debt while honing deficit spending the responsible thing to do? Have measures been taken to cut unbridled spending? Or has it been given the usual “que sera, sera” or “whatever will be, will be.” Must domesticate spending on unbridled spending, right? Are we up to the fiduciary duty on this score?

Had we been truthful to our commitment to self-government, we would have downsized the useless bicameral 29-member Legislature to unicameral system comprised of six legislators. This size would have attracted the academically and professionally competent to work on NMI-wide policies that fosters stability and encourages lasting investments. The current setup is a helter-skelter system designed without conviction and purpose. Thus the persistent waste of hard-earned taxpayers’ money of more than $4.1 million annually. Most have lost their “true north” in leadership.

When faced with a serious fiscal crisis, a government chooses one of three options to stay afloat: Cut the size of employees in government; raise taxes; or borrow money somewhere as a temporary cushion. The NMI isn’t doing any of the three for it has comfortably found its savior in the hastily approved casino legislation. The promise of more money looks far dimmer than projected for a simple reason: the measure lacked due diligence. These misgivings would only saddle more debts on the backs of our children up ahead. We would have denied them their economic freedom.

Alone in the ecstasy of my thoughts, I could send white doves to the shore to invite others to explore the freedom and power of ideas in the horizon. Maybe and just maybe, they might learn that their shortsighted and blurred view of planet Marianas extends “beyond the sea.”

At the end of the day

By sunset, I’m usually resigned to the quiet corner of my mind winding down with powerful spiritual reading materials to reset the next day’s journey.

Interesting the benefits of reflecting upon issues and how it eases your way through thick and thin. I happened upon a certain lyricist who wrote about the essence of reflection:

“When the pond is still, the reflection is clear; when the mind is still the reflection of life is clear; reflection brings clarity.” The seeming mad scramble for instant answers is widespread. Sadly, though, it is our very answers that would eventually haunt us down the years.

It’s good to retreat or pull back if only to see your face in that still pond or mind. It grants you time to think through clearly. It brings what has often eluded us: clarity. This is especially critical when dealing with issues and the future of our children.

John DelRosario Jr. is a former publisher of the Saipan Tribune and a former secretary of the Department of Public Lands.