The trial, retirees, and NMDs

I’m sure most readers are anxiously waiting to see what is going to happen in the Senate because it is not only the governor who will be on trial but also senators. The JGO has already deemed the governor guilty of the crimes he is alleged to have committed and now the House will prosecute him in the Senate that will decide on the governor’s fate. After reading the 28-page resolution on the rules for the impeachment in the Senate, I found it interesting that it’s the same rules that were mostly promulgated by then-Senate President Ralph Torres, which means the governor is truly facing poetic justice that he had planned to use for then-governor Fitial. The only changes are in the name and the title.

The rules do allow for the Senate to subpoena the governor if they desire and the question is, will they be smart enough to put forth a motion to not call the governor and limit themselves to the evidence presented by the JGO or loyal and dumb enough to call the governor so he can put his spin of deflecting and gaslighting but present no new evidence? Given that the governor defied the subpoena by the House and refused to testify, he really doesn’t have a right to testify in the Senate. The Senate should know the governor is trying to set them up by pleading to testify that would indeed put them on the spot to accept his rationalization. If the governor truly had a defense, he would have put it on in the House. Instead, he tried to change the narrative to make it seem like the JGO was some kind of kangaroo court driven by political revenge but he never challenged the evidence. The trial is really an open and shut case and the Senate shouldn’t complicate it by calling the governor who is only going to deflect, gaslight, and try to change the narrative with his rationalization but won’t offer a single piece of evidence. He lost his chance by refusing to testify and now he is in violation of another law.

The retirees and NMDs
I am truly up in arms about this retirement bonus and so should all retirees because we are owed far more than $500, given that we haven’t gotten anything for 2019, 2020, and 2021. It’s now 2022. I know that the law was changed in 2011 with Public Law 17-32 that was pushed and signed by then-governor Fitial, changing the terminology and the accountability to retirees, but retirees continued to put the same Republicans in control of our government. The law ended the cost-of-living allowance and instituted a “bonus in the amount the government is able to pay,” with no guarantee to help retirees.

Republicans used this loophole to avoid paying retirees what they really needed, which was money to supplement the continued rise in the cost of living. Technically, the government doesn’t owe retirees anything for 2019, 2020, and 2021 by law, all because the law was changed by some of the same Republicans still in office today. I can distinctly remember then-governor Fitial telling me, “We need to kill this Retirement Fund; the government can’t afford it.” And with the help of Sixto, he did kill the Retirement Fund. So it’s not a stretch to see $80 million going to MPLT under Sixto when they already have over $100 million that they don’t know what to do with when it was meant to help the NMDs. There are no subsidies, extra income for NMDs from the interest earned, like Sen. Edith is trying to make happen, but the Republicans in the Senate won’t act on her legislation, and even special scholarships and other forms of help and support for NMDs. Taya!

Retirees and NMDs must help to get rid of these Republicans if you are to have any hope of ever being given what is really due to help you. Heck, this Republican administration can’t even be fair and take care of the dogs, much less NMDs and retirees. Wake up, retirees and NMDs, and help fix our government.

Ambrose M. Bennett
Kagman III, Saipan