162 the contemporary pacific • spring 2003 her cause, she subsequently served finally former Lieutenant Governor as the long-time administrator of the Jesse Borja and legislator Bridget Department of Education’s Chamorro Ichihara. Outgoing Lieutenant Gov- Studies division. Recipient of numer- ernor Jesus Sablan kept everyone ous awards for her achievements in guessing as to his intention to run the areas of Chamorro language and even after losing the primary. He culture promotion, her “Juan Mali- finally announced his withdrawal manga” cartoon, placed prominently from the race. The campaign was in the right-hand corner of the Pacific pointed, to say the least. A new party Daily News cartoon page, will remind was born, the Covenant party, led by generations into the distant future Fitial. Froilan Tenorio ran under his of Auntie Ding’s contributions to own Reform party banner. Babauta Chamorro culture and history as a ran as Republican, while Borja ran as dramatic and humorous weaver of a Democrat. Much of the campaign stories. revolved around how much money anne perez hattori each side spent and how much gar- ment magnate Willy Tan donated to the various campaigns. In addition, References the issue of whether to rehire lobbyist Gutierrez, Governor Carl T C. 2002. State Jack Abramoff in Washington dc was of Our Island. Address, 14 February. a subject for all candidates to discuss. Interestingly enough, Ben Fitial, PDN,Pacific Daily News. Hagåtña, Guam. former employee of Willy Tan and Pacific Sunday News. Hagåtña, Guam. a controversial Speaker of the House Underwood, Congressman Robert A. of Representatives, was the strongest 2002. State of Guam’s Agenda in Wash- advocate for Abramoff, who, it ington dc. Address, August. appears, actively assisted in the cam- paign of Fitial. Fitial’s campaign was peppered with endorsements from right-wing congressmen in Washing- Northern Mariana Islands ton dc, friends of Abramoff. The year in review was another one For once, money did not determine for the books. A four-way election for the election outcome. The Babauta/ governor, a major local bank going Benevente team won handily with belly up, the tragedy of September 44.9 percent of the vote. The Fitial / 11th, and a variety of other incidents Inos team came in second at 25.5 per- and events combined to make this cent. Surprisingly, the Borja/ Ichihara year typical of recent ones in the team came in a distant third with only Northern Marianas. 18.0 percent. Not too surprisingly, First there were five and then four the Tenorio/ Sablan pair came in last, sets of gubernatorial candidates: Juan attracting only 11.5 percent of the Babauta and Diego Benevente, Ben votes cast. Fitial and David O Sablan, former In addition to the gubernatorial Governor Froilan Tenorio and public race, there was a very heated dispute school administrator Rita Inos, and over the office of Washington repre- political reviews • micronesia 163 sentative. There were three contenders both sides of the ballot paper had to for the office: Pedro A Tenorio, Agnes be utilized. This led to much confu- Manglona McPhetres, and Herman sion, particularly among older voters, Guerrero. The results indicated that and kept the precinct workers busy Tenorio, the former lieutenant gover- explaining procedures. In addition, nor and covenant negotiator, was for some time, rumors were floating preferred over the other two. He took around that since party candidates 44.4 percent of the votes cast. Politi- were listed together on one side of cal newcomer McPhetres came in a the page, a voter had to vote along respectable second with 34.2 percent straight party lines. In the end, how- followed by Guerrero with 21.4 per- ever, the new procedure went very cent. smoothly and the results for all races In a very unusual exercise of the were known by early the next morn- democratic process in the common- ing. Added security from the office of wealth, Virginia Sablan Onerheim, a the public auditor ensured that proper judge in Superior Court (the first voting procedures were followed, and indigenous woman judge), was voted the election could be said to be the out by a surprising 61.8 percent of the most representative (and probably the voters. The constitution requires that most expensive) in the history of the every judge be reconfirmed in the first commonwealth. general election after the first four Following its election, the Babauta / years to his or her first six-year term. Benevente campaign team formed spe- In the previous general election, Judge cialized committees to plan for the Timothy Bellas was also voted out. transition into office. This process In Onerheim’s case, however, a very came under heavy fire from various determined citizen mounted a well- quarters because the transition teams coordinated campaign against her frequently included employees of the reconfirmation. The citizen had been departments they were supposed to extremely upset at a decision made by evaluate. This gave rise to accusations Onerheim concerning a child abuse of revenge for real or perceived prob- case in which the woman accused her lems in the past, where a lower-level Nepalese housekeeper of mistreating employee could give a poor evaluation the woman’s baby. Based on expert of his or her superiors. This process testimony at trial, Onerheim decided was completed by the inauguration that the babysitter was not guilty and in January 2002. The next phase was dismissed the case. The angry mother also highly criticized because the new used posters, videotapes, public meet- governor made appointments to vari- ings, and other media to persuade the ous offices that were already filled voters to reject Onerheim. with civil service employees, or The process was modified for this appeared to be simply political election, using scanning equipment for rewards. The governor ignored ceilings the first time. Machine counting cre- on salaries established by law and gave ated some new problems in terms of several key aides significantly higher candidates’ placement on the ballots. salaries than those permitted by law. Given the large number of candidates, The new secretary of Health Services, 164 the contemporary pacific • spring 2003 for example, is apparently receiving high-rolling gamblers to the casino. $140,000 annually, the salary of a A Chinese airline has already reopened full-time physician. The salary of charter service to the casino, but via the secretary of Health Services is Saipan. $80,000. The attorney general has New federal guidelines restricted advised the governor (who appointed entry to the commonwealth. While the him) that he must address this issue Northern Marianas continued to con- soon before the public auditor cites trol immigration, it could not issue the administration for violation of visas. As a result, except for customers public law. for the casino and garment workers, As far away as the commonwealth mainland Chinese citizens no longer is from New York City, the impact of have unrestricted entry. Citizens of the September 11th attacks was felt approximately forty countries who immediately. All commercial airline wish to visit the commonwealth, flights were cancelled, leaving thou- including the Philippines and China, sands of tourists stranded on Saipan. the two countries supplying the major- Most hotels and restaurants attempted ity of contract workers, must now to compensate for the travelers’ apply in advance for a document inconvenience by giving them free called A Letter to Board, issued by the meals and accommodations until their secretary of the Department of Labor flights were arranged. For security and Immigration. This letter will be reasons, commercial airlines were sent to the individual and must be no longer allowed to carry mail on presented to Immigration on arrival passenger flights. There was no mail in Saipan. for several weeks, before planes were In early May 2002, it was chartered from Hawai‘i to Guam, announced that the Bank of Saipan, with mail then transported to Saipan founded by Larry Hillblom and delib- on a barge twice a week. Today, erately non-fdic insured, would be packages frequently take a month or closed and a receiver appointed. This more to reach Saipan from the US caused a run on the bank amid rumors mainland. (which he denied) that Willy Tan had A new mandate that all airport already withdrawn his money and security inspectors be US citizens and advised his workers to withdraw federal employees means that there theirs. In the panic that followed, the will be a whole new class of local citi- doors were locked and Judge Mani- zens who will be federal employees in busan appointed attorney Randall the commonwealth and earning a fed- Fennell to assess the bank’s condition. eral wage. This system is supposed to It appeared that criminal activities had be in place by the end of 2002. In late resulted in a bogus sale of the bank. June 2002, a team of federal inspec- As result, four individuals, including tors came to Saipan to oversee security its manager, were indicted and placed operations, including at airports on under arrest. One pled guilty to being Rota and Tinian. This should be espe- involved in the more than $6 million cially interesting on Tinian, where scam that involved fraudulent borrow- direct flights are expected to come ing from the bank, as well as an in from mainland China bringing individual claiming to be extremely political reviews • micronesia 165 wealthy. That individual was possibly system, several franchises including involved in a similar scam in Cayman Federal Express and Baskin-Robbins Islands. Before the trial began on ice cream, and an air-freight system 1 July, major stockholders, among using its own Boeing 727 aircraft to them members of the Calvo family haul fresh tuna to Japan.