Republicans

Northern Marianas

Republicans sweep the polls

By David North

THE Republicans won a sweeping

victory in the November election in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. They kept control of the governorship and the territorial senate, ousted the Democrats from the

position of Washington representative,

but did not break the Democrats’ hold on the lower house of the legislature.

Although some 300 absentee votes were outstanding, it was clear that for mer Senate President Larry Guerrero had beaten the sitting Washington repre sentative Froilan Tenorio for the four year-term as governor of the Common wealth. In the Marianas the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor appear jointly on the ballot, so Guerrer o’s victory was also a win for his run ning-mate, the current Senate president, Benjamin T. Manglona. Loser in that race was Victor B. Hocog, who had served two terms as a territorial house member for the island of Rota.

Earlier speculation that a politician named Tenorio would win the gov ernorship proved incorrect, as Guerrero outpolled or outlasted three men with that name. Sitting Republican Governor Pedro P. Tenorio decided not to seek another term; then sitting Republican Lt.

Governor Pedro A. Tenorio lost the Re publican primary to Guerrero, with the last of the Tenorios, Froilan, falling in the November voting.

Meanwhile, with Froilan Tenorio run ning for governor, the two-year position of Washington representative was up for grabs. The Democratic candidate was Froilan’s long-time chief of staff and cousin, Herman T. Guerrero, who had secured a substantial amount of

Washington experience. The victorious

Republican was Juan N. Babauta, a freshman territorial senator from Saipan, the most populous of the islands.

Babauta got 4347 votes to 3187 for Guerrero.

The territorial legislature will remain split between the two parties. The nine member senate was 7-2 Republican be fore the last election but will be 6-3 Re publican in the next two years; the Re publicans gained one seat on Saipan, and held two seats on Rota, but the Demo crats, for the first time ever, won both seats on Tinian. (Six of the nine senate seats were at stake, with three other senators staying as holdovers; each of the three islands is allocated three sena tors.)

Although absentee votes may change the exact mix, it is apparent that the Democrats, who held a pre-election majority in the 15-member House of Representatives, will continue to domin ate that body, probably by a 10-5

margin.

All the races were vigorous ones, with most major candidates charging each other with corruption, unseemly be

haviour, and inappropriate public poli

cies.

Guerrero opened one of his newspap er advertisements with an obscene quota tion attributed to Froilan Tenorio and then moved on to tamer stuff such as “ . . . You can tell your AG [Attorney General] to stuff his suggestions you know where . . According to the ad this was from a telex to Governor Pedro P. Tenorio.

Froilan countered that Guerrero was a poor manager, having “almost bankrupt [Guerrero’s own] Saipan Shipping Com pany . . .” and then asked why Guerrero was suing the company in which he con tinued to own shares. He also said in ads: “Ask Larry about the Federal In dictment of his involvement with Casino

Gambling.”

Over and above the mud-slinging, there were major differences in style and substance between the two gubernatorial

candidates.

Guerrero was less venturesome in the issues he raised, while Tenorio made sweeping suggestions, such as near-total reorganisation of the local schools.

Tenorio indicated that the schools were not doing a good job of educating the children, and that a centralisation of the schools was needed to provide adequate education and facilities. Guerrero replied that he was opposed to bussing children, and disrupting neighbourhoods.

Tenorio, a strong nationalist, insisted that relations with the Mainland should be handled through the courts, under section 903 of the Coavenant, while Guerrero called for continued utilisation of the section 902 negotiations; the Bush Administration in Washington, which has dragged its feet on appointing a 902 representative, apparently did not hurt Guerrero’s cause thereby.

Guerrero focused much of his cam paign on his own interpretations of Tenorio’s statements. There was, for ex ample, a session with a women’s orga nisation in which Tenorio was quoted as saying: “I do not see a need for this organisation.” Tenorio’s reply was that he meant there was no need for such an organisation to press him on women’s issues, because he already was on their side. □