12-2-05

Hi friends, this is Harry Blalock; General Manager for radio stations KZMI & KCNM. It's that time once again to take a look at the issues of the week, and to offer some Food For Thought.

I don't know if you caught the article in the paper earlier in the week about the chairman of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation saying he would not be giving a courtesy resignation to the new Governor. He said that he still had quite a bit of time left in his term, and wasn't about to quit yet. The same article also quoted Governor Babauta as saying that he supported the chairman's decision to hold onto his board seat and not resign because he had done a good job. I wonder if you were struck by the irony of Governor Babauta's comments as much as I was.

Let's go back and take a look at the Governor's state of emergency he declared for C.U.C. and examine the reasons for it. By declaring the state of emergency, he was taking control of the utility away from the board of directors, and declaring that he was now in charge. In effect, that is the same as saying you don't feel that the board of directors has managed things properly so far, and that you don't have confidence in them to fix the problems they are currently facing. Now at this point it is important to remember that Governor Babauta had appointed the entire board of directors. So the fact that the Governor felt the need to declare a state of emergency in the first place, was basically a vote of no confidence in the board of directors. And what does it say about the Governor's confidence in the board that he continued the state of emergency for over 6 months.

Now the Governor says that he is inclined to end the state of emergency and turn things back over to the board of directors, does this mean he now has confidence in them all of the sudden, and thinks they will be able to handle things better than they did previously? And with the Governor now coming out saying he supports the board chairman's decision to not submit a courtesy resignation, does that mean that there was another reason behind the declaration of the state of emergency? Otherwise, you have to ask yourself why the Governor would declare a state of emergency if he really believed his board was doing their job. Many people have speculated that the state of emergency was really in the government's checkbook, not with C.U.C. at all. They have implied that the government was facing payless paydays and had no way of coming up with the money to meet payroll. By declaring a state of emergency, the Governor then had access to all C.U.C. funds and had the power to reprogram funds. Governor-elect Ben Fitial has said all along that the Governor's declaration of a state of emergency at C.U.C. was illegal, and needed to be investigated.

So is the Governor's endorsement of his appointees to the C.U.C. board now an admission that his state of emergency was really just a ruse? You can't have it both ways Governor, either you did not have confidence in the board and that is the reason you declared the state of emergency, or you do have confidence in them and you had other motives for the state of emergency. But for Governor Babauta to come out now saying that he supports board members decisions not to tender courtesy resignations seems rather hypocritical of him. As I recall, at the beginning of his administration he seemed to think that he needed courtesy resignations from all directors and board members of the previous administration, which also happened to be from his same party. But Governor Babauta knew nothing of party loyalty, and proceeded to weed out everyone who wasn't 100% loyal to him personally. The Governor's transition team then proceeded to sharply criticize all departments of the previous administration and try placing blame on them for all kinds of things. Frankly, it looked like he was just setting up the previous administration to be the scapegoat for his own mismanagement of government funds, and the deficits he would soon be incurring.

Governor, your time to govern is over, the people have spoken, and 75% of them said they didn't approve of the job you did. It's time to move on and let someone else take over. And that means letting them have their own people in position, just as you demanded that your people be put in power as soon as you took over. But for you to try making people think that the next Governor should be saddled with your people for the sake of continuity is ludicrous, and frankly, you sound out of touch for even suggesting such a thing.

I do find it rather amusing just how quickly Babauta supporters have changed. All the sudden I've been swamped with calls from "concerned citizens" who want to make sure that I'm going to be all over Governor-elect Ben Fitial the same way I was with Governor Babauta. These Babauta supporters, who before the election would not have called me, or had anything to do with me, are now rushing to fill me in on all the dirt on Ben. Before the election they were telling everyone that it didn't matter what I said, because no one paid attention anyway, but now it seems they have changed their tune. It could be that realizing they are part of the 25% minority was a rather harsh wake up call for them. Or it could be that they are just so eager to discredit Ben before even giving him a chance, that they are willing to use anyone to accomplish their goals and agenda. 2 days after the absentee ballots were counted, I had numerous calls from these "concerned citizens" trying to get me upset that there were Covenant flags flying on the lighted Ben & Tim display, and a flag that according to them looked like a Filipino flag, but no Commonwealth flag. These callers wanted me to look into this, and to do something about it.

Well, after thinking about the situation for several days, I have come to some conclusions, and I do have some things that I want to say to all of you "concerned citizens". First of all, I will no longer take phone calls from "concerned citizens". If you are not willing to identify yourself, I have instructed my secretary to decline your request to speak to me. When I speak about issues on the air, it is not anonymously; I put my neck on the line every time and let you know who I am. I do not try hiding behind someone else and letting them do my dirty work, and I really don't respect those who aren't willing to identify themselves to me when they ask to speak to me. I have never given up anyone's confidence or pointed to them as a source when I was asked not to, so there is no reason to believe that I wouldn't keep your confidence in the future.

I am not interested in nit picky little gripes like those about what flags were flying above the Ben & Tim sign. This is just pettiness and jealousy at it's worst, and I'm not only not interested in hearing about it, but I will not be trying to discredit someone over something as trivial as that.

Just for the record, I do believe we need an election run-off law, so that if no candidate gets over 50% of the votes, there is then a run off of the top two vote getters. Or, I really liked the suggestion I read in the paper from a reader who talked about ranking the candidates when you vote for them the first time, eliminating the need for a run off election. It makes it extremely difficult for any governor to start off knowing that nearly ¾'s of the population voted against him. However, since we do not currently have a run-off law on the books, I believe that we should get behind Ben and see what we can all do to improve things here in the Commonwealth. He has earned the right to take a shot at governing our islands through the democratic process, and deserves a chance to make his platform and programs work. I think it is very sad that there are those who are looking for any little thing to try discrediting him before he even assumes office. This smacks of crying over spilled milk to me, and I will have no part of it. My plan is to try working with him to get his message out to the people, to make my studios available to him so that you can hear from him directly in what he's trying to do and accomplish. That is not to say that I'm signing on to be his head cheerleader, or that I won't raise concerns when I see them. But they will have to be legitimate concerns, and I will attempt to talk to him about them personally before saying anything about them. Yes, this is different treatment than what I accorded Governor Babauta, but that was of his own choosing. He is the one who decided that I wasn't welcome at his press conferences any longer, and told me he would never talk to me or answer any of my questions ever again. You typically get what you ask for and deserve, and that is exactly what happened for the last 4 years, I was just fulfilling the governor's requests. So far, Ben has been very open and has shown a spirit of great cooperation and openness to the media. I applaud him for this, and hope that he continues this policy throughout his term. I believe this will be a system that will benefit all concerned.

So in closing to all you "concerned citizens" out there, you are still welcome to send letters to the editor at the newspapers, but I believe they will require you to identify yourself the same, as I will. And if you were really as concerned about what is going on as you claim, then where were you when there were the issues of salary cap violations, excessive travel, abuse of power and interference in law enforcement, and the list goes on and on.

I'm Harry Blalock, thanking you once again for giving me a generous slice of your valuable time, and allowing me to share my Food For Thought.