02-24-06

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.

This has certainly been one of the most interesting and telling weeks of the new administration. Governor Fitial has shown that when he wants to get something done, he can get it accomplished very quickly. He has also shown that he insists on leading by example. And he has shown that he is willing to listen to the concerns of the people and will do what he can to accommodate their wishes and give them the opportunity to pull together to make things happen.

Before I explain the things I have just listed, I think I need to clarify a few things. There have been those who have noticed my different take on things with this new administration, and have commented that I almost sound like a publicist for the new Governor. I also had someone report to me that they overheard the previous Governor in a bar recently wondering why all the sudden I am not attacking the administration in Food For Thought the way that I did to him.

First of all, I am not being paid off by the new administration, and am getting no favors from them for any kind of reporting. So far, I have to say I have been very impressed with the decisions that have been made by Governor Fitial; he is taking the fiscally responsible course in dealing with our current situation. If you have been a long time listener or reader of Food For Thought, you will know that I have long been saying that our next Governor would be faced with some very tough choices and would have to make some hard, and most likely unpopular decisions regarding government spending. Governor Fitial is taking a classic business approach to the situation he is facing. In business when you are faced with dwindling income, you make cuts, sometimes very serious and painful cuts just to survive. Frankly I think it's very ironic that most of us in the media had been saying this for some time, but now all the sudden, some of my fellow commentators are criticizing Governor Fitial for doing exactly what we had been calling for all along.

Secondly, I made the same offer to former Governor Babauta at the beginning of his term as well. I told him that he was welcome to come into the studio on a regular basis to answer questions and tell the people what he was doing, and why he was doing it. But because of his pride and ego, and his inability to handle any kind of criticism whatsoever, former Governor Babauta never took me up on that offer, and therefore was never able to get his point of view across to the listeners of these radio stations. So I'm not operating any differently than I was 4 years ago, we just happen to have a vastly different person sitting in the Governor's office, one who realizes the importance of openly communicating with the media and the public, and makes himself available on a regular basis to do just that. I believe that when a situation pops up where I do disagree strongly with the Governor on something, it will be handled much differently by him, and therefore treated differently by me as well. But if former Governor Babauta is honest, he will have to admit that yes, I made the same offer to him when we walked together in a domestic violence march, I made it repeatedly to his first Press Secretary, and I made it to him personally in the first few press conferences that I was actually invited to attend.

Now on to what I really wanted to talk about this week. Governor Fitial has been talking about reorganizing Marianas Public Land Authority for the last month. The legislature has held joint public hearings on the issue on all 3 islands, and had fine-tuned the legislation that would reorganize MPLA and abolish the Board of Directors. It was rumored for the last week that the MPLA board was looking at buying out the contracts of several top executives of the agency, since they knew their days were numbered. Not wanting to give the MPLA board the opportunity to further squander public funds, the Governor requested the legislature to hold an emergency session to pass the bill to abolish MPLA Wednesday afternoon. Both houses passed the bill, even though the minority members in the lower House voted against it, and the Governor signed it immediately. Since the Governor has very close ties with the leadership of both Houses of the legislature, it makes passage and progress on such bills very easy, and very quick when needed. Even though there are those who complained that this was rushed into, the MPLA board made it very clear that something needed to happen immediately to stop the rampant abuse that was taking place. This is not a Governor who talks about things, but doesn't have the backbone to see them through. He has shown that he has the political will, the connections and the determination to do what he believes in, and that he will do it. Is this approach the best one in regards to managing our public lands? Honestly, I'm not sure, but Howard Willens says this is the way to go. And if there is one person that I respect and have full confidence in to do the right things for the right reasons, it is Howard, therefore I'm on board with the plan, and let's see how it goes.

Governor Fitial has also shown that he is not all talk when it comes to cutting down on expenses and getting serious about cutting our operating costs. Travel is the most obvious example of this. The trips he has taken so far to talk with potential investors and meet with airlines in Japan and the Japan Travel Bureau were at his own expense. While this is very admirable, I don't think any of us expect our Governor to have to pay for his official travel out of his own pocket, nor should we. Governor Fitial also announced last week that he won't be attending the National Governor's Conference because our government is broke, and simply can't afford any unnecessary expenses at all right now. He also declined to testify at a Senate Energy hearing in Washington for the same reasons. He has notified our Washington Representative, Pete A. Tenorio, that he has full authority to represent the Governor in Washington, and that he fully expects him to do so. Again, this is a vast change from the previous administration.

Governor Fitial is also not going around asking the rank and file employees to take a voluntary work hour reduction, while he travels constantly. He is getting recommendations from a task force on mandatory work hour reductions for all government employees that will hit everyone equally from top to bottom. At least the government employees know that the situation is so serious it requires drastic action, and they know that everyone is sharing in shouldering the burden equally. Again, a much more responsible approach than what was previously suggested.

And finally, the Governor has shown that he is responsive to the concerns expressed by the people, by relenting in his decision to cancel hosting the Micro Games, and giving the committee another week to come up with a workable plan. The Governor realized that many people were very disappointed with the decision to not host the games here, as was he, and in spite of making a decision earlier to call it off, he gave them a week extension to pull together a plan. From his point of view, there isn't enough money or time, and frankly the government has much larger difficulties they are facing that require it's full attention. I think we can all certainly see where the Governor wouldn't want anything that would take away time and money from government agencies that are already faced with some drastic cuts. But the Governor acknowledged that if the people want this to happen bad enough, and can come up with a plan covering all contingencies, that he would support it. I believe this shows that the Governor is trying to listen to the concerns of the people and do what he can to accommodate them.

Make no mistake, it's probably not much fun being Governor right now as he was left with quite a mess, and is still scrambling to put the governments house in order. But Governor Fitial is taking a responsible approach, and is taking his job of protecting our interests very seriously. We won't all agree with everything he does, and that is to be expected, but it doesn't mean he's not doing the right thing for the situation.

I'm afraid we're all in for some very tough times in the next year or so. Businesses have been tightening our belts for quite a while, and now we finally have a Governor that realizes our government needs to do the same thing. We have seen many businesses close up and leave, and make no mistake; we will see more do the same. I still don't believe we have hit bottom yet as we still have more garment factories facing closure, and until we are left with only the garment factories who will continue to ride out the storm, we won't know the true impact on our economy. This is not to say that Better Times are not possible somewhere down the road, but it won't be anytime soon, and they may not look quite like what we had been picturing. Taking this responsible approach to government spending though will mean that wherever we wind up will be sustainable, and not pushing us closer to the brink of bankruptcy every day. If your business has not faced any of the problems or adversities I've mentioned already, congratulations, but realize that you are in the minority. The rest of us are trying to figure out if we can survive next week and next year. Yes, we need a Governor willing to take this hard approach, no matter how difficult it may get, but hang on; the ride is definitely going to be bumpy.

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.