06-16-06

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 week, I want to follow up a bit on something that I talked about last week, that's the idea of having a part time legislature. I did have quite a bit of feedback from my comments regarding going from a full time, cash consuming legislature to a very trimmed down, part time legislature. Every comment I received was in support of going to a part time legislature, especially in light of the government's current financial situation. Some people are finally waking up and realizing that we have to do something to cut down on government spending. And frankly, the more you look at it, the more you realize that cutting down on the size of the legislature, and cutting the representatives from full time to part time status is the obvious place to start. Some of the listeners were so convinced this is the direction we needed to go that they were even volunteering to donate cash if needed to get the popular initiative rolling. I think most of us realize that if it is up to the legislature themselves, they will never voluntarily give up their pay and generous benefit packages. Not to mention the fact that they don't want to have to face some of the professionals who might run for office if they don't have to give up their day job. Right now they've got it made, they only run against other professional politicians, unemployed people, or those who are most likely are making less than the $39,000 annual salary currently given to our legislators. Not much competition really, and they like it that way!

There are few people whose opinions I respect more than those of Bill Stewart. Yes, Bill Stewart, the economist who used to live on Saipan, and still writes articles that you will see published in the Op/Ed sections of our newspapers occasionally. Not only is Bill always right on the money, but he also has a fantastic sense of humor that usually comes shining through in his articles. After reading my Food For Thought last week, Bill was gracious enough to send me an article he had written a while ago entitled "It's Only Money, and Size Has Nothing To Do With It". Because there was so much interest in a part time legislature from my last commentary, and because Bill does a much better job of comparing a Tinian senator and Hawaiian senator than I ever could, I would now like to read Bill's article, with his permission of course.

"There was a revealing article in the April 16th issue of the Variety which discussed the cost of maintaining the Commonwealth legislature. In examining just one island -- 39 square mile Tinian (population - 3,540 of which only 1,897 are U. S. citizens), a single island senator has the following annual budget: salary - $39,300; transportation & office expense account - $155,000; committee chairmanship - $22,000. Total $216,300 per year. With three senators from each district multiplied by 4 years in office, the total cost for the single island of Tinian is $2.6 million during their elected terms in office assuming that each of the three chair a committee. I presume it's somewhat identical for Rota not to mention Saipan. Mind you this doesn't include the cost of the House of Representatives.

Hawaii senators also serve a 4-year term and their representatives serve for 2 years. The Hawaiian legislative session is 60 days long. The Senate President and the Speaker of the House each get $37,000 per year. All other legislators get $32,000 per year. During the regular session, legislators receive an annual allowance of $5,000 for incidental expenses connected with their legislative duties.

Neighbor island legislators receive an additional $80 per day for lodging and incidental expenses, excluding travel expenses. It costs between $130-150 to go round trip from Maui- Honolulu -Maui as compared to $55 round trip between Tinian and Saipan. The island of Maui has a land area of 1,159 sq. miles and a resident population of 128,241 ('00) with 2.2 million visitors (`00). Comparing Maui with Tinian -- Maui is 30 times larger in land area with 36 times the population.

If a Hawaiian lawmaker travels on official business away from his or her home island for more than one day they receive an allowance of $80 per day, or $130 a day if they go out of state. Hawaiian legislators receive a monthly stipend to hire as many or as few part timers as they wish - senators are given about $300 to $600 per day per session to pay for staff. While the legislature is in session, each senator gets one office manager's salary paid out of Senate funds. In the House, each representative is given $4,500 a month for staff during the session. No person hired is allowed to make more than $2,300 per month. Chairpersons of the finance, judiciary and consumer protection committees are allowed to hire additional staff... this changes each year, I'm told.

Each representative is also allowed one full time office manager during the year, paid out of House funds at a set salary. The population of Hawaii is about 1.2 million with a land area of 6,423 square miles. Compare this with the Northern Mariana Islands' land area of 176.5 square miles and a population of 69,221 (2000). Hawaii is 36 times larger than the NMI with a population 17 times as large and this doesn't include the transient tourist population of millions.

On the mainland legislative salaries in Florida are $ 26,388 per annum; Maryland is $ 29,700 per annum; Virginia is $ 17,640 per annum; and Oregon is $1,092 per month, to cite only a few states.

I once got into a debate with a communist several years ago, the man was the deputy director of the People's Republic of China's Foreign Investment Promotion Office. I mentioned to him that a country had to be incredibly wealthy to afford a democracy. I said, "You have to be rich in order to afford the waste that's inherent in a democracy." His reply was, "You know Bill we say the same thing about communism."

Problem is -- the CNMI is not rich. Over the years the islands have received budget support from U. S. taxpayers for infrastructure construction and a myriad of U. S. program grants and loans totaling more than a billion dollars. These funds help "free-up" Commonwealth internally generated revenues to pay for legislative operations among other expenses. Consider that the working adults in the average American family (outside the CNMI) has to work the first five months of each year to pay their federal taxes and this doesn't include state and municipal taxes. Judging from Commonwealth standards, Hawaiian legislators are vastly underpaid, as are representatives in most other states. What's your opinion?

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As part of his e-mail Bill included this to fix an omission: While on the subject of numbers, I inadvertently omitted two figures from the above essay concerning the legislature's cost of Senate committee chairs entitled: "It's Only Money -- and Size Has Nothing To Do With It." A Tinian senator serving as the chairperson of one committee would draw $22,000 annually, and if serving as the chairperson of two committees his or her "entitlement" would increase to $44,000. This is in addition to a travel allowance of $60,000 annually (also omitted). I thought my essay should be corrected since every little bit counts. All other sums cited in the piece of May 13th remain." This is the end of the article that Bill Stewart graciously allowed me to share with you once again.

About the only people who would tell you that we really need a full time legislature are those either serving in the legislature, or those hoping to be elected to it. Let's be honest for a few minutes here, being elected to the legislature is something that we've made very lucrative. Legislators are usually singled out and recognized when they show up at any gathering or meeting, which gives the position a certain amount of prestige, and caters to the ego. The position offers a pretty fair salary in our island economy, which is very attractive to some people who have never had a job that paid them that kind of money before. It also gives them an extra $5,000 a month for a subsistence allowance, which they can spend on anything they like and they don't have to provide any receipts for. And it allows them to hire friends, girlfriends, and each other's family members as office staff, thus becoming an employment agency as well. There are absolutely no qualifications required of any of their employees.

Now seriously, do you think the legislature will ever vote to take away their own pay & benefits, and move to a part time status? If you do, you need to stop smoking those weeds that keep growing in your backyard; they are clouding your judgment. No, if anything is ever going to happen on the issue of a part time legislature, it's going to have to be forced and pushed through by the voting public, by you and me. That's what a Popular Initiative is all about, it's about coming up with a new plan, then gathering enough signatures to put it on the ballot so the people can decide if it's something they really want, or not. It's about taking back control of what is happening in our islands and saying enough is enough.

Once upon a time maybe we could afford a full time legislature with 27 members representing 3 small islands, but those days are gone. We simply don't have enough money to pay for the bloated government that we now have, and it's time to start cutting. You can either be proactive and make some decisions yourself about where we need to start cutting and do something about it, or you can sit back and let the politicians make all those decisions for you. The reality is this, our government revenues have shrunk from nearly $260 million dollars to a projected budget for fiscal year 2007 of $193 million. And yet the size of our government has not shrunk, in fact it has grown. That just makes no sense; you can't possibly continue to operate like that. Something has to give and cuts have to be made somewhere. A smaller, part time legislature is looking better and better all the time, but if it were actually going to happen, it would have to be you that makes it happen, the politicians would never voluntarily do that to themselves. They have become addicted to the salaries, the prestige, the generous subsistence allowance with no strings attached, and the chance to hire girlfriends, friends, and each other's family members. Walk away from all that voluntarily, not a chance in the world, they will never vote away their money, power and prestige. I've heard from many of you who are ready for a change, and who want the system changed. The ball is in your court, the question is, what are you going to do with it?

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.