Issues
Ethics in Government
Ethics, or more specifically, the lack of it, is the number one problem in the CNMI government. This is the core problem that undermines positive change and progress in the CNMI today.
What is the use of collecting taxes, of passing resolutions, of creating public policy and coming up with strategies for creating jobs and economic opportunities when our elected officials put the interests of themselves, their friends, their families and their business associates in the front of the line? This must stop!
I am for an open government in which every public official is directly accountable for his or her actions. I believe corruption and favoritism in government can only be stopped if we, as voters, INSIST upon it. We have the legal grounds to do so through the Open Government Act. We need to use this important law to monitor our government's actions, and we need to come down hard on those who fail to live up to their responsibilities and betray the public trust by abusing their position for personal gain.
We need to insist that government appointments be based on qualification. In every case, appointments should go to the best-qualified candidate available. We need to stop the business of using appointments to reward individuals for political support.
I will do everything in my power to stop the tragedy of a government that does not serve the people. We have enough tax and Federal revenues to ensure a bright future for our families, but only if our financial resources and opportunities are not diverted to the few at the expense of the community.
CNMI Labor Laws
From the perspective of an Administrative Hearing Officer for the Department of Labor who has been on the front lines for nearly six years, I've seen how the system is manipulated. I know what needs to be done to strengthen CNMI labor and Immigration laws so that we eliminate the problems that persist year in and year out. Suffice it to say that I've seen a lot of scams and repeated violations. I want to author and push forth legislation to counteract the circumvention of CNMI laws and plug up the holes.
CNMI labor laws are designed to protect the CNMI and to ensure safe and healthy work environments for guest workers. They are not about entitlements to foreign workers. It is time that CNMI labor laws worked for the local community instead of against it.
Minimum Wage
I'm for raising the minimum wage in the CNMI and for good cause.
A low minimum wage has the unintended consequence of discouraging local workers from taking jobs for the simple reason that they cannot support their families on too-low wages. Foreign workers, on the other hand, can make far more in the CNMI, even at the low wages offered, than they can in their home countries. By keeping wages excessively low in the CNMI, we have an under-employed local work force and out-of-control foreign worker employment. These foreign workers didn't come to the CNMI to build a better community. They're here to help their families back home and, understandably, they send most of their earned wages out of the country.
How long can we continue to provide opportunities for foreign workers while our own people are under employed? How much money has to leave the CNMI before we wake up to the fact that money exiting our economy is gone forever, taking with it more jobs and tax revenues?
Medical Insurance for Workers
The issue of medical insurance for workers in the CNMI is a serious one. Currently under CNMI Labor Laws, non-resident workers are not required to have health insurance. Resident workers, on the other hand, are required to pay for their health insurance or they go without. This leads to serious problems.
For one, a non-resident worker without medical insurance has more take-home pay than a resident worker who must shoulder his or her own health insurance costs. This puts resident workers at a disadvantage in that they cannot take some lower-paying jobs and still make ends meet at home.
Further, when a non-resident worker gets seriously ill, the burden of paying for their medical treatment falls on the employer. Under current CNMI Labor laws, the employer is liable for 100% of the non-resident employee's medical expenses. Many employers assume when a worker is given a "health certificate" by the health clinic, that the employee is healthy. WRONG! The ONLY thing that the certificate certifies is that the worker does not have any communicable diseases and nothing more. So, pity the employer who hires someone whom a health certificate has certified to be "healthy" only to be saddled with many thousands of dollars in medical expenses when it turns out that the same worker needs a heart or kidney transplant. Yes, this has happened!
I strongly support making health insurance mandatory for non-residents and residents alike. This puts them on equal footing to compete for jobs, and at the same time, lessens the risk to employers and to the community when a worker gets sick. Too many workers are without health insurance for themselves and their families. In addition to the economic risks and inequities, this situation puts the rest of the public at risk of communicable diseases when uninsured workers are not treated.
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