Delegate candidates share plans for NMI economy

BY MARK RABAGO
Saipan Correspondent

SUSUPE, Saipan — The five candidates running for Northern Mariana Islands delegate to Congress shared their plans to spur economic growth in the NMI during the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Delegate Debate on Sept. 17 at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center.

Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the Republican Party candidate, reiterated her call for the NMI government to tap into available tourism markets to bring back its lone industry to pre-COVID-19 levels.

“Our economy is at its best if it’s the tourism industry and another industry. We saw our economy at its best when we saw the tourism industry and the garment industry and then years later the tourism industry and the casino industry. All those have gone away and the only thing that we have left is the tourism industry and what we're not doing is doing everything that we can to freely open up all access to the markets,” she said.

The former Commonwealth Ports Authority board chairwoman said she’s been fighting and bringing up the issue of restoring Annex VI of the U.S.-China Civil Air Transport Agreement.
Annex VI is an exemption that explicitly permits the airlines of the People’s Republic of China to offer unlimited scheduled air services between the PRC and the NMI. It also states those air services are not subject to limitations concerning flight designations or frequencies. “It's critical to growing our economy,” she said.

King-Hinds also said the military is not an industry the NMI can fall back on to fuel its economic growth. “It's a passing thing. We're in the construction phase. After that, we don't know because we don't have the same situation as Guam. So, we need to stop having these conversations that the military is going to fill in these holes and these gaps,” she said.

James Rayphand, an independent candidate and former executive director of the Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems Inc., agreed with King-Hinds in looking for new industries.

“Anytime you talk about the economy – I'm probably going to repeat this over and over, but we need to reduce costs, and we need to facilitate new industry,” he said. “Tourism requires the same thing. We need to reduce the cost of travel, among other things to incentivize tourists to come here. Bring in new industry. What are the tourists going to do here besides enjoy our beaches and such when they are here?”

Rayphand said the military and tourism can co-exist in the NMI. “The military can co-exist (with the tourism industry) here and I think they can offer a lot including to the tourism industry. I think there's military personnel who are tourists too, right?”

John Oliver Gonzalez, an independent candidate who served as a senior policy staffer in two gubernatorial administrations, said he will seek help from the federal government to revive the economy.

“I am your economy delegate and will relentlessly justify our compelling need for emergency, economic, and social relief programs to resuscitate and rescue or collapsing economy. We must find new funding opportunities. Ladies and gentlemen, since my first time running in 2008, we must invoke Covenant Section 904 to ensure that the United States includes the CNMI in participating in U.S. trade missions, the economic industry's destination branding, and incentivize American investments,” he said.

House Floor Leader Rep. Edwin K. Propst, who is running under the Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands, wants to tap into Covenant 702 funding, which provides capital improvement program money for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, to revive the NMI economy.

“I think one of the important things that we have to look at is bringing back 702 Covenant funding. At one point we were receiving about $28 million a year through 702 funding. And adjusted with inflation today that would be roughly $58 million to $60 million. That is a huge, huge boost to our economy that we could use to invest in our infrastructure which is so desperately needed. This is money that we can get, and it is money that I will fight for, along with our governor and lieutenant governor who are supportive of this.”

Propst also said the military can be a big boost to the local economy and coexist.

“If you want to look for proof of that, you don’t have look further than our neighbor, the island of Guam. They're doing a beautiful job of doing it. We can emulate that. They had success during COVID when we were really suffering,” he said.

Liana Hofschneider, another independent candidate and an Indigenous rights activist, wants to use education to uplift the lives of the people of the Northern Marianas.

“I was educated at the University of Hawaii, and I became the chairperson for the University of Hawaii student caucus. One of my roles was representing 60,000 students, then campuses, and we also were a Carnegie Research Institute. And through that experience, I have found out there's a lot of money [for education grants] and if we want, we can start investing in education.”

If elected as delegate, Hofschneider said she would champion the creation of an institute for volcanology, geo science, technology, and international studies at the Northern Marianas College and elevate the community college from a two-year institution to a four-year institution.

“(Through this) we will be able to receive funding through education and scholarship. I believe that's very sustainable. I've seen that we work with the military on several research grants funded by the Department of Defense …,” she said.

In her rebuttal, King-Hinds reiterated that the Guam military buildup the current NMI administration hopes to emulate won’t last forever.

“The reason why the military is working with regards to boosting Guam’s economy is that Camp Blaz (Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz) is not finished. But once that is finished, all these folks that are being put up at the hotels — who are filling up the hotels in Guam, who have also filled up the hotels during the pandemic — (are) going to go away. They're going to go and stay in Camp Blaz. So, we can't rely on that industry. We have to take action now to open up all markets so that we can answer the call of the business community in our tourism industry,” she said.

Aside from the economy, all five candidates also answered questions regarding healthcare, education, tourism, and military development. mbj