The Casino Act Stinks and here are the candidates I like

I've watched this rigorous debate on the casino with some fascination. The passion springing out of this is something I've not seen much of in Saipan. No one seems to give a damn in an effective way that our school facilities are dilapidated with students stuffed in like sardines, our hospital short staffed and without basic supplies, CUC a mismanaged disgrace, hardened criminals get meager sentences usually suspended, the lagoon is polluted, we have a bloated, expensive, horrible government and have for years. I can go on all day, but don't want to depress myself further.

With all those issues, I find it peculiar that every day in the papers is another back and forth on the casino. This place essentially exists for the connected few to squeeze every last drop of money they can out of the public tit. This is an art George Bush and the Republicans have mastered on a much higher scale than could be previously imagined over the last several years. I'm surprised, and I suppose encouraged, that people still care about that type of thing. I'm astonished at the resistance to this casino given the seeming indifference to the more pressing problems mentioned above. I thought this casino act would pass in a landslide. For one of the few times in my life, I think I wasn't cynical enough because this act was crafted so poorly that people as economically desperate as they are here can't even vote for it. The greed and arrogance in how this was written up surprises even me. The votes aren't cast, but it sure doesn't look like it will pass now.

I strongly think there should be a casino in Saipan, and I said so here. I still hold to all of those reasons without any retreat. I find the "keep Saipan family friendly" signs laughable. This place is a gambling den with the worst type of seedy poker rooms. The early arguments about crime, prostitution and other things I still find absurd and not convincing. Ricky Delgado has the same take on this as I do.

Since those days, a lot of people have shed a lot of light on this particular act. One of them is a bonafide a**hole in that Plato person, who now says he is someone named Greg Marshall and is trying to start a boycott of Bruce Bateman's bar because Bruce argued for the casino. Regardless, this cartoon character's arguments tend to be good on this issue. I'm not going to go into all the reasons why this initiative is bad because I think others such as Lil Hammerhead hit it spot on here. Jane Mack, also not my favorite person in the world, gave a lot of good reasons here. Dr. David Khorram, someone I like and have great respect for, wrote a great piece on the reasons this act is bad here. The supporters haven't rebutted the criticisms because there is no rebuttal for some of the public theft and intrusion written into this act.

So, to reiterate, I disagree with people against a casino, but this particular casino is indeed a poorly crafted proposal. Check the above links for the specifics on why.
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Zaldy Dandan has a great op-ed on why people should vote for Tina Sablan. I mentioned on her forum that I think her "animals" letter probably hurts her chances. She's being exceedingly open and honest with her views. She stands for something, which is more than you can say for 99 percent of the candidates. Her candidacy is pretty much a referendum on whether people want change here, or do they want to stay on the disastrous path they're on. My column next week is a Q and A with her on various issues.

There are four candidates in this election I enthusiastically, unabashedly support. Tina, Galvin Guerrero for Board of Education, Cinta Kaipat and Clyde Norita for Senate. Galvin is also exceedingly bright and progressive, and he knows education, as he is the Mt. Carmel principal. Cinta is also exceedingly bright and should be re-elected for her work with PAWS and Beautify CNMI alone. She is also smart, open minded, cares, is a born leader and listens. I'm not crazy about her labor bill, but I don't think that will matter in the end. Clyde isn't as formally educated as the other three, but he is also very bright. His part time legislature idea makes obvious sense. Someone needs to be arguing to reduce the size of this government and amazingly only Clyde is doing so. I listened to him at the education forum and there wasn't anything he said that didn't make sense. He also seems to have legitimately broken from the current administration, so he won't rubber stamp lousy ideas like the new austerity holiday.

From what I saw moderating the education forums, Diego Benavente is the most polished politician. You can tell he has been in the room for important meetings. He has baggage from the Babauta Administration that might be a problem. Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero made a positive impression in that he is proposing a rebate reduction, and he suggested it be used for the schools. I've known Roman Benavente for a while on the Board of Education, and I like him also. I'd love to see Fred Deleon Guerrero win because it would be nice to have an educator and someone who understands education on the hill. I met with Absalom Waki with a bunch of folks at Bruce Bateman's bar and he seems like a straight up, fiscally sane man.

Ray Dela Cruz lost my vote by supporting the new austerity holiday proposal. He wants to violate teachers' contracts by not paying them on holidays even though they have 190 day contracts when those holidays don't apply. I can't get over how he feels a threat, endorsed by the governor's press secretary, about not paying teachers for work already done isn't a big deal and seemingly not a public issue. There is a lot I like about Greg Cruz, but that Dekada go home protest was a colossal mistake that is hard to overlook. It goes without saying that the most divisive candidate is Danny Aquino, who writes openly racist letters to the papers with great frequency. Aquino winning would be an embarrassment.

Casinos, not poker rooms, MV 3

In choosing a vacation location it only seems logical to go somewhere that offers something unavailable at home. Fortunately, the CNMI has something generally unavailable in Japan, Korea, Russia, China and elsewhere: warm weather, blue waters, first class golf and some very good scuba diving. We also have a few nice hotels, decent though hardly great restaurants and weak shopping -- though why anyone from a shopping Mecca like Tokyo wants to go shopping on vacation here eludes me. As the economic crisis drags on, many are looking to a casino as the lifeline, and the legality of one will be up for a vote in November. While a casino won't be a panacea to all the island's financial problems, it is more than sensible to establish casino gambling here in Saipan and actually follow through this time on a focused marketing campaign based on golf, water sports and casino gaming in a relaxed and convenient environment.

There are two main counterarguments I have heard to casino gambling; the negative impact a Saipan casino would have on the Tinian Dynasty, and the moralizing argument that there will be more local gambling addiction. Neither of these arguments is convincing.

The CNMI has gambling already via the Tinian Dynasty, and I'm sure Tinian folks fear a Saipan casino might take away from their fragile economy. The fact that the casino is in Tinian and not Saipan, the main tourist destination, is puzzling at best. Tinian and the Dynasty is hardly a resort location with the amenities typical to such a location. There aren't many restaurants or other entertainment options there, and it is somewhat difficult to get to. I can't imagine many people come to the Marianas expressly to gamble at the Tinian Dynasty, but they very well could and would come for a focused marketing campaign based on golf, diving and gambling. It helps to have something to do at night.

I can understand the concern of Tinian folks, but it is misdirected. A casino would draw more tourists to the Mariana Islands. It is not uncommon for people to visit more than one casino, so it doesn't seem unreasonable that a Saipan casino would bring more, not less, visitors to Tinian and the Tinian Dynasty. Beyond that, what is to stop Guam from establishing a casino that would be a "drag" on Tinian by the same logic? This region is unlikely to replace Macau as the gaming destination of Asia, but people like casinos and another tourist lure is hardly a bad thing. A rising tide lifts all boats and holding back competition is never a path to success.

The second counterargument is even worse, the moralizing argument, the idea we'll all become a bunch of degenerate gamblers. My understanding is that certain influential clergy members discouraged casino gambling when this issue came up previously, and that is the reason we don't have gaming to date. This isn't Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, and it isn't shocking. Gambling exists in the open in Saipan and it largely takes place in the dark, dingy poker rooms that lack the dignity of a Bangkok sex show, so the moralizing argument is absurd given that gambling in these poker rooms is the type that has wrecked more homes than Angelina Jolie.

No cash rich, high rolling tourist is ever going to be walking into any of these poker rooms that have all the charm of a trauma ward in Darfur and start plunking down their hard earned cash needed to infuse this dead economy. Casino resorts are a place for shows, restaurants, lights and "over the top" Vegas glitz. They need that type of atmosphere or they revert to the dark, seedy, scarcely populated, smoky hellish pits we have now that attract the wrong type of gamblers -- those who least can afford it.

I came to know this island as a tourist. Given a lot of time, I would probably have gone to a place like Koh Samui, Boracay or Bali -- cheaper and more exotic. Not all vacations are long -- especially if you work in a country with long hours and short vacations like Seoul or Tokyo. To get to those places requires a flight to Bangkok or Manila and then a connecting flight to your resort. A connection going in and out is ridiculous on a short trip, which is why I came here and why a lot of people come here, at least until the lack of flights made it so difficult. This place needs to aim for the shorter term tourists who want to be on the golf course or on the beach immediately, not waiting in a terminal annoyed after ten shoe checks and parched because of the insidious threat of water. Seoul and Tokyo don't have the gorgeous golf courses, beaches or diving we have, and the casinos in Seoul don't allow Korean citizens. It is a "foreigner" only activity over there, which makes sense. Naturally we do the opposite, offer the vile poker rooms for our majority impoverished population that prey on the desperate and financially unstable.

There is little doubt that a seven member gambling commission would be chock full of political cronies doing the bidding of whomever lines their pockets best. This is not just the CNMI way, this is the way of the world in 2007. Read up on the corporate giveaways in Iraq to get a full understanding. These commissioners will come up with some clever public relations campaign about the casino as a way toward scholarships or assistance to the poor for their power bills, which they've done previously. That stuff will of course be all BS, it's always about a few people getting rich, but times are so dire that this step of a casino needs to be taken, even with the dark shadow of a government that can't maintain a diesel engine in the power plant, can't keep blood in the hospital and I'm pretty sure can't make ice cubes even if spotted water, a tray and a freezer.

Editor's Note: Bruce Bateman and I ended up writing on the same topic this week. No, there wasn't any coordination. I'm happy with this one.