Governor Ralph DLG. Torres on Wednesday issued the following statement regarding attorney fees paid for legal representation of government employees subpoenaed by the House Committee on Judicial and Governmental Operations (JGO Committee).
“As I have previously stated, since the beginning, I have extended many invitations to members of the Legislature regarding potential questions or concerns they may have or just to have fair and open conversations. However, they chose to take a different route that included subpoenaing, investigating, and questioning several dedicated government workers, taking precious time away from the performing of their important duties. Everyone has a right to counsel, most especially CNMI Government employees who are hauled in to testify before the JGO Committee hearings. All these employees, including myself, were served with a subpoena.”
“Still, despite the answers given truthfully and under oath by the witnesses subpoenaed to the JGO Committee hearings, members of the Committee were not satisfied. This is because they had a political agenda to fulfill. Furthermore, the hearings did not materialize to any concrete reasons for my impeachment and were solely based on a narrative created by those very members, that I am some corrupt Governor because they disagree with the legal authorities granted to me as Governor of this Commonwealth to spend funding as I see as fit and proper.”
“When those who were subpoenaed by the JGO Committee requested representation from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) pursuant to law, the requests were denied due to possible conflicts of interest. Because of the AGO’s denial of representation, private attorneys had to be hired, all of whom were approved by the Attorney General to provide legal representation. This was particularly true in the matter concerning my own legal representation in my official capacity as Governor. It was essential that I received representation by an attorney, including expert attorneys in this subject matter, as the setting, format, and lines of questioning asked across our branches of government contradict the separation of powers clause of the Constitution.”
“At the end of the day, the JGO Committee is to blame for these private attorney expenses. These witnesses, who were subpoenaed in their official capacities, are not experts in these legal formal proceedings. Additionally, the right to counsel is one of the most important, basic rights granted by both the CNMI and US Constitutions. Therefore, I support their decisions to invoke their rights as they saw fit in order to protect their freedoms from biased lines of questioning and potential legal ramifications. If I was requested to approve hiring private attorneys for these employees, I would also approve the request in order to protect the rights that all CNMI Government employees have. To deny protecting these CNMI Government employees their right to counsel would be a violation of their Constitutional rights.”
###
