Republican gubernatorial candidate Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres and running mate Ben Jones said they would summon airlines to Saipan within days of taking office, defended Torres’ record against corruption allegations, and pledged a service-first administration in a live Good Morning Marianas interview Friday.
Torres, 47, said the ticket would move immediately after a win on November 3. “As soon as we win the election, we’re going to write a letter to all the airlines here within our region, personally inviting them to our inauguration,” he said. “The next day, we plan to hold a symposium, an airline symposium. On the following day, we’re going to have an energy symposium,” involving the Department of Energy and the Department of War. Torres said he is certain a Torres administration would build a new power plant serving Rota, Saipan and Tinian.
Torres pointed to his administration’s airline record, saying it brought in United Airlines, Skymark’s first international route to Saipan, and carriers including T’way, Jeju Air, Jin Air and Asiana. He said flights peaked at 117 a week under his administration compared with 16 today.
Jones, 40, the Kagman High School principal on official leave, framed the economy as the ticket’s first pillar. “Nothing else is going to move unless we pick up our economy,” he said. “Tourists don’t follow investors. Investors follow tourists.”
Torres addressed the scrutiny that has followed him directly. He said he was never charged with taking money, and that after the FBI raided his home and office, “after six long years, there’s no charge by the FBI. And I was cleared.” He said he acted on the attorney general’s advice when he declined to appear before the Legislature during his impeachment, and said a Public Auditor report on first-class travel “doesn’t say the governor has violated anything.” The claims were his own characterizations of those proceedings.
On the BOOST program, Torres said the $17 million ARPA-funded small business program was approved by the U.S. Treasury, that no applicant was denied, and that $7 million remained when he left office. “Was it a good intent? Absolutely. Could it be managed better? Absolutely too,” he said, adding that a future version could be run outside government, by the Commonwealth Development Authority or a board of bank representatives.
On the government’s audited deficit, Torres said his administration absorbed back-to-back disasters from Soudelor through COVID-19 and spent ahead of federal reimbursement to speed recovery. “The faster we recover, the faster we bring back our economy,” he said, adding he would ask Ernst & Young to “finish the report” and account for reimbursements he put at $80 million to $90 million.
Jones recounted the meeting at his uncle’s house where Torres asked him to join the ticket, saying he sought his family’s blessing first. “The more I get to know my partner, the more I get to believe the decision that I made was the right decision,” he said.
Asked whether his relationship with Jones would differ from his split with former running mate Arnold Palacios, Torres said he has never spoken against former partners and expects open disagreement behind closed doors. “When you make a decision in public, whether I like it, I don’t like it, whatever it is, I will respect,” he said.
Both men closed with a pitch for unity beyond party lines. “We’re not just going to be leading you. We’re going to be serving you,” Jones said.
The Torres-Jones ticket appears second on the Nov. 3 ballot. It is one of three gubernatorial tickets, alongside the Attao-Villagomez and Camacho-DeLeon Guerrero campaigns.
