By Glen Hunter
Watching Torres on the debate stage, one reality became glaringly obvious within the first few minutes: nothing has changed.
Throughout the entire debate, the former governor did not take accountability for a single fault, misstep, or systemic breakdown that occurred under his eight years in office. Not once did he acknowledge the financial wreckage, the missing inventory, the many sole-source abuses, or the complete collapse of government transparency that defined his administration.
Instead, he stood before the people of the Commonwealth and attempted to rewrite history, projecting an attitude that treats the CNMI public as an ignorant audience that will simply allow him to revise the past.
A Forgiving Society vs. A Refusal to Acknowledge Reality
We are blessed to live in a compassionate, deeply forgiving island community. The truth is that human beings make mistakes. No one is infallible, and no one should have to carry the burden of past errors for the rest of their life without a path to redemption. Forgiveness and second chances are foundational to who we are as a people.
However, redemption requires humility, acknowledgment, and genuine accountability.
You cannot redeem a mistake you refuse to admit exists.
Sadly, in this case, the former governor fails to see a single fault or error in his record. Instead of acknowledging the clear missteps of his tenure, he doubled down in the past, and now on the debate stage, he has tripled and quadrupled down.
The fact that he genuinely appears to believe he did a flawless job with government finances, his involvement in the IPI fiasco, our local economy, the Soudelor recovery efforts, the harsh austerity measures imposed on government workers during three of his four final years, and his decision to leave three consecutive years of mandatory federal Single Audits unfinished is in and of itself the single greatest problem.
The biggest reason every voter should be deeply concerned is the dangerous prospect of returning someone to executive power who carries an unearned sense of perfection about his previous tenure. When a leader believes their past governance was without fault, they guarantee that every single past failure, abuse of discretion, and fiscal misstep will be repeated and expanded on.
The Myth of Being “Absolved” vs. the Reality
The most misleading narrative repeated by the former governor is his claim that he was somehow “absolved” and cleared of all wrongdoing by both local and federal authorities.
That claim is patently false on every level:
- The Local Charges Were Settled, Not Exonerated: The CNMI Office of the Attorney General brought criminal charges against him for misconduct in public office and theft. He was never acquitted in a trial of innocence on the facts; he negotiated and entered into a settlement agreement to resolve the criminal charges. A settlement is not an exoneration, it is a legal tactic to bring a case to a close without facing a verdict or defending the claims.
- Resources That Bend the Mechanisms of Justice: The public knows all too well that when individuals amass massive financial resources, they have the power to hire armies of attorneys, stall proceedings, exploit technicalities, and bend the mechanisms of justice. We watched IPI pull those exact maneuvers locally for years, evading accountability through backroom dealings, delays, and aggressive legal maneuvering. Using financial resources to wear down the legal system and reach a settlement is not something to be proud of, and it should never be flaunted as “absolution.”
- Federal Scrutiny and the Active Legal Clock: Federal law enforcement executed search warrants and raided his home, the executive offices, and his brothers’ law firm. Crucially, the federal statute of limitations for fraud and misuse involving COVID-19 relief funds (including the CARES Act, CRF, and ARPA) was explicitly extended by federal statute to 10 years.
- The RICO Clock: Under federal RICO statutes, the statute of limitations clock does not freeze in the past, it runs from the last overt act or conspiracy event in the pattern. With the true accounting only now coming to light, the window for federal legal review remains wide open.
For years, the full scope of federal grant management was obscured because the Torres administration abandoned and refused to complete the federally mandated Single Audits for FY20, FY21, and FY22. Now that those backlog audits have finally been completed, the independent findings are officially laid bare.
With Ernst & Young issuing disclaimers and adverse opinions, and flagging over $163 million in questioned federal costs in FY22 alone, alongside hundreds of millions in FY20 and FY21, the federal exposure is real, documented, and active. Claiming to be “absolved” while sitting under hundreds of millions of dollars in questioned federal expenditures is simply misleading the public.
Total Erasure of Verified Legislative Findings
On the debate stage, Torres acted as if the major legislative inquiries of 2021 and 2022 never took place:
- The JGO Impeachment Record: He provided zero explanation for why taxpayer-funded luxury goods for personal use were reimbursed with public funds but never recorded on government property logs or located in executive offices.
- The $17 Million BOOST Grant Scheme: He offered no accountability for why federal pandemic relief for small businesses was managed with no scoring rubrics, no written minutes, and awarded via informal WhatsApp text messages from his own campaign manager while established local businesses were turned away and left to close down.
To dismiss sworn legislative testimony, subpoenaed financial records, and a huge 15–4 bipartisan House impeachment vote is an insult to the intelligence of every voter who watched those proceedings live on their screens.
The Deliberate Disregard of Federal Single Audits
During the debate, he attempted to present himself as an experienced fiscal manager ready to guide the Commonwealth’s economy.
Yet, he completely sidestepped the fundamental question: How can anyone claim fiscal competence when they failed to complete the mandatory financial audits for an entire term?
The newly released Single Audits revealed:
- Unreconciled Cash: General ledger cash accounts left unreconciled by millions of dollars.
- Missing Invoices & Procurement Violations: Multi-million-dollar federal relief expenditures lacking basic vendor invoices, receiving reports, or proof of delivery.
- Massive Questioned Costs: Over $250 million in cumulative unresolved questioned costs sitting on the government’s books at the close of his tenure.
A leader who refuses to balance the books and neglects mandatory audits is not a steward of the economy; he is the author of the fiscal dysfunction that followed.
Conclusion: Accountability Is Not Optional
A political debate is not an audition for revisionist history. It is a moment where those seeking executive power must be transparent about their record.
The former governor’s performance showed that he still believes he is above scrutiny, above transparency, and above giving the public straight answers.
The voters of the Northern Mariana Islands have the video records. We have the independent audit reports. We have the court dockets. And we know that genuine leadership begins with truth, transparency, and accountability, qualities that were entirely absent from him on the debate stage.
Glen Hunter
Concerned citizen
Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NMI News Service or its staff. All assertions are the sole responsibility of the writer.
