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The Economy: Our economy is in trouble here in American Samoa.
This is primarily due to the upset in the balance of commerce that was built around the canneries. We lost one cannery last year and the remaining one is positioning itself to leave in the near future. It is my opinion that the situation with these two specific companies is not reversible without a large infusion of taxpayer dollars. It's all about where the cannery can make the largest profit. The bottom line is that they want us to pay them so that their bottom line bigger.
The canneries would like us to believe that they're losing money. That just simply isn't true. The truth is that they can make more money canning tuna in a different location.
It is unreasonable to discuss giving a profitable company large sums of money and incentives to stick around when other companies which aren't as profitable, that supply more vital services to our community, and who do not employ foreign labor are not offered similar incentives.
As your governor, I will not participate in taking from the poor and giving to the rich just so we can keep things the same. Times change and so businesses evolve.
Our community must do the same.
The world has changed for the tuna packing industry and the business end of the canneries in American Samoa have done the same. Government leaders as of late are the only ones that have not changed with the times. As your governor, I will make the changes needed to make the most of what we have today and I will stop trying to keep the past alive at the expense of our taxpayers and our future.
Finally, I find the current relationship between our government's leadership and the canneries disturbing.
Why is it that our governor is willing to give money to a company that made hundreds of millions of dollars last year while our kids don't have enough school books and our teachers earn such low salaries? How will our children ever survive in the modern world without a proper education and where will they be when the cannery finds some other location that is offering a better deal?
The priorities of the executive office of our government are skewed.
Tourism: While potentially profitable, tourism would be a very difficult venture in Tutuila under the current circumstances. An expensive Tourism Master Plan was created previously. However, tourists don't want to see starved and sick dogs roaming wild along the roadside or mounds of trash lining our roads. Worst of all, the majority of our beaches are posted with EPA warnings about potential dangers to swimmers and warnings to not eat the fish!
Tourists travel to a particular location to enjoy a new surrounding. The current conditions in Tutuila do not make it a very plausible tourist destination especially considering the condition of the beaches and lack of water based activities.
We're on an island and yet we're warning people to not swim at our beaches!
There are people who may choose to argue against my logic. However, I'm convinced that no tourist would want to travel around the world to a destination where they couldn't even swim in the waters of the Pacific.
Beyond this, when you add in the high cost of implementing the Tourism Master Plan, I think we would be better off putting the money into the education of our children.
Tourism could be a great asset to a community. Understanding this, I am willing to listen to alternative plans where it is concerned that will help to increase the appeal our community has for tourists but that will also still secure a good education for our children.
One alternate idea that has been proposed to me already was the concept of "gambling".
While gambling could bring a lot of money to our island, I think it conflicts with our strong religious heritage.
As unlikely a tourist destination as Tutuila is, tourism could possibly work in Manua. I think that it should be considered there.
However, any government investment towards promoting tourism though should be limited to reliable power, good roads and clean drinking water, which is not only important for potential tourists but our citizens as well.
I believe that our government should also pave the way for reliable air transport to Manua as well as promote tourism via advertising. With that being said, I feel that the majority of the cost of build up to tourism must lay in the private sector and the banking institutions.
Government should not get involved in building businesses. That's something government has not historically done well. Government may also be able to assist with loan guarantees through the Development Bank. But, it should stay clear of grants and free hand outs to build businesses. It doesn't work for long term solutions. Government spends money and is clueless how to make money in a competitive market. It's not their design.
Employment: The cannery industry has already lost thousands of jobs and could potentially lose a few thousand more in the near future. The good news is that most of the labor was specifically imported to fill those jobs. Real jobs lost by American Samoa Nationals or US Citizens were less impacted despite some of the current reporting which made it seem otherwise.
With that being said, yes, it is still a problem. A problem which has a solution. Part of the solution would be to have the foreign labor that was used at the canneries returned back to their respective countries of origin. That step alone would have a tremendously positive impact on our economy.
It will also relieve a great burden on our public services. Our hospital runs like a charity. The cost of going there is very low and below the actual administration costs of LBJ. So with thousands of people leaving the island, our hospital should actually be able to improve services under the same budget. The same logic also applies to Public Safety, the courts (judicial system) and other government services.
Will the government will lose some tax revenue? Yes. And that tax revenue loss could potentially be significant. The government will need to be prepared for this and will need to be able to adjust its budgetary and spending habits. It's really that simple. That's how businesses and finance institutions survive.. By adjusting to the economy and evolving conditions that are out of their direct control.
Considering that the law passed in Washington DC to raise the minimum wage has caused our current economic situation, I believe that it is not unreasonable to go to our leaders in the US and ask for their assistance. The canneries employed approximately 7,000 people whose paychecks circulated throughout our economy. A single aircraft carrier for the US Military is able to carry a comparable number of people. If one were reassigned to American Samoa as its home port, we would see massive cash flow every time the carrier pulled into port. Sailors would arrive in Pago Pago buying everything in sight with paychecks they've been saving up while at sea.
Additionally, a carrier supply would be restocked with millions of dollars in local produce and other needs. Carriers also have state of the art medical facilities that could possibly be made available for some critical cases or in response to a disaster. Carriers are technological super cities capable of almost doing anything. An aircraft carrier must have a home port somewhere. It must buy groceries for all those sailors. It must spend it's money somewhere. I think this is a good solution to take to our Congressman in Washington DC and have him pose it to the President.
Roads: The poor condition of our roads cost our citizen's a lot of money in repairs to their vehicles. Taxis and buses absorb massive damage which is also then passed on to the citizen's who ride them. I will make improving our roads a top priority as governor.
I would like to also see a bike path and sidewalk along all government owned roads.
I believe this is important for both safety reasons for pedestrians but also allows for a place our citizen's could walk for exercise. It also offers guests and tourists on our island a very simple and effective means to tour our island both on foot and on bike. Many cruise ship tourists walk as far as they can and many other guests bring bikes.
Education: The Department of Education is so upside down with its spending priorities, It's really beyond my ability to adequately express my shock. The department's mentality seems to be to spend enormous amounts of money on new buildings and infrastructure and to then blame the low paid teachers for poor class room results.
I have witnessed the burning piles of garbage containing poisonous and cancerous plastics in the school yard while school was in session. This seems to be a routine case. The buildings are relatively new but they flood the rooms with smoke and hurt our kids. It's just one example of where it doesn't matter how much money you spend on a building, if you're not managing it well, you lose.
In my opinion, the inability of our children to achieve average results on the SAT is grounded directly with the principles of the schools not knowing how to utilize and manage their staff. It's my belief that first you must hire qualified teachers and then you must adequately supply them with education materials. If you're still seeing poor results, there is a systemic failure. Since the problem seems to exist in every school in American Samoa, I find the common link to be the director of the DOE who is appointed by the governor.
I have met the director of the DOE and she seems to be intelligent and competent as well as seemingly motivated. In fact, with those qualities in tact, I am not sure why the DOE fails to teach our children under her command. Perhaps the problem lies in the mandate she has received from the current governor.
As your governor, the education of our children will be my first priority. It will be my first Director meeting and I will simply pose these questions:
1. Have our children been effectively educated to a satisfactory level by DOE under your command? If the answer is yes, then the meeting ends and I will find a replacement. The correct answer is no.
2. Why is the DOE not adequately educating our children? If the answer is about money, staff or the kids, the meeting will end and I will find a replacement.
If the answer is "the system and our mandate", then we will work together to create a new mandate and a new system for the betterment of our children. I will set milestones to review our progress towards this goal.
I simply refuse to continue to watch our children being educated in this way just to avoid hurt feelings. It's that simple. Our kids come first and if you do not agree with that you will not be a part of my administration.
Classroom teachers in American Samoa very often do not have enough books for each child. Because of that, they do not allow the kids to take their books home to do their homework or to study. This has a very big impact on how much a child can possibly learn. Whose fault is this?
The blame lies directly on the managers of the school - the principle. Sufficient books should be signed out to the teachers at the beginning of the school year. The teachers then signs them out to each student who is then responsible for returning the book or paying for it if its lost.
Books are critical to the education of our children. Look - if the government can send $200k to Hawaii for a party, we can afford books for our kids.
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