Esther Kiaaina Cuts Micronesia Funding, Thus Forcing Migrants to Come to USA

by Neil Mellen, Guam PDN, June 6, 2016 (excerpt)

…Since 2009, projects funded by DOI’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), which implements much of the Compact, appear to have become more partisan and chaotic.

OIA began micromanaging the hundreds of millions in aid that it is obligated to provide to Micronesia and the other Freely Associated States (FAS). In some cases, OIA has simply withheld the money, or routed funds to projects outside the FAS. Predictably, this has fueled the exodus and its costs.

Rather than deal with the underlying problems by investing in job training and skill development, OIA is instead training migrants to maximize their dependency on taxpayer-funded welfare services in Guam and Hawaii. This disastrous policy includes awarding grants to so-called “One-Stop Centers.”

It appears that taxpayer money for these groups was shockingly cannibalized from a technical assistance fund intended to promote accountability, financial management and economic development within the FAS itself....

read … Guam PDN

Esther Kiaaina Makes Excuses

CB June 29, 2016 (excerpts): …Kiaaina said she did not think Mellen was thinking about “the larger issue of empowerment in these communities where some face discrimination. Let’s just acknowledge that.” (Translation: We can make them wards of the State and therefore loyal Dem voters in USA.  And we Dems can keep them scared of ‘racists’.)

What the assistant secretary was referring to — and what Mellen has tapped into — is resentment on the part of some local residents in Guam and Hawaii that COFA citizens are abusing social services at the expense of taxpayers.... (Translation: We presume to conclude that those who disagree with Kiaaina are blaming the Micronesians, thus playing into Kiaaina's scheme.  Perception is reality and we are all about creating perceptions.)

The COFA nations also currently receive almost $200 million a year in direct U.S. aid. Government audits show that the money has not always been spent wisely.  (Thus providing a justification for withholding aid, without acknowledging that the aid is being withheld in order to create the crisis in the first place.)

Signs advertised flu shots, cell phone services and (drumroll please) voter registration (clash cymbals).....

read … Kiaaina Dissembles

DOI Reality: Report Exposes Scheme to Funnel Interior Department Money to Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement