TORRES: I bought it for Saipan; PUES: Hunting knives
By Nancy I. Maanao
(Tumon, Guam) Gov. Ralph Torres, in a cute and lengthy article he wrote to the Marianas Variety Monday, said that everything presented in the receipts of his purchases on public dime that we have exposed was for public use.
"To be absolutely clear, I have not, nor has any member of my family, ever used public funds to acquire any item or service for personal use," Mr. Torres said. "Not once."
But the morning after Christmas, at 10:45 a.m. on December 26, 2018 in Idaho, Mr. Torres bought two hunting knives, a burner commonly used in the manufacturing of meth, and two packages of freeze dried beef stroganoff and noodles. The purchases are detailed in yet another receipt he turned in and for which he applied for and received reimbursement from the Commonwealth.
The purchases were made at Sportsmans Warehouse, a hunting boutique.
Mr. Torres was reimbursed $367.11 for his hunting and food purchases. Kandit has verified that the government of the Commonwealth does not have a Department of Hunting bureau of Idaho, which makes it difficult to ponder just how hunting knives, a meth burner, or freeze dried beef stroganoff and noodles has anything to do with the business of the people all the way in Idaho.
The most disgusting part of this story, however, is not necessarily what he bought, but when he bought it. Tinian and Saipan were ravaged by Supertyphoon Yutu on October 25, 2018. While the people of the Commonwealth were suffering through some of the worst post-typhoon conditions in the history of the Marianas, Mr. Torres was on a vacation in Idaho, spending the people's money on what appears to be a hunting trip.
