Palikir, POHNPEI – President Manny Mori has today submitted to the 15th Congress, some of his Cabinet nominations for the various departments and offices of the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia.

President Mori’s letter to Speaker Isaac V. Figir noted that the nominations are based on the Executive Reorganization Bill transmitted the previous week and requested Congress’s patience and “appreciation of the policy considerations reflected in the choices of nominations.”

While the general threshold requirement for a nominee’s selection is his/her competency in the relevant area, President Mori stated that “since these are public offices whose conducts and decisions impact the lives of people, not only are higher standards of behavior expected of their holder, but the public interest also demands that factors such as integrity of Government and the need to separate the pursuit of private interests from the execution of public offices should also be part of the selection consideration.”

Accordingly, the President noted that some traditional nomination considerations like residency distribution of the nominees “are not of particular priority” in the new Administration’s selections.

On the other hand, incumbent holders of some of the offices are being nominated to the same or different offices “where their skills and talents would contribute most to the new Administration’s policy objectives,” stated the President.

President Mori’s submitted nominees are:

1. 1. Lorin S. Robert as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Robert is the current Acting Secretary and has been with the Department over 10 years;



2. 2. Finley S. Perman as Secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration. Perman is currently the Director of Finance for Pohnpei State Government;



3. 3. Francis I. Itimai as Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure. Itimai is currently with the FSM Department of Finance and Administration and was the former Planning and Budget Officer for Yap State Government;



4. 4. Dana Wesley Smith as Secretary of the Department of Justice. Smith is currently an attorney in private practice in Hawaii and a was former Legislative Counsel to the Chuuk Legislature and former staff attorney to the Congress of Micronesia); was a Peace Corp Volunteer in Micronesia,



5. 5. Fabian Nimea as Director of the new Office of Statistics, Budget, Overseas Development Assistance and Compact Management. Nimea is currently running his own financial consulting firm, prior to that he was the Executive Vice President and Credit Administrator for the Bank of FSM;



6. 6. Andrew R. Yatilman as Director of the new Environment and Emergency Management Agency. Yatilman is the current Secretary for the Department of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure;



7. 7. Anna Mendiola as a Trustee on the Compact Trust Fund Board of Trustees. Mendiola is the current Chief Executive Officer of the FSM Development Bank; and



8. 8. Evelyn Adolph as one of two FSM representatives to the Joint Economic Management Committee (JEMCO). Adolph is currently the Program Manager for the FSM Tax Reform after serving as an advisor to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Absent from the Presidents transmittal of June 29 are the nominations for the Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Resources and Development, the proposed Office of National Archives, Culture and Historical Preservation. Also awaiting nominations are the posts for Public Defender, Post Master General along with the heads of FSM’s overseas missions.

President Mori’s letter informed the Speaker that nominations for the remaining offices and departments will be submitted “as soon as people are able to confirm their availability to serve.”

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