The State of the Territory

Photo: Scott Whitney Togiola Tulafono came to office last March after the death of Gov. Tauese Sunia, who Togiola had served under as lieutenant governor. Gov. Togiola has been active in public life in the territory for many years as an attorney and as a businessman. He served as chairman of the board of the American Samoa Power Authority and also holds traditional chiefly titles in the villages of Alofau and Sailele. He represented both villages in the Senate of the territory’s Fono, or legislature.

Pacific Magazine: Governor Sunia died quite unexpectedly in March. How are you adjusting to your new role as governor?

Gov. Togiola Tulafono: The sudden change was quite a challenge. You wake up one morning and you're the person. There's no one else to make decisions but you. As lieutenant governor you don't have that many responsibilities. You don't really feel the responsibility on your shoulders. As lieutenant governor, you accept the role and you stand ready to do whatever the governor needs you for. You do a good job, but you always know you're doing it for someone else.

When the change occurred, I realized that I wasn't doing it for someone else, I'm now doing the job for the constituency and the level of responsibility goes from almost nothing to almost 100 percent. It's a change of mindset that had to happen very quickly.

PM: Part of succeeding as governor is getting along with the legislature, the Fono. How are you doing with them so far?

TT: I think we're doing very well. I came up here from the Senate and I still hold very close ties to the Senate. Even though the membership changes, I think they still respect me as a senator, and that's a big plus. I was a matai (chief) in the village of Alofau and for a while I represented them. Later I got the Togiola title, which is from Sailele, in Sua county, where I live now.

PM: In the first months of your administration, some of your Cabinet and other government officials have been implicated in allegations of corruption of various sorts. What's been happening, do you think? Are there more revelations to come?

TT: It appears that these are things that have developed over a substantial period of time. When the allegations began to surface about the CPO [Chief Procurement Officer] and the school lunch program, I found out that there had been an investigation going on for over a year. But having talked to the attorney general, I found they were having some difficulties with the case. As I began to find out more, I talked to the [police] commissioner and allegations began to surface about the Department of Education and the school lunch program. They seemed to be connected, so I asked DOE to conduct their own internal investigation first. After that review, it began to look like it was not just the school lunch program, but a wider issue and that's when I referred it to the attorney general.

Are there more of them? I don't know. But these are serious issues. [Since this interview, the CPA has been charged and jailed. He is now out on bail. More officials in DOE, the Social Services Department and the Development Bank have also been charged or are under investigation.]

PM: The economy of American Samoa is dominated by government employment and the canneries. How is progress toward diversification?

TT: I have organized a non-profit corporation called the E-Commerce Development Center of the Pacific, with key department heads on the board. It's a key developmental effort for the infrastructure, because I believe that in order for this venture to be successful, I have to put in a lot of effort in the educational infrastructure as well as the capacity to incubate small businesses. My hope is that we can do this together with the American Samoa Community College and have a center housed there and also have the business incubation part of it in the same center so that students can be taking their classes and work there part time.

PM: The canneries benefit from special U.S. legislation that gives the territory a much lower minimum wage than exists elsewhere in the U.S. You did not support an increase in this minimum wage at recent U.S. Department of Labor hearings.

TT: I think fighting to maintain the canneries here is actually fighting for the workers. I'd take issue with anyone who says otherwise. I don't want to fight for $5.46 and hour and end up with 4,000 people unemployed.

PM: The so-called Section 936 also gives the canneries good tax advantages within the U.S. tax system. That is set to expire in 2005. There is some legislation that proposes to renew 936 beyond 2005.

TT: I've been working very hard to accomplish that and give the new owners of StarKist ways to work beyond the expiration of Section 936. I happen to believe that if Section 936 expires with no viable replacement, I don't think we'll be keeping the canneries much longer.

PM: Haven't the canneries always threatened to pull out whenever they don't get their way.

TT: Perhaps, but I also always felt confident that as long as Section 936 was in place it would be very difficult for them to go find another place. The tax benefits they realize by staying here give them a fairly substantial margin to play with. Without 936, I'd have to start taking that threat very seriously.

PM: Tourism has never done well here, but there seem to be some improvements in that sector.

TT: I think American Samoa has been misconceived as a destination. I think the consultants and the marketing have always been wrong. If we had been marketed appropriately as a stopover, I think we would have enjoyed some benefits without too much expense in the marketing effort. Second to that are transportation issues. Our tourism is not necessarily from the north. We're looking at the wrong place for tourism. That's part of the problem. We've been looking at North America, which is way too far and too expensive. Our tourism should be coming from the south and west of us, which has more access to transportation.

We do have some traffic from North America and Hawaii, but I want to develop that more as a conference market-someone comes here for a purpose for a few days at a meeting they'll attend with 50 or 60 other people. That's the way I look at the North American market. That's the only way you can compel someone to spend that kind of money to be here in American Samoa. It's my hope that as we market ourselves as a beautiful place to relax and still have time after your meetings for a swim.

PM: Which brings us to Hawaiian Airlines.

TT: My favorite topic. You know, I really wish Hawaiian Air every success, but they have really demonstrated a lack of interest in doing things for us. It's really really troublesome for me. If they would just be responsible and try to work things out with us. But they've shown us they have no interest in doing that. American Samoa is a one-airline market. It will never support two airlines, not for a long time anyway.

PM: One of the places where American Samoa is doing something that works well is in the semi-autonomous American Samoa Power Authority. It has a good reputation all around the region. What are they doing right?

TT: Smart young Samoans. That's the only answer I can give you. They've got a management that has the ability to garner young talent and develop them. We have a lot of those. But we also have a lot of misplaced talents.

PM: You mean in government?

TT: In general government the problem has always been the ability of new leaders to change the attitudes developed over the years. In ASPA, second to what I said about young Samoans, there was also the ability to get in there and instill a new sense of values about work and the work ethic. I started ASPA as the first chairman of the board and one of the most difficult things I had to deal with was people not willing to change their ways. It was a very difficult time in the history of ASPA. In those days we had to import management. It was expensive and difficult, but it was necessary. It took us five years.

PM: One last question. The government is the majority shareholder in the Rainmaker Hotel, which continues to deteriorate. What are you going to do about the Rainmaker?

TT: (Laughs.) I wish you'd forgotten to ask that question! I'm seriously trying to get the government out of the business. I negotiated a deal for a local corporation to take over, but as we were trying to finalize the deal, the lawyers came back and informed me that I cannot do it. The government may only sell its shares to individuals and we can only sell 1 percent per person. That's where I'm stuck. But I'm still committed to getting the government out.