by Ken Wetmore, KUAM News Wednesday, July 07, 2004 E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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Fear and intimidation, or just watching out for the public's best interest? You be the judge, after considering two different perspectives on a Freedom of Information Act request sent to the Guam Election Commission. The first is the perspective of Guam Attorney General Douglas Moylan, who sent the Sunshine request; the other perspective is that of Andrew Zawalinski, the man trying to recall the AG.

Attorney General Moylan's Sunshine request of the GEC asks for two things: all the documents submitted by Zawalinski to the Guam Election Commission up until now and all petitions Zawalinski submits during the next 120 days. The letter, which was sent to KUAM News by the Attorney General himself, goes beyond the request for documents, however.

In the letter, the AG alleges Zawalinski has been arrested and prosecuted for harassment and assault and was being investigated by the Attorney General's Office prior to his recall petition for theft of property and criminal mischief.

The AG further writes he is in the process of confirming prior convictions for reckless driving and driving under the influence. In an interview with KUAM today AG Moylan said Zawalinski has initiated an open and democratic process and is subject to scrutiny. He explained, "Given all this that's going on, I have notified the GEC based on information that I'm consistently receiving right now and continuously receiving on Mr. Zawalinski - who has a very colorful past on Guam - that this person has at least one complaint having been arrested for theft in 2002.

"And that brings into question his integrity and his ability to provide bona fide petitions to the GEC and I'm saying to the GEC to be aware of this."

Conversely, Zawalinski sees the AG's move differently. The author of the petition to recall the AG says Moylan's allegations in his letter to the GEC is just another attempt by the AG to utilize his office to intimidate or bully people who don't agree with him. "I'm not surprised by these allegations at all," said the retired U.S. Marine. "I somewhat expected them and this should give more credence to just getting rid of him, for heaven sakes. You know, this is outrageous."

Zawalinski defends his reputation, saying he believes the harassment and assault charges the AG alleges probably are in reference to a domestic case Zawalinski was involved in, a case he says was dismissed and the charges subsequently expunged. He further says the reckless driving and driving under the influence charges occurred between 17 and 19 years ago.

And as for being under investigation by the AG's Office, Zawalinski says he is unaware of any investigation. He says he's troubled by a statement in the AG's letter that Moylan intends to publish the names of anyone who signs the recall petition in a local newspaper. "It's an obvious ploy to intimidate the voters and the people of Guam and everybody is going to see through that," Zawalinski stated. "I mean for heaven's sakes, when I submit this petition, how can I phony 20,000 names, addresses, and dates of births - hello?!?"

The Guam Attorney General says he's simply trying to ensure everything stays on the up-and-up. Said Moylan, the island's first-ever elected attorney general, "The best way to protect a recall, from my perspective, is to make the names known to the public - not that they're being put on notice that I'm going to punish them - but to put them on notice just to make sure that Mr. Zawalinski did not forge your signature or use your name when you did not affix your signature there. You have this right to go the FBI they have investigated election fraud in the past."

The AG admits his publication of the names of the persons signing the petition to recall him could cause hesitation among those considering signing the petition. "I think it's a possibility," he admitted. "I disagree that I am vindictively using this position, but what we have to do a balance here, its a democratic process of who the people elected for a four-year term has to be protected against people like Mr. Zawalinski, who I believe is a charlatan, and is not out for the best interest of the public, but is trying to advocate for people like David Mair, David Lujan Felix Camacho and Carl Gutierrez."

Moylan says he will use his personal funds to publish the names of those signing the petition. For his part, the author of the petition to recall the Attorney General says Moylan's letter to the GEC hasn't changed anything. Said Zawalinski, "If he thinks he can intimidate me; that's not going to happen. As I had stated in my initial documents, I said he's known to do that. OK, well, the people know what he's like and I'm going to let the people decide if they actually want to keep the attorney general, Douglas Moylan, in office."

Zawalinski says he will start working on getting the required 22,513 signatures as soon as the petition approved by the GEC come back from the printer, which he expected to happen this afternoon.