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It's Your Money: mayor uses government resources to fund son's wedding
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by Ken Wetmore, KUAM News
Friday, September 24, 2004
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In the central village of Mangilao, a mayor's son will be getting married this weekend. But are you helping pay for part of the celebration? When we arrived at Dimas Street this morning, two dump trucks (one sporting Government of Guam license plates) were leaving, and in the yard were two other vehicles identified as public sector vehicles.
It was obvious from the canopies and people clearing the area that preparations were underway for a celebration. However, it was not the mayor of Mangilao we found supervising - it was Peter Aguon, the mayor of Barrigada. When our cameras appeared, the mayor appeared eager to make an exit. Following is a transcription of our encounter with Mayor Aguon:
"KUAM News: Sir, may I please get a quick interview with you? Ask you about the government vehicles you're using here?
Mayor Peter Aguon: Government vehicles? Well, you know, this is my...the Barrigada Mayor's Office.
KUAM News: Sure, but you also had some government dump trucks there's a few other government vehicles around here as well.
Mayor Peter Aguon: Yeah, I did help these guys get rid of their debris in the dump trucks.
KUAM News: Isn't this your son's wedding?
Mayor Peter Aguon: Yes it is, yeah.
KUAM News: Aren't you using government resources to set up for your son's wedding?
Mayor Peter Aguon: No, no, no, no - well, yes, I do it all the time, I help people...yeah, I help people you know.
KUAM News: So you think it's appropriate to use government resources to get ready for your sons wedding?
Mayor Peter Aguon: (silence...then laughs) Okay...I gotta go man, I gotta go."
While Mayor Aguon was eager to go, we still had a few more questions.
KUAM News: Are any of the people working here on the clock in your mayor's office?
Mayor Peter Aguon: Oh, no, no...just on the trucks to fill up and then we can move the debris.
KUAM News: Okay, so but are the guys driving the trucks are they on the clock for you?
Mayor Peter Aguon: Yeah, well the drivers yeah, the drivers yeah...we're getting rid of the debris.
While Mayor Aguon may do this for his constituents in Barrigada, the land he was on is in Mangilao. Mangilao Mayor Nito Blas is off-island but municipal clerk Francine Concepcion said Mayor Aguon never asked the Mangilao Mayor's Office for help or notified them he would be working in Mangilao.
Concepcion says her mayor's office doesn't clear private property. "Not unless it's for funeral purposes or emergency road repair then we'll do it but for further personnel purposes we will not accommodate or do anything under that type of situation," she explained.
Guam Mayor's Council executive director John Blas told KUAM News the Mayor's Council does not have policy about using government employees and equipment on private property; he says the responsibility for those kinds of decisions falls on the individual mayors. While Mayor Aguon never answered our question of whether he thinks it's appropriate to use government resources to help prepare for his son's wedding, in this case it appears actions speak just as loud as words.
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