"Ice cooler" affidavit sent to attorney general

 by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Prior to certifying the results from the Decision 2014 General Election this past weekend, the Guam Election Commission did address the over two dozen administrative complaints before them including one involving an ice cooler allegedly containing pre-marked ballots. The complaint has since been withdrawn with possible legal action ahead.        

The GEC will respond to every one of the 30 administrative complaints filed regarding the general election. One of the complaints however may be addressed by the legal authorities instead. "I mean, the magnitude of the complaint is unbelievable," noted Martha Ruth.

It was on November 17 over a week after the general election when Dededo Precinct official Catherine Peredo filed a complaint with the GEC. Peredo swore under penalty of perjury through a notarized affidavit claiming to have seen pre-marked ballots in an ice cooler allegedly for the Calvo-Tenorio gubernatorial team and several senatorial candidates. During Saturday's GEC meeting, commissioners were informed that Peredo had since come into the GEC and recanted her statement.

Ruth called the complaint far reaching and read Peredo's disclosure notice into the record, saying, "First of all, I would like to say that I did not prepare the affidavit, it was Bernadette Meno."

Meno is currently employed with Senator Rory Respicio, who not only chairs the Committee on Election Reform, but is also the chairperson of the Democratic Party of Guam. Meno was hired after she was terminated from the Port Authority of Guam where she and several other workers were involved with an alleged conspiracy to defraud the government and cover it up.  Her appeal is still before the Civil Service Commission.

According to the disclosure notice, Peredo says she was instructed to have the document notarized. "When we received the affidavit she asked if we read it, but because we were in a hurry and tired, I just signed it and did not read it, I only wanted to let the GEC director know that I wanted to correct the matter regarding the ballot in the cooler," said Ruth.

Peredo says she did see one single ballot but is unsure whether it was an official or sample ballot.  GEC legal counsel Jeff Cook told commissioners that whether there's any criminality, that's something that needs to be taken up at a later time should the GEC determine that it should be sent to the Attorney General's Office. "In my opinion, I feel that a violation, that it should be forwarded to the AG's Office simply for the fact that number one, it was a sworn affidavit that was filed under notary; and number two, which I'm really disturbed about, is it questioned the credibility of this commission and the election process," explained Joe Mesa.

A motion was passed unanimously to forward the matter to the AG's Office. And while Peredo has yet to respond to KUAM's calls for a comment, Meno did issue a statement saying she was with two other people when Peredo made the allegations. She says, "I am unsure why she is now recanting her story considering she shared it with numerous persons including the FBI. I certainly hope the fear of speaking up and endangering her government job as well as her allegations of receiving threatening phone calls did not play a role in this. I wish her and her husband well."

Late this afternoon, GEC executive director Maria Pangelinan says Peredo's signed affidavit and disclosure notice were forwarded to the AG.