by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Ahead of when she usually issues her weekly address, Speaker Judi Won Pat delivered a special message today for Governor Eddie Calvo to sign Bill 413 into law. The governor was quick to respond. "I am asking Governor Calvo to champion democracy and take up the issues and concerns that have plagued the Guam Election Commission for many years, so that together, we can move this island forward. Today, I am encouraging Governor Calvo to sign Bill 413 into law," she said.

Bill 413 passed by a vote of 8-6, straight down party lines and is 400 pages long. Governor Eddie Calvo last week said he planned on vetoing it not because he's against reforming the island's election laws, but because decision 2010 is over among the amendments in the bill one that calls for an audit of the 2010 gubernatorial election, which Calvo and Lt Governor Ray Tenorio won over Democrats Carl Gutierrez and Frank Aguon Jr. Shortly after the results were certified the democrat gubernatorial team filed a lawsuit to have the results deemed null and void due to irregularities with the election process. aside from speaker won pat's address today, Senator Rory Respicio once again called for Governor Calvo to sign the bill "I will continue to urge the governor to sign this election reform bill into law, and if the governor vetoes the bill I will continue to push for an override.. we must all move on together, and not just those voters who were in support of a new direction."

"Obviously with Senator Respicio, he did put the poison pill there as a disciple of Governor Gutierrez, but once taking that out, there are some good stuff in there, and I hope that we work in good faith with Senator Respicio and other senators so we can put some measures there that will reform our election process," he said.

Its reform Speaker Won Pat said is direly needed, citing a well documented case in 1984 involving her father the late congressman Antonio B Won Pat. "During the proceedings, it was revealed that when all the votes were counted, the challenger was given the victory, but did not garner the 50% plus one. Somehow, 10,616, had been purged from the registration list. Other irregularities were noted that included questionable absentee ballots, blank ballots and tampered ballots," she said.

Governor Calvo today didn't say he was all together against Bill 413, saying there were good things in the legislation, but there were also some concerns that still needed to addressed that were raised by the republican in the legislature, such as how candidates qualify past the primary and language related to independent candidates. "I think we need to look at that as well and then incorporate it in a bill that would take away some of this petty political posturing that is occurring right now," he said.

But his main beef with the bill. "Just that one section A that was put in by Senator Respicio and the Gutierrez-ites, that was a poison pill right there so God bless them, the election is over, lets focus on working on a better community for all of us," he said.

We should also note Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo has also asked Governor Calvo to reconsider his position on the legislation.

Sen. Respicio reacted to Governor Calvo's comments stating he had "no comment."