Gutierrez writes Calvo

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Former Democratic candidate for Governor Carl Gutierrez has written current Governor Eddie Calvo expressing his disappointment with his veto of Bill 413, legislation to reform the island's election process. As we reported Calvo vetoed the bill because of a provision that would require an audit of the 2010 general election. Calvo has repeatedly said the election was over and criticized democrats for including the amendment implying it was the work of Gutierrez. 

The former governor in his letter claims Calvo chose to make the issue about the two of them rather than problems with the 2010 election.  "You chose to name me in a veto message; to make this measure about the two of us than the thousands of island residents who were purged from voter lists without due process, the servicemen who cast ballots that were never counted in our local election, or the fact that, after hearing testimony by the Guam Election Commission, the audit provision which was prompted by your veto was passed without objection of a single Republican Senator," Gutierrez wrote.

Gutierrez added that he had no hand in crafting the language contained in the legislation, and that the argument that electoral audits are somehow harmful to our island is a charade, "Electoral audits are a matter of common practice throughout the United States, especially in instances where the margin of the victory is small," he wrote.

Currently a lawsuit is moving through the Superior Court of Guam filed by Gutierrez and his former running mate Frank Aguon Jr.  The two filed the lawsuit after the 2010 general election asking the results be null and void because of alleged election discrepancies. Aguon however has since requested to be removed from the litigation.

Meanwhile Senator Rory Respicio also wrote a letter to Governor Calvo, questioning the handling of the bill and whether a legal argument can be made that the legislation may have actually lapsed into law, " for purely procedural purposes, and as a matter of record, I raise an issue with the manner in which this vetoed bill was presented to I Liheslatura. Your claim that you vetoed this bill on March 28, 2012 is incorrect. Since you returned this to I Liheslatura on April 3, 2012 at 4:53pm, it is proper then to indicate that this bill did not pass into law on April 3, 2012 at 4:53pm," Respicio wrote. He added that notwithstanding the questioned legal status of Bill 413-31 he will continue to pursue an override of the measure. 

Governor Calvo's Director of Communications, Troy Torres, issued the following statement to KUAM following the letters from Gutierrez and Sen. Respicio:

 "We all know this is a smoke screen, and the attempt to recreate the election of 2010 has nothing to do with the thousands of voters. If the former governor and his cohorts in the legislature were sincere about election reform, then they would have reformed the election process after the botched 1998 gubernatorial election where dead people were voting. If you want to keep elections fair and clean, the way to do that is to stop cheating and we know where the cheating happened and it wasn't with the Calvo Tenorio team. The election is done and the people have moved forward, governor Calvo is concentrating all of his time on the fight against poverty, the improvement of services and building a strong future and a strong community. We wish the democratic leadership would just get over it and pay attention to the issues of the working poor and the struggling families in this island."