Gutierrez drops lawsuit against Calvo/Tenorio

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - A challenge of the Decision 2010 election results is now over - at least in the Superior Court of Guam - as former governor Carl Gutierrez threw in the towel today, agreeing to dismiss his lawsuit. But the island's previous chief executive says the stipulation to dismiss isn't a concession that he clearly lost in the last election.

Since his defeat in the 2010 gubernatorial election, Gutierrez has fought tooth-and-nail to have his day in court.  Gutierrez and his running mate, former senator Frank Aguon Jr., filed suit against the Guam Election Commission, its board members, and Governor Eddie Calvo and Lieutenant Governor Ray Tenorio.  The challenge alleged that the 2010 gubernatorial election results needed to be declared null and void because the election was marred with numerous discrepancies. 

The case started to crumble though earlier this year when Gutierrez and Aguon disagreed on whether the lawsuit should proceed. Aguon wanted out of the lawsuit for personal family reasons and said he wanted no affiliation with the election challenge. Gutierrez made it clear he wanted to forge ahead, saying he had been abandoned by his running mate but was prepared to go to trial after borrowing money and spending $40,000 to pay for attorney's fees, stipends for research and to bring an off island lawyer to Guam. The dispute resulted in their attorney, David Lujan, having to withdraw from the case because his clients were at odds.

But today, representing himself in the case, Gutierrez threw in the towel. "There's no change of heart. Just a lack of money," Gutierrez laughingly said. Since I paid David Lujan and he was removed, I couldn't find another attorney for less than $50,000 to move forward and begin anew."

Attorney Mike Phillips, who represents the governor and lieutenant governor, says the agreement removes any challenge to the election of Calvo and Tenorio. Phillips added that the stipulation to dismiss the case with prejudice means Gutierrez cannot later file the same case again.

While Gutierrez has agreed to drop the lawsuit, he isn't giving up on his mission to have the 2010 election scrutinized. He continued, "Totally, I believe in the merits of my case and I believe that should be looked into by the U.S. Attorney and the Attorney General.  Since those complaints have been verified and they're sitting on their desks, they're the ones that should be spending their resources instead of me as a private citizen."

But realistically, it's been 20 months since the election and nothing has happened.  Gutierrez says it's unacceptable. "This is their responsibility they took an oath of office and swore to uphold the law and here are the complaints that have been verified such as the names of those who voted on Guam and the NMI - and that's against federal and local laws - but nobody seems to go after these people," he stated.

Gutierrez added that Maryland's court made a ruling that votes cast in both the local and delegate races must be counted from overseas military personnel whose ballots were sent in the mail late.  The former governor contends there were 176 such ballots for Guam, and had the votes for the local races been tallied, he believes a run off would have been required.

While Calvo and Tenorio forge ahead, Gutierrez waits for the U.S. Attorney and attorney general to act on the complaints.

In the meantime, the people of Guam haven't seen the last of him yet. He vowed, "I'm getting my petitions together right now. I have 4,200 delegate signatures and we're just going over and verifying it right now and another 4,000 for senatorial, so we're trying to decide which one."

Governor Calvo meanwhile has said that the 2010 election has been over since he and the lieutenant governor were certified the winners.  He's hopeful the dismissal of the case will result in finally putting politics away. Calvo said, "We applaud them for fighting the good fight during the campaign, and even 20 months after the election happened...we're just trying to make things right. As we did on election morning, we once again ask our former opponents to join us in continuing our efforts to build a greater Guam, where all Guamanians prosper.

"We welcome their supporters into our administration. Every Guamanian has every right to be part of the decision making process. This government belongs to all, not just a select few."