by Mindy Aguon

Guam - While the Attorney General's Office proceeds to get Liberty, Uncle Sam and similar amusement devices out of local establishments, Guam Music, Inc. is ready to put up a fight as they contend their machines are legal and their licenses cannot be revoked.

"I don't think they should revoke those licenses. They on legal advice from the office of the governor they were told that they were licensable," noted Randy Cunliffe, attorney for Guam Music. He says the decision to license Liberty, Uncle Sam, Pharaoh, Symbolix and other amusement devices stemmed from a meeting between himself, the governor, the governor's legal counsel and the Department of Revenue & Taxation last week.

"Rev & Tax said, 'As long as you guys dismiss the existing cases, we don't have a problem.' So we said 'Alright, we'll call up the AG and see if they're willing to dismiss the existing cases,' and they said, 'Sure, we'd love to dismiss them,'" the lawyer added. Asked if when he called up the AG's Office did they at anytime agree not to go out and get licenses, he replied, "No, that was never discussed and we wouldn't have agreed to that."

The Attorney General's Office on Tuesday said they still believe as they did when a case was first filed to revoke the licenses back in 2008 that the machines are illegal. The office is in the process of sending out letters to Guam Inc and other companies informing them of their opinion that these machines cannot be licensed or operated on Guam legally. Cunliffe says he isn't surprised by the decision, saying the AG's Office is "extremely political", jumping into political issues to get re-elected.

"He comes out and he makes these allegations publicly and has a press conference because he's running for office," Cunliffe continued, speaking about attorney general Leonardo Rapadas. "That's why we shouldn't have elected attorneys general. So he runs out and does his little dog-and-pony show and he makes these allegations and I'm not surprised because that's the nature of the beast. He doesn't come to court, he doesn't act as a lawyer, he just wants to be a politician and get re-elected and so he puts his nose into things that get him publicity."

The AG's Office has said that regulations that allow machines licensed before August 2001 to be licensed annually is unenforceable as the law says gambling devices are illegal. Cunliffe however is familiar with the regulations that went through the Guam Legislature back in 2003 - in fact, when he was a senator.

The regulations were included in Cunliffe's bill that gave the Supreme Court of Guam its independence and authority over the Superior Court. "They specifically acted on those rules and regulations and said to codify them because we were acting on them. So he can say what he wants to say but the law is pretty clear about what legislatures can and cannot do, and if they don't cross every T and dot every I, that doesn't mean that the legislation is invalid," he asserted.

Cunliffe says his client has 200 licenses and will continue to keep them. If Rev & Tax attempts to revoke them, he says the law requires the government to first hold hearings and give his client due process to make the determination why the licenses should be revoked. "We'll fight it," he promised. "We'll demand that they comply with the law.

"That they have the hearings they're supposed to hear and make the determination at those hearings and we'll fight them."

Coincidentally, the issue regarding the Liberty machines was brought up this morning during an oversight hearing with Rev & Tax, whose director, John Camacho, said he was waiting for correspondence from the AG's Office.

Senator Mike San Nicolas asked, "So if you get a letter telling you to revoke them are they going to be revoked?", to which Camacho said, "Basically, if that's the case moving forward. Ah, I guess we're working together with the legal of the governor and the AG's Office. If that's something we need to do we will do it."