Democrats gather at Gutierrez's home

by Jolene Toves

Guam - This past weekend was quite the eventful one for the island's Democratic Party, as members met at the home of former governor Carl Gutierrez. And the party proved that the evening's events were much more than just a casual social gathering in Agana Heights.

Democrats united over the weekend on a mission to take back Adelup any way that they can, marking the weekend gathering as the start of a central party. Speaker Judi Won Pat, Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz, and Senators Tom Ada, Rory Respicio, Tina Muna Barnes, and Michael San Nicolas came out in force to lead the effort and inspire their constituents to start getting their message out to the community, recognizing their core values and what it means to be a Democrat.

"In our party, what it's like to be a Democrat is bringing any one that you can possibly bring to your table give them a seat at your table fight for the very things that they believe in," Respicio proclaimed. He pointed out the issues he and his fellow Democrats have fought for and ensured the administration made good on, noting, "It is our philosophy to bring people to the table we wanted to make sure that this administration makes good on the Hay Study to give the GovGuam employees what they deserve."

He said they would "fight for things like $1,800 to COLA in the last budget cycle the Democrats had to be the ones to fight really, really hard to make sure make sure our retirees are made whole again," as well as attempted to dispel any misconceived notions. "And there are things that we did in the budget to make sure most importantly that there is enough tax refunds set aside so that people would get their tax refunds. Don't let this administration fool you that it's them that paying tax refunds it's the legislature that makes enough money available so that tax refunds can be paid on time," he said.

He further stated, "We have a lot we are trying to do but it's really hard to get that message out and the only way to get that message out is to have a strong central party that can recognize all the people that as Carl Gutierrez says have been marginalized over the years to stand up for the very things that they are fighting for.

"You absolutely came out to make a strong statement that we cannot have another four years of the same what will happen down the road remains to be seen."

While it was not announced who will lead the democratic party in the upcoming election, Senator Respicio did state that former governor Gutierrez will be helping the Democratic Party.