MICHAEL SAN NICOLAS

Race: Senatorial

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Village: Dededo

Campaign Manager: Miguel B. San Nicolas

Treasurer: Letitia Lujan


Biography:

Michael F.Q. San Nicolas, born on January 30, 1981, is the son of Mike Borja San Nicolas and Evangeline Quitugua San Nicolas of Talofofo, Guam, both long-time educators at the Guam Department of Education. His grandparents are Enrique Santos San Nicolas (dec.), who served in the Guam Congress, and Francesca Borja San Nicolas (dec.) of Talofofo and former Speaker of the Guam Legislature Franklin J. Arceo Quitugua and Julia Siguenza Quitugua (dec.) of Chalan Pago, Guam.


Michael San Nicolas attended Father Duenas Memorial High School, John F. Kennedy High School, and Southern High School, and graduated from Southern High School in 1998. Michael met his future wife, Kathryn Santos Ko, while he attended John F. Kennedy High School. In 1998, Michael San Nicolas was on the Southern High School Mock Trial team which took second place in the annual Mock Trial National Championship held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On November 23, 1998, youth speaker Michael San Nicolas introduced President William Jefferson Clinton, who addressed a large crowd of assembled Guamanians.


After his graduation from Southern High School, Michael San Nicolas studied history at the University of Guam. While attending the University of Guam, he served as Speaker of the 22nd Guam Youth Congress from 1998 to 2000 and elected by his peers as President of the Student Government Association in 2002-2003. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Guam in 2004.


In 2006, Michael San Nicolas completed the Management Training Program at the Bank of Guam, where he later worked as an Investment Advisor and rose to Assistant Vice President.


Michael married Kathryn Santos Ko in 2005. Together they have two children, Kaleb Michael San Nicolas and Katelyn San Nicolas. In 2009, Michael San Nicolas wrote a book dedicated to his son, Kaleb, titled "A Father's Hand, Lessons for Life from Father to Son".


Platform:

Building a Responsible Guam is a continuation of four key areas:

1) Responsibly Managing the People's Money Well

2) Responsibly Improving the Services of the People's Government

3) Responsibly Addressing Economic Initiatives


My service has been and will continue to be mindful of how all four of these priorities intersect and are interdependent. As we get better at managing the people's money, it must go to improving our services, our economy, and our quality of life.


The main job of every Senator is to be a steward of the People's money. This means that we are responsible for all of your tax dollars, and must make sure that it is being collected and spent fairly, purposefully, and measurably. To start, we have focused on setting a baseline for improvement in the Department of Revenue and Taxation, resulting in $10 million more in collections, the first criminal tax fraud cases in decades.


We next need to make sure that Borrowing and the Issuance of Tax Credits are heavily scrutinized for a measurable return on investment. Future generations must not make up for today's bad spending, so we need to make sure that money is going to where it is supposed to, and that we are not borrowing or issuing out tax credits for things unless they have a rate of return higher than the cost of capital.


Lastly on Responsibly Managing the People's Money Well we need to work harder at appropriating purposefully rather than symbolically. This means expecting management to demonstrate goals and objectives, tie those to the funding they seek, and thereafter tracking management's progress to ensure the right outcome. It is not just enough to say you support education, health, or public safety by throwing money at problems - the problems must be clearly identified, solutions must be clearly presented, and funding must be clearly tied to those outcomes.


The people's money runs the government, and these services are supposed to operate at a certain level of customer (taxpayer) satisfaction. Over the last term my focus has been on the areas under my oversight, with particular attention to Rev & Tax (DRT) and DPW School Bussing. Both these areas have shown marked improvements. DRT lines are moving faster, tax fraud investigations are underway, and fairness is being applied across the board for taxpayers. DPW bussing is coming off of its best year of operations in recent history, with the fewest level of client complaints, operational issues, and inter-agency challenges in years.


When our people are in need, we need to be responsive to them. I have supported providing extra resources to non-profits, expanding health care options for foster children, providing emergency transportation services in the case of natural disasters, and I will continue to pursue and support innovative solutions to the challenges that face our people.


We will continue on this course, building a responsible Guam.


Campaign Slogan: "Building a Responsible Guam"


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Office Number: 671-472-6453

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