Nelson's Port hiring probe stretches into Brown's GM term

The oversight chair of the Port Authority of Guam is diving into the agency's hiring practices but she's not only interested in looking into the current administration's hiring practices but apparently that of the agency's predecessor, who also is one of her colleagues in the 36th Guam Legislature.

"I don't know why they picked the particular dates they have," Sen. Joanne Brown said. "I don't know why they didn't go back to 2010 and 2011 1550."

Port oversight chair Sen. Telena Nelson is looking into Port GM Rory Respicio's hiring practice. According to a letter from Nelson to the Civil Service Commission, she wants a post-audit of the hiring practices of employees with any criminal history hired by the Port from Fiscal Years 2017 to 2020. That would cover a portion of the time when Sen. Brown was the Port's general manager.

"Certainly for me if they have a specific reason as to why I've heard some comments being made that there may have been individuals hired I hope that they can reference official misconduct if that's what they're looking at," she said. "But with regards to that particular issue I certainly would have knowingly hired anyone that had a questionable history."

Brown said to her knowledge she did not hire anyone with a criminal record during her tenure. She does recall however terminating a long-time employee after it was brought to her attention that he had a felony conviction. She clarified that this particular employee was at the port years before she was the general manager.

"They can certainly look and they're welcome to do," Brown said. "So I certainly stand by my position as general manager. And all my actions during my time there I mean I had zero tolerance for drugs."

Nelson's call for the post-audit follows concerns raised about the hiring of former Department of Corrections officer Frankie Rosalin as Program Coordinator II at the Port. In 2019 he pled guilty to official misconduct as a misdemeanor for his role in the 2017 drug conspiracy case at the prison. Rosalin is the boyfriend of the lieutenant g governor's sister.

After the hiring was brought to light Brown introduced Bill 37 which would bar anyone convicted of official misconduct from working for GovGuam. The Republican lawmaker has picked up support from her colleague Sen. James Moylan who has signed on as co-sponsor.


"That's just wrong and I applaud Sen. Joanne Brown for pointing this out and finding the loophole especially now we have the pandemic," he said. "We have over 27,000 people unemployed lost wages who are looking to be gainfully employed one day and we were so fortunate for the Government of Guam to maintain their employment during this pandemic when so many others were not able to. As Sen. Brown has said we as government employees we had to take its responsibilities and the people are really counting on us to make things right for them."

The bill has been referred to a committee but a public hearing date has not yet been scheduled. In the meantime, Port officials return for a virtual informational hearing next Tuesday at 9 a.m. on their drug-free workplace program policy followed by an oversight hearing at 10 a.m. on the agency's recruitment and hiring practices.

As far as why Nelson is looking into the hiring practices of Brown when she was the Port GM, she responded “We want to see if there is a consistency between the practices of the different administrations that have changed and that all actions they’ve taken are within the laws of Guam.”

Prior to Brown serving at the port, Sen. Mary Torres was the General Manager, however, her hiring practices are not being looked into.