Guam’s Republican Party issued the following statement Tuesday morning:
If there was one thing that Governor Lou Leon Guerrero expressed yesterday afternoon during her Press Conference on a recent audit of the Fiscal Year 2019 finances, is that she needs a reality check. First, she is touting financial success based on a budget plan adopted in 2018 even prior to her election as the island’s Maga’Haga Guahan.
The Governor also fails to state that upon taking oath, she separated government entities that were previously consolidated, with the intent of filling additional Director and Deputy Director positions. The staff at Adelup took starting salaries that were drastically higher than their predecessors in similar positions. She also requested for an unprecedented billion-dollar budget for FY 2020.
Governor Leon Guerrero also fails to report that the surplus experienced in FY 2019 was due to the Democrats in the 34th Guam Legislature allowing the Business Privilege Tax (BPT) to remain at 5% “forever”. She back pedaled in her campaign promise of reducing the tax, but upon taking over the seat, she realized that instead of helping small businesses, she needed to reward her family, friends, and supporters with jobs and contracts, thus the need to keep the BPT at the higher level.
During the Press Conference, the Governor stated that her fiscal team did a “better” job in cash management versus the previous administration. What she failed to disclose is that her fiscal team were also a part of the Calvo-Tenorio fiscal team, and thus her keeping them on board is a statement on its own.
While the Governor was touting this evident “success” she feels she has accomplished, what she fails to recognize is that over 35,000 island residents have lost their jobs, and hundreds of businesses have been asked to close their doors. She wants to let them know that their government’s finances are in order, but she does not seem to care if their personal finances are in order, as she has done nothing with local funds to help our people.
Lastly, Governor Leon Guerrero lied when she said that no employees were laid off or experienced reduced hours during this pandemic, as she conveniently forgot that thousands of private sector employees lost their jobs even before the virus arrived on island. Governor Leon Guerrero needs A REALITY CHECK!!
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