Former Guam senator Robert Klitzkie stumped for passage of Sen. Jim Moylan’s part-time legislature bill at the Rotary Club of Guam today.
Klitzkie spoke about the political class on island made up of three to four hundred people who spend much of their careers working for GovGuam.
They go from the legislature to positions in the executive branch and back again, making it very difficult for private citizens to run for elective office.
“So what we wind up with at our legislature are professional politicians. People whose profession is holding that office at $55,307.20 for which there is no accountability, no requirement for productivity, and that’s loaded with perks,” Klitzkie said.
Among those perks, said Klitzkie, is a state funeral paid for by taxpayers.
“The way we do it here, every former senator is entitled to a state funeral, governors, lieutenant governors, etc. and the Speaker has the discretion to order a state funeral for anyone else. It costs you a fair amount of money and once again it’s a way incumbents can campaign. I don’t see why the government is in the funeral business,” Klitzkie said.
Moylan’s bill proposes two 30-day sessions a year, with hearings held in the evening, and a stipend payment of only $100 a day. His Bill 265 was introduced in January. It has not yet been scheduled for a public hearing.
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