Republican Sen. Thomas Fisher filed an ethics complaint with the Legislative Ethics Committee against Democrat Sen. William Parkinson on March 31, alleging he did not disclose a possible conflict of interest.
In the document, Fisher references Resolution 67-37 which calls for the creation of a Special Investigating Committee to look into the alleged criminal activity the Progressive Democrats of Guam, also known as PDG, did by disseminating a fraudulent amendment of Bill 32-37.
Fisher alleged Parkinson violated Guam law after coming across a social media post where the PDG writes that Parkinson was an officer of the organization, which was left undisclosed to the 37th Guam Legislature.
“The reason we filed the ethics complaint was because he didn’t disclose that he was a member of the Progressive Guam Democrats and the failure to disclose and also working on the floor against the resolution that was beginning the investigation was his error,” said Fisher. “He had an absolute duty to disclose that. He also had a duty to disclose under Guam Law, and he did neither.”
Fisher believes that with Parkinson debating and voting against Resolution 67, a conflict of interest exists, since Parkinson could have benefited from the Resolution’s demise due to his connection to the PDG.
However, Parkinson denied having been a part of the organization since 2020 and said that the PDG’s social media post does not signify he is still a member.
“I’ve not been an officer or involved with them in any way at all since 2020 and so I don’t know where that post came from or how it came up on the Progressive Democrats of Guam feed, but it’s not approved by me and definitely I am not an officer for them for many many years now,” said Parkinson.
During the interview with the Pacific News Center, Parkinson assured that he raised a total of zero dollars while he was a member of the PDG as Fundraising Chairperson.
Parkinson explained the reason why he opposed to Resolution 67 is that, with it, he believes the Republican Party is putting together an investigating panel to investigate their “political critics”.
He added he now looks forward to defending himself in the public sphere.
“I don’t believe I did anything wrong and I believe the ethics commission will approve that, so I look forward to them clearing me of all these, not fraudulent, but unnecessary charges,” Parkinson said.
Fisher told PNC that he’s unsure whether Speaker Therese Terlaje, a Democrat, reviewed his complaint.
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