(Hagåtña, Guam) – “I called the oversight hearing on February 3rd because I believe in a government that operates with transparency and accountability. I called the oversight hearing because the people of Guam need to know that the legislature is doing its job and keeping government agencies in check,” Senator Lujan stated.
Senator Lujan is the Vice Chair of the Committee on Maritime and Air Transportation, Parks, Tourism, Higher Education, and the Advancement of Women, Youth and Senior Citizens. So when Senator Amanda Shelton, the Chair of the Committee, gave notice of her off island absence from February 2nd, 2023 to February 13th, 2023, Senator Lujan assumed her role and became the Acting Chair. Senator Lujan saw this as an opportunity to set things right, and decided to call an oversight hearing on the Guam Visitors Bureau, which has had much controversy for about a year now. Since his campaign, Senator Lujan has been intent on rebuilding tourism. According to Lujan, calling the oversight hearing was an “endeavor to fix the issues currently facing the agency responsible for running our tourism engine and guiding our island back to economic recovery.”
“Too many questions were raised and no answers were provided, so the purpose of the oversight hearing was to address those concerns and hopefully come to a resolution to move forward in the right direction,” Senator Lujan voiced.
However, as of 1:45 PM, the oversight hearing was cancelled. Fifteen minutes before the oversight was to commence, Senator Shelton announced her return to the legislature and emailed a notice out, stopping the oversight from even starting. Senator Lujan, who was in the public hearing room preparing for the oversight to start, was not aware of the email notice. At 1:54, a staffer from Senator Shelton’s office came to the Public Hearing room and notified Senator Lujan verbally, and showed him the notice on his phone.
“While four individuals were identified to participate in today’s scheduled meeting, that hardly reflects the number of people who are key for a successful dialogue with the industry. The Committee will announce an Oversight Hearing soon, when others are also available to participate,” says Senator Shelton in her notice of cancellation.
However, Senator Lujan believes the ones in attendance – the GVB Chairman, President, Vice President, and Legal Counsel – were all that were needed to answer the questions of the committee, as well as “keep orderliness and stay productive, which is in contrast to the last couple of GVB meetings, where most people were speaking over each other and nothing was getting accomplished, which is the genesis of the oversight being called,” Lujan explained.
“It’s a travesty for democracy,” Senator Lujan voiced to a public hearing room that had no public audience. Under the orders of the Chair of the Committee on Rules, Senator Chris Barnett, the microphones and cameras were shut off. The Sergeant-at-Arms was even directed to remove the senators from the public hearing room, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
Senator Lujan, along with Senators Tom Fisher, Joanne Brown, and Telo Taitague, resorted to having themselves recorded on staff phones. At some point, Senator Brown called Tony Lamorena and put him on speaker to be able to broadcast the situation on his radio show, Tony Talks. The senators stated how disappointed they were with the turn of events, and that this won’t stop them from trying to do the right thing, deciding to try holding the oversight hearing another day. The Senators spoke to a room with no electricity, only relying on the phones of the media present to get their message out.
The Oversight Hearing was on the Guam Visitors Bureau, and Senator Lujan had invited GVB Chairman, Milton Morinaga, President and CEO Carl T.C. Gutierrez, GVB Vice President, Dr. Gerry Perez, and the GVB Legal Counsel, Joe Mcdonald. Out of the four invitees, only GVB Chairman, Milton Morinaga, was not present.
Prior to the scheduled oversight, Senator Lujan was able to get the legal opinion from the Office of the Attorney General, Doug Moylan, which was formally requested by GVB President and CEO, Carl Gutierrez. Although he was unable to proceed with the oversight and share the legal opinion during that time, Lujan is not discouraged but is determined to work even harder for the agency to adhere to the law and the legal opinion of the Attorney General. “We were going to start off with the AG’s legal opinion, and whether or not the board agrees with the legal opinion, and if the administration agrees with the legal opinion. In trying to solve a problem, you must start at a point where everyone agrees. I wanted to ask the board and the administration if they understood the opinion, and then if they agreed with it. And that’s where we would start. But we didn’t get to that.”
“I understand that not everyone agreed with me calling the oversight hearing. But I want the people of Guam to know that we did our best to address the problems facing the Guam Visitors Bureau. It saddens me to say that we are unable to follow through with the oversight hearing this time, but this has not stopped me from continuing to fight for a better Government of Guam that operates under transparency and works to earn the trust of the people of Guam. The people of Guam placed their faith in us to do our jobs, and they deserve the knowledge of knowing they elected the right people to do the job right. Unfortunately, the people’s voices were not heard. Today was a travesty for democracy, transparency, and accountability.” Senator Lujan concluded.
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