The democrat candidates vying for your vote on August 3 to determine which of them will challenge republican Jim Moylan for Congress in November are offering three distinct strengths as the campaign season whittles on.
Amanda Shelton says she has the ability to build relationships that will bring more federal resources to Guam.
Ginger Cruz released a platform of initiatives she hopes to undertake to improve Guamanian livelihood in issues ranging from the military buildup to housing and power costs to crime and healthcare.
Michael San Nicolas says you can trust him to be the delegate who secures more for Guam because he delivered billions during the four years he was congressman.
So far, in a campaign with only 51 days left to the August 3 Primary Election, there has been no public mudslinging among the democrat candidates, who all seem focused squarely on their promises.
Ms. Shelton has said throughout her media interviews, debate performance, and public statements that she will be an accessible congresswoman who will pay attention to the details of grievances and problems for which constituents need federal solutions.
Her campaign touts her as “The Voice For Every Heart that Makes Up Our Island.”
In fact, according to her campaign website, sheltonforguam.com, you can engage with her right now on the issues that matter to you by simply adding your name and email address to her directory, or calling or visiting her campaign headquarters in Tamuning, across Docomo.
Ms. Cruz and Mr. San Nicolas make direct connections with Guamanians on their respective Facebook pages, Ginger Cruz for Congress and Michael F.Q. San Nicolas For Congress. Both candidates actively respond to both questions and criticisms on a variety of topics.
“Now with the drug epidemic, the rising cost of housing and the deteriorating state of healthcare, I want to take my record of achievement to Washington,” Ms. Shelton wrote in an Instagram post yesterday (@sheltonforguam).
Healthcare
The senator, on her campaign website platform page, said she will advocate for more “federal resources and additional incentives” to attract doctors to Guam through loan repayment and forgiveness programs.
Ms. Cruz wants to lift the federal Medicaid funding cap, the lifting of which she believes will open the island to long term advances in healthcare.
“By working on a long-term vision to lift the caps on Guam’s Medicaid, we can expand its use to better address homelessness and increase support to our most vulnerable women and babies who could qualify for 12 months of postpartum care,” her platform states.
Medicaid funding is a feather in Mr. San Nicolas’ cap. When he was congressman, he convinced Congress to raise the federal reimbursement rate to 87 percent up from 55 percent, saving Guam more than $40 million every year in medical costs for the poor.
He also was responsible for qualifying Guam residents who immigrated to the island under the Compacts of Free Association under the Medicaid program, saving local taxpayers millions more.
The former congressman says in his platform that if elected back into the House, he will deliver where current congressman Jim Moylan has failed: in qualifying Guamanians for Supplemental Security Income and authorizing the use of Medicare in Philippine hospitals and clinics.
Costs of utilities and infrastructure
Ms. Shelton and Ms. Cruz have similar strategies for addressing the enormous costs of utilities, while Mr. San Nicolas is taking a completely different approach.
Ms. Sheltons platform on utilities infrastructure is short and broad, but focused like Ms. Cruz’s on federal resources:
“Civilian infrastructure including roads, power, water & sewer, and telecommunications systems remain vulnerable to military and major natural disasters. I will work to secure additional support from the U.S. Government to fortify and expand these systems for the benefit of civilian and military communities.” – excerpt from Shelton for Congress platform
Ms. Cruz’s platform spoke on the issue is much more detailed.
“We need to expand funding from Defense, FEMA, USEPA and Transportation, to name just a few federal agencies, to underground our powerlines, revitalize our port and install new cranes, build better roads, resolve the PFAS contamination of our water and expand our public health care clinics,” Ms. Cruz’s platform states.
Her approach is centered on what she terms “dual use” of infrastructure, meaning that the underground power lines, new roads, etc. would be beneficial to both the local community and the military. That strategy, she maintains, is how she can convince Congress to fund billions in infrastructure that will lower costs in the long term.
Mr. San Nicolas takes a different approach. Touting the multimillions he already secured while in Congress during the pandemic for infrastructure development, his platform advocates a marriage of current federal energy and vehicle tax credits nationwide so that Guam’s homes can be equipped with solar panels and so that electric vehicles can be less expensive than fuel-run cars.
Drugs
All three candidates generally agree on leveraging the congressional office to bring greater public and non profit resources for drug rehabilitation, particularly for the island’s meth epidemic, but also to prevent an opiate problem from taking hold.
In a recent forum hosted by the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association, Ms. Shelton said she would push for Guam’s inclusion in the DEA’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. The previous lieutenant governor, Ray Tenorio, attempted to have Guam designated as part of HIDTA, but the request was denied.
According to the DEA, HIDTA is a grant program that “provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States.”
Ms. Cruz said in that forum and reinforced in her platform that she will push for 100 percent screening of all mail and containers that enter the island. Currently, less than 10 percent of shipments are screened.
Mr. San Nicolas said the interdiction problem can be solved by providing more resources – as in, more federal agents – to combat the drug trafficking problem.
The candidates each propose solutions for many other issues and tout their experience on the federal level in their platforms. Ms. Shelton once worked in Congress under former Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo. Ms. Cruz has decades of experience working either as a federal executive branch official or contractor. Mr. San Nicolas, however, is the only democrat candidate who already has served in the House.
His platform is distinguished from the rest insofar as it contains information about his accomplishments as a congressman. Those range from war claims to the funding that kept Guam’s economy afloat during the pandemic to issues previously thought unattainable, like Earned Income Credit reimbursement.
Ms. Cruz, however, says in her platform that what distinguishes her candidacy is how she views the function of the congressional office. According to her platform, Guam’s unique position in the country’s managed posture of threats coming from the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, and North Korea present an opportunity to reinvent the island’s role into something better for our people.
“We are concerned about your personal issues, too,” Ms. Shelton said of her campaign at a congressional forum at the University of Guam. A personal and engaged touch is what she promises to bring to the office.
You may view each candidates’ platforms by clicking on their respective links below:
https://www.sheltonforguam.com/issues
