You may have noticed his signs going up this afternoon. Michael San Nicolas is running for Congress; he filed his candidacy papers Thursday at the Guam Election Commission, making the run official. The former delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, in a post on his Facebook campaign page, explained his reason for seeking a third term in the House and appears to be differentiating himself from his opponents with a theme: MSN delivers:
“In six months we passed our first bill that became one of only six bills signed into law for newly elected freshman. We got war claims passed, through a democrat House, republican Senate, and signed by republican President Trump. The ONLY standalone funding bill to pass with bi-partisan unanimous consent.
“And we didn’t stop there.
“We resolved [the Earned Income Credit funding problem] that now brings in over $60 million more every year into GovGuam directly, and this sum is growing as more federal personnel work in Guam.
“We resolved Medicaid and improved GovGuam funding directly by over $20 million more. [Compact of Free Association] Medicaid soon followed.
“We brought in millions in direct funding for projects. Fisherman’s & Farmer’s Co-Ops, millions more for roads. Millions for broadband. Millions for community projects.
“Billions in direct money to the pockets of our people and the accounts for health and education in pandemic money and relief programs tied to them.
“We solved the government funding problem. And today we have reports over and over of surpluses even after so many spending commitments have been made. Even with a tourism economy at 50 percent five years after the pandemic.”
Mr. San Nicolas said that in 2018, after spending six years (or three terms) in the Guam Legislature fighting against attempts to saddle future generations with further debt and wanting to make changes in priority areas, he was tired of hearing that there wasn’t enough money to fix things.
“During our time in the legislature, as we pressed over and over again for improvement in services as remedies to chronic problems in health, education, and public safety we always encountered the same theme over and over again, in hearing after hearing and budget after budget: ‘Senator, we would love to do xyz, but we don’t have the funding.’
“That stuck, and as years passed it became very clear that the next course of action we needed to take for our island was addressing that funding problem, and taking the excuse off the table by resolving funding issues and bringing solutions to unresolved funding problems. And we saw one clear way to do it: Congress.”
Having secured for Guam billions in pandemic and military spending on top of more than $100 million in increases to Guam’s federal funding allocations every year, the former congressman in 2022 ran for governor. He wanted to steer those new federal resources into what he calls a “Responsible Guam,” his campaign motto since 2012.
“We wanted to now take this improved funding environment and work on fixing local problems, and so in 2022 we ran for governor with Sabrina Salas-Matanane as lieutenant governor, hoping to build on these layers of success achieved over the prior 10 years – less borrowing, more spending discipline, and now more than enough funding to fix things,” he said, adding, “The people of Guam decided that the job of governing was not for us, however.”
His successor, unfortunately, has undone some of Guam’s most critical and significant achievements on the federal level.
“Guam lost millions and millions in Compact Impact,” Mr. San Nicolas lamented, referring to current congressman James Moylan’s tenure. “Guam gave away billions in potential defense projects. Guam could have secured radiation compensation handily and did not. Guam could have secured SSI along with our COFA allies and did not.”
Mr. Moylan is running for reelection and may face a primary election challenge from Joaquin “Ken” Leon Guerrero of Santa Rita. Mr. San Nicolas is running in a crowded field of democrats in the August 3 primary election, where Amanda Shelton and Ginger Cruz also are seeking the open primary nomination to face the republican opponent in November.
“Today, we filed our candidacy papers to seek election once again to serve as your Congressional Delegate to the United States House of Representatives,” he wrote in his Thursday post. “With your vote, we can really make great things happen for our island, all over again. If you will so have us. We humbly ask you for your vote. We love you Guam.”
