A group of us friends chatted about the Tenorio indictments at dinner last night, but none of us had been personally affected by the crimes Josh Tenorio’s family members were accused of committing. Except one, in a way.
Michael San Nicolas, Guam’s former congressman and a gubernatorial candidate in 2022, sat there quietly and – as usual – thoughtfully, as our opinions swirled around the dinner table. Of all of us, he had the greatest right to be angry at what was uncovered by the federal government. He had the biggest gripe. He had lost the most. But all he would say was, “Guys, I’m so sad for Guam. This is such a sad day for Guam.”
It was Mr. San Nicolas and his then-running mate, Sabrina Salas Matanane, who threw the first allegations of corruption in the present administration. This was back in the summer of 2022, when San Nicolas-Salas Matanane was in a race against Leon Guerrero-Tenorio for the Democratic party nomination for the November general election against Felix Camacho and Tony Ada. It was San Nicolas and Salas Matanane who were the first to call out what they described as the illegal use of the federal funds secured by Mr. San Nicolas through his work in the U.S. House of Representatives during the pandemic.
Instead, he was mocked and belittled. Rabid supporters of the administration pointed to what we now know were unfounded allegations of unethical conduct against him to distract from his warnings that people in the administration were squandering millions of dollars on the wrong things. He knew, he said something, and the majority of us voters didn’t listen.
Maybe it was those pesky and untrue allegations against him. Maybe it was the fact that he didn’t raise the money to advertise as much as the winning team did. Or worse, maybe a whole bunch of voters believed what he said could be true, and voted for the continuation of that corruption anyway. Hear no evil, see on evil.
What struck me as we sat around that table breaking bread and lamenting how our people always find ourselves on the receiving end of the oligarchy’s corrupt conspiracies, was how humble this man was being when he could have and should be the first to shout to the hilt, “See, I told you so!” But he didn’t. All he could think about and express to us was how sad he felt for Guam. How those indictments ring in a sad day for our people.
We can and must do better, fellow qualified voters. If you aren’t registered to vote, register. If you belong to one of the major political parties, tell your leadership to go take a hike, because both parties have been part of the problem from the advent of self government in Guam. Start reading the news every day. Start questioning the charming things politicians say. If a reporter asks a public official a question and that official doesn’t give a direct answer in the first three sentences, believe that they’re lying or they’re trying to sugar coat something.
And when election day comes – especially the primary election where good candidates get disqualified because the majority of voters don’t vote – VOTE, for crying out loud. Otherwise, we should accept as fate that some time in our near future, we would have groomed another corruption scandal by electing its family into Adelup. Again.
