Democrats Deadlocked Over Minority Leader Post


The Democrat minority in the 15-member Guam Legislature has yet to select a leader. The six-member minority is split evenly between the apparent candidacies of the legislature’s most senior member versus the senator who received the highest number of votes in the last election.

Kandit this morning asked the six senators – Chris Barnett, Tina Muna Barnes, William Parkinson, Sabina Perez, Joe San Agustin, and Therese Terlaje – why their caucus has yet to elect a minority leader, a position that should have been elected at the inauguration two weeks ago. Mr. Barnett, Mr. Parkinson, and Ms. Terlaje replied, and together with inside source information have confirmed the impasse between Barnett, Perez, and Terlaje’s desire for Ms. Terlaje to be the minority leader, and the other three Democrats’ hope for Ms. Muna Barnes to take the position.

 

Both leaders are rumored to have their eyes on Adelup in the 2026 election. The minority leader position is coveted for its ability to provide its office holder significant earned media through the news, and has been a stepping stool for senators running for governor or lieutenant governor.

“We have not selected a minority leader yet, as one member refuses to meet unless she is installed as the Minority Leader,” Mr. Barnett said. While he did not name the senator, the only female senator who is not a supporter of Ms. Terlaje is Ms. Muna Barnes. “However,” the popular senator continued, “the voters of Guam have  essentially selected Senator Therese Terlaje as our minority leader. I think the rest of our caucus needs to get on board with the decisions made by the voters in the last election to continue supporting the leadership of Senator Terlaje and for more checks and balances in the Legislature.”

 

“I take very seriously the trust the people have placed in me as evidenced by the election and will continue to fight for their interests, and to ensure transparency and fairness in legislative and government action,” Ms. Terlaje said. She also mentioned but did not name the Democrat senator who has refused to meet, adding that she has been trying to get the Democrat caucus to meet.

On the other side of the same aisle is Mr. Parkinson, who offered a different perspective:

“Our caucus has not yet selected a Minority Leader. When we first met, it was clear that we needed to set aside the divisions caused by the previous leadership fight. I personally support Senator Tina Muna Barnes for Minority Leader because she was not involved in last term’s Speaker contest and offers a fresh start—an opportunity for us to unify and move forward beyond last term’s Speaker debacle, when there was a stalemate between Senator Therese Terlaje and Senator Joe San Agustin.   Senator Terlaje went to the Republicans to secure a majority vote, despite a supermajority of the caucus supporting Senator San Agustin.

 

“During our initial caucus discussions this time around, it became apparent that Senator Muna Barnes had three committed votes, while Senator Terlaje also had three – another stalemate. I suggested they work together to find a mutual agreement, and the rest of us agreed to support whatever resolution they could reach. Unfortunately, that was two months ago, and to my understanding, we are still at a stalemate.

“I continue to believe that Senator Muna Barnes is the right compromise choice, someone who wasn’t involved in last term’s Speaker contest, to give our caucus a clean slate and help us focus on the work the people of Guam entrusted us to do. Senator Muna Barnes is the most senior member of our caucus, she is on her ninth term and she has more experience than the three senators blocking her for minority leader combined.

“My goal remains to foster cooperation rather than division. We owe it to the people of Guam to put internal politics aside and focus on the important issues facing our island, like power credits and protecting our freedoms.”

 

Hampering of Legislative Business

The lack of a minority leader is interfering with legislative business. At the start of the Thirty-eighth Guam Legislature, two conflicting sections of the Standing Rules had to be reconciled in order for the Rules Committee to have two Democrat members on it. One section said the minority leader would select the two Democrat members. Another said the Rules Committee chairman would make the selection. Because the legislature lacked a minority leader and the Rules Committee had to get on with the business of running the island’s first branch of government, the committee scrapped the rule that allowed the minority leader to make the selection.

The week the legislature took office, attorney Thomas Fisher filed the new legislature’s first ethics complaint. The complaint is against Republican Telo Taitague. According to the legislature’s rules, an ethics committee to dispose of ethics complaints should be composed of four Republicans and two Democrats. The two Democrats would be selected by the minority leader. Without a minority leader, the ethics committee cannot be fully empaneled, delaying action on the Fisher complaint against Ms. Taitague.

 

“I have also proposed that the six of us agree immediately to rotating service on the ethics committee and a majority of the Minority members do agree,” Ms. Terlaje said. “Unfortunately there is no response from the other two and this delays our service to the committee and progress in general.”

Neither Mr. Barnett, Mr. Parkinson, nor Ms. Terlaje mentioned any compromise candidate to break the deadlock. Ms. Muna Barnes, Ms. Perez, and Mr. San Agustin did not respond.


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