Sen. Tom Fisher has filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Will Parkinson, alleging the senator violated the law on the floor of the legislature.
A news release today from Mr. Fisher’s office states: The complaint references Resolution 67-37, which calls for the establishment of a Special Investigation Committee to probe into alleged criminal activity performed by “Mr. J.J.” who is a member of the Progressive Democrats of Guam (PDG). Parkinson is an officer of the PDG but never disclosed this fact to the Guam Legislature, a violation of Guam law.
The resolution, which senators passed last week, calls for the creation of a special investigative committee following the publication of a forged legislative document that fraudulently claimed to be from Sen. Chris Duenas on the Facebook site for the Progressive Democrats of Guam. Mr. Duenas last week filed a criminal complaint regarding the forgery with the Guam Police Department.
Mr. Parkinson led the debate against the formation of the legislative investigation, calling any such effort a “witch hunt.”
“Senator Parkinson didn’t reveal his relationship with the Progressive Democrats of Guam and never recused himself. He debated in opposition to the Resolution and voted against it despite having a personal and professional connection to the PDG, which means he would benefit from the resolution’s demise. This is a clear cut case of conflict of interest and a violation of Title 4, Guam Code Annotated §15205,” Senator Fisher said.
According to the statute, conflict of interest may exist when an official action directly effects a business or undertaking in which the official has an interest.
“Criminal activity is occurring and one of our sitting senators appears to not only condone it but may be connected to it and ethically compromised by it. It’s time to expose the truth. The voting public wants and more importantly, deserves transparency. I’m going to give it to them,” Fisher stated.
“Mr. J.J.,” refers to an Adelup employee with the Bureau of Statistics and Plans, who also is the Chapter Leader of the Progressive Democrats of Guam, according to its website. That same website listing of officers states Mr. Parkinson is the group’s Fundraising Coordinator.
Mr. Duenas identified the person as Julian Janssen. Mr. Janssen reportedly has said he did not author the document, but received it from a source at the Guam Legislature.
Sen. Chris Barnett, whose Rules Committee manages the operations of the legislature, said his team conducted a forensic analysis and verified the document did not come from the legislature’s servers.
In a news conference last week among five of the six republican senators (Sen. Telo Taitague was off island on a junket), Mr. Fisher said the republicans would be considering filing a criminal complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for wire fraud, since the forged document was distributed electronically. There is no word yet whether this has or will be done.
