Governor, your agencies are hiding stupid things from the public

Did you know that, despite the fact you pay the taxes that keeps GovGuam open, you can’t call most government agencies and ask for information as public and as simple as ‘What is the base salary of your director,’ and get an answer right then and there?

Try it. Call Guam Memorial Hospital’s Human Resources division at 647-2171 and ask for the salary of hospital administrator Lillian Perez-Posadas.

Call the Guam Department of Education and ask for a list of public school principals.

Call the Guam Department of Administration and ask for their list of publicly-paid government email addresses for all of their employees.

Ask for anything the law mandates should be public information available on demand. You’ll get one response: “Send us a FOIA making your request.”

That’s short for Freedom of Information Act. The administration of Lou Leon Guerrero has a policy that demands you invoke the FOIA in writing in order for you to access information you own. Nine times out of 10, the director of that agency will take the full four working days the law allows for them to disclose the public information. And if you happen to ask for, say 11 pieces of paper showing the promotions of 11 people in a given agency, that director most likely will apply the FOIA’s 10-day extension allowance. You’d think they could reply at least 22 percent faster these days.

For 11 pieces of paper one person can print from one computer terminal; a job that takes any idiot with a brain two minutes to perform. One minute if they just email the documents to you.

Yesterday I called GMH’s HR division asking for two things: assistant administrator for operations William Kando’s new base salary, and his old base salary when he was associate administration for administration. The man who answered the phone gladly looked on his computer and quickly read to me the first bit of information. Then, someone behind him distracted his attention and he politely asked if it was okay he places me on hold.

He comes back on the line and apologizes to me, saying that for Mr. Kando’s previous base salary I’ll need to speak with this gentleman’s supervisor. He places me on hold again, and then a woman – I’m assuming his supervisor – picks up the line.

“Sir, I’m sorry, you’re going to need to send our administrator a FOIA request so that we can provide you that information,” she says to me, politely.

“You can’t tell me this public information on the phone?” I ask her in disbelief.

“No, I’m sorry, sir, but you have to send a FOIA. But, you can also access our staffing pattern, which is online. It should be there.”

It is there, but it’s from January; and its information may be dated because it is not in real time.

We’re on the phone already. You have the information right in front of you. Why can’t you just tell it to me? And I get it. This isn’t her policy. And from what I’ve gathered from many, many employees at GMH, people there get in trouble and are retaliated against for even an inference of perceived disloyalty.

It is the most backward, retarded policy of a modern-day government whose governor has touted, ‘We are the most transparent government ever,’ but whose agencies practice anything but.

Transparency is a hallmark, not just of democracy but of a government with nothing to hide. Opacity – an exerted effort to keep information from the public – is a reflection  of an incompetent, failing government management that is trying to keep people from knowing just how screwed up the situation is.

The Guam Legislature needs to do something about this. The current transparency laws – the Sunshine Reform Act of 1999 – need to be updated in a big way. Senators need to modernize access to public information. A lot has happened since 1999 because of the internet. Senators also need to make it criminal for any public employee to deny public information from any citizen.

The governor doesn’t own the government. Her directors do not have some special lordship over public resources and information.

Voters need to do something about this.

On the first full day of work for Eddie Calvo as governor – January 10, 2011 – Mr. Calvo issued his very first executive order and his very first directive. Executive Order No. 2011-001 revoked the prior governor’s executive order that renamed Guam to Guahan. Directive No. 2011-001, which I wrote, instituted a transparency policy throughout the government of Guam executive branch.

In short, the policy revoked any gag order that was in existence, allowed public employees to speak with the media, and directed employees to release public information on demand and within reason. In fact, it was the policy of the Calvo administration that if a media company had to FOIA information because you had neglected to answer their phone calls or email, the director would be hauled in to the office of the chief of staff and reprimanded.

Ms. Leon Guerrero has issued no such directive. In fact, most of her agencies have done the exact opposite of the Calvo transparency directive. Granted, some agencies including the governor’s office itself actually are responsive to requests for information. Most agencies, however, are not. And that is a direct reflection on the opacity of the entire Leon Guerrero administration.

Governor, if you have nothing to hide, and you don’t want people to think your administration is failing, then tell your directors to open up their agencies to the white hot light of public scrutiny.