Governor’s office using public funds to quietly quash criminal corruption investigation

Attorney General Douglas Moylan is seeking a criminal indictment by the Grand Jury in the Superior Court of Guam; and the documents Kandit has uncovered point to a criminal case involving the Office of the Governor’s purchases before, during, and after Typhoon Mawar.

In a June 13, 2023 subpoena duces tecum and testificandum, assistant Attorney General Gloria Rudolph and the foreperson of the Grand Jury commanded the Custodian of Records, Guam Homeland Security-Office of Civil Defense to appear and testify before the Grand Jury tomorrow, June 20 at 2:30 p.m. According to Office of Civil Defense administrator Charles Esteves, the custodian of records is Marie Quenga.

Along with her commandment to appear and testify, Ms. Quenga is required by the Grand Jury to bring with her all procurement documents GHS-OCD recorded since May 1, records regarding the Emergency Alert System, correspondence with the governor’s office and the government procurement arm – General Services Agency, and “Any and all correspondence between GHS/OCD and any media outlets related to any requests to be present onsite at GHS/OCD during Typhoon Mawar.”

The subpoena was issued three days after The Guam Daily Post uncovered a scandal involving a GHS-OCD procurement of a radio station owned in part by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero. GHS-OCD is a division of a governmental unit called Executive Direction, which is run by the Office of the Governor of Guam. During a disaster response and recovery coordination, the governor assumes the command role. According to her spokeswoman, Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the governor’s chief of staff, Jon Junior Calvo, has the role of Governor’s Authorized Representative, which is the person who directs and approves the movement of resources during the coordination.

It was Ms. Paco-San Agustin, according to GHS-OCD public affairs officer Jenna Gaminde Blas, who made the request for the procurement. The purchase order and emails surrounding the procurement verify this fact. Ms. Paco-San Agustin also has the role of Joint Information Coordinator during the disaster response and recovery.

The radio station, primarily K57, was used for four hours every weekday from May 2 through the week after the scandal was uncovered to promote propaganda in favor of the governor’s typhoon response efforts. The two-hour talk show in the morning, and two-hour talk show in the evening featured two of the governor’s senior advisors: former journalists Jayne Flores and Carlotta Leon Guerrero.

According to The Post story:

“Both Flores and Leon Guerrero have disagreed with callers who have been critical of the pace and effectiveness of the government’s response during the shows. They also have used some of the airtime to effuse praise when describing the state of recovery.

“‘We are hitting it. I’m so pleased with the government of Guam’s response, I have to say,’ [Carlotta] Leon Guerrero opined during their morning broadcast on June 7.

“‘We’re listening; we’re hearing your frustrations. Everyone who doesn’t have power or water is frustrated, but you know what? Two weeks in, we’re actually doing pretty darn good, Guam. I think we can all give ourselves a pat on the back,’ [Jayne] Flores added.”

Both Ms. Blas and Ms. Paco-San Agustin have defended the procurement, stating it was the government’s way of disseminating information to the public, at a time when several media stations were not properly functioning. However, the Joint Information Center never mentioned or promoted the so-called official news source in any of its dozens of JIC news release providing essential information to the public since the inception of the purchase order with K57’s parent company, Sorensen Media Group.

Shortly after The Post story broke, Mr. Moylan issued a statement confirming his office was investigating the matter. He also called on senators to ban companies, in which governors have financial interests, from participating in government procurement.

“The Guam Legislature needs to outright ban any business that has a financial connection with the Governor or her immediate family,” the attorney general wrote in the aftermath of the scandal’s break. “Their piecemeal and ineffective “ethics law” has to strike at the heart of the gubernatorial dynasty families who have multi-million dollar financial interests to taxpayer purchases.”

Mr. Moylan, who does not comment on Grand Jury proceedings, has cast a wide net in his Investigatory Case No. AG#23-1061. While his subpoena includes correspondence with the media regarding procurement matters, he also has subpoenaed records and testimony regarding all of GHS-OCD’s procurement records dating back to May 1.

Effort to quash the criminal proceedings

On Thursday, and in response to the subpoena, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s four publicly-paid attorneys at the governor’s office filed a declaration in support of their motion to quash the Grand Jury’s subpoena; effectively, to kill the criminal investigation.

Kandit could not source the governor’s motion to quash, though we repeatedly have asked the governor’s office since Friday for the documents pertaining to the case. However, we were able to find counsels’ declaration, providing eight exhibits in support of the motion to quash. Those eight exhibits include the governor’s executive orders related to the typhoon, the president’s major disaster declaration for Guam, and a news release from the Office of the President.

Kandit Monday morning asked Ms. Paco-San Agustin why the governor’s office is attempting to quash the criminal proceedings. She replied she is “checking with legal,” but has not responded to the inquiry since.

Use of public resources – governor’s office legal counsels – in criminal proceedings

Kandit also asked Ms. Paco-San Agustin why public resources are being used in the defense of a person or persons allegedly involved in a criminal corruption matter.

The four governor’s office attorneys, who have entered themselves into the Grand Jury criminal proceedings, are publicly-funded attorneys for the civil affairs of the governor’s office.

“Those lawyers are not supposed to be representing the governor or anyone in her office in any criminal proceeding,” an attorney who agreed to be quoted on condition of anonymity stated. “If the governor or anyone on her publicly-funded staff needs a criminal defense lawyer, the tax payers should not be footing that bill. That’s a personal expense, unless they qualify for public defender services.”

Ms. Paco-San Agustin also did not answer this question as of the publication of this story.