He’s back: AG Moylan warns criminals and the corrupt, orders transparency on first day


Criminals and the corrupt beware: Stop the violence, the cronyism, and the drugs, or you’ll grow old in prison. That was the warning Attorney General Douglas Moylan gave Monday morning minutes after Chief Justice F. Philip Carbullido administered his oath of office.

The island’s judges and justices, the elected leaders of Guam, and visiting CNMI Rep. Edwin Propst assembled at the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa’s Micronesian Ballroom to witness Mr. Moylan, the island’s first elected attorney general, return to office. Keeping to his promise of efficiency in the use of government resources, Mr. Moylan made sure his inauguration did not come at the expense of the taxpayers.

“The inauguration expenses were paid for by the candidate as a loan to his private political campaign committee,” Moylan committee volunteer Heidi Ballendorf wrote to Kandit.

Beyond the quiet message this gesture sends is the clear message he stated aloud:

“I say to the criminals, think twice under an AG Moylan administration. Follow our laws like the rest of us or suffer the consequences. Hurt us and we will force you to grow old in prison. To reduce crime victims, this AG’s administration adopts the doctrine of ‘Protect & Punish to Deter.'”

Mr. Moylan began his commitment to this doctrine by declaring a search for a chief prosecutor who will  share his commitment to prosecution that leads to stiffer sentences.

(Note: Kandit published an original version of this story that claimed Mr. Moylan had already hired an acting chief prosecutor. Kandit was wrong, and corrected this story once we became aware of our error)

“We are implementing a request for confinement with each magistrate complaint and getting victims statements if possible starting (this week),” Mr. Moylan told Kandit.

The policy is a complete about-face from former attorney general Leevin Camacho’s failure to keep violent and repeat offenders off the streets.

Mr. Moylan also is making good on a campaign promise to increase transparency and to engage the media and the public in crime fighting and corruption busting efforts.

“All (public) documents will be available to you upon request,” the attorney general told Kandit. The commitment changes the Camacho-era OAG, which required the media to request the Unified Judiciary of Guam for documents the OAG produced, and pay exorbitant fees. The Camacho policy made it too costly for newsrooms to properly track and report upon the status of violent criminal offenders.

He said the OAG now will provide public records upon request until such time an online repository of public documents, like the magistrate complaints and unsealed motions before the courts, is created and operating. Such a system not only will improve access to the criminal justice system and cut costs for every end user, it may also be a source of revenue for the OAG similar to the federal court system’s PACER portal.

The solutions Mr. Moylan is implementing are part of an admittedly long road ahead to restore law and order, and to curb the audacity and greedy appetites of the corrupt, who enjoyed a free pass from prosecution the past four years.

Lee Webber

“Guam is on a very slippery slope when it comes to transparency, public safety, prosecution, confinement of criminals, as well as the executive and legislative points of ensuring we maintain an open government,” businessman and civic leader Lee Webber said in the address leading up to Mr. Moylan’s oath of office.

Mr. Webber expounded upon the meth problem, and how it has caused greater violence against children and families. And daring past elected and government officials in attendance, the longtime publisher of the Pacific Daily News challenged the news media and every witness to wrongdoing to speak up in order to help the attorney general to stamp out corruption.

“The next four years is not going to be easy,” Mr. Moylan said in his address. That was either a recognition of the long road ahead for his repairing of the criminal justice system. Or it was a warning to the corrupt and the criminally inclined.

Either way, what history teaches us from Mr. Moylan’s first term in office is that when he says something, he means it.

You may read the full text of Mr. Moylan’s inaugural address below:

_____

Getting Back to Work.

Good morning Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero, Lt. Gov. Joshua Tenorio, Chief Justice Phillip Carbullido, Associate Justice Katherine Maraman, Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena, Judge Vern Perez, Judge Elyze Iriarte, Judge Dana Gutierrez, District Court Judge Francis Tydingco-Gatewood, Magistrate Judge Jonathan Quan, Senators, Senators-elect and former Senators. of the Guam Legislature, Mayors, Former Governor Joseph Ada, Former Governor Carl Gutierrez, Police Chief Steve Ignacio, Chief Robert Camacho, Fire Chief Daniel Stone and our Law Enforcement Chiefs, Leaders from the CNMI, distinguished dignitaries, and to my family, friends and guests.

Being again in politics and now in an elected office, I seem to be constantly starting my sentences with “please” and ending it with “thank you.” Whether that was “please vote for me,” or “thank you for voting for me.” We gather here today in the spirit of Public Service.

Let me say with a heartfelt, “Thank you” and “Dångkulu na si Yu’us ma’åse’” for allowing me to once again serve you. Wisdom comes with age. Although now 16 years older, I feel 30 years wiser.

It was through your trust in me and the Grace of God that allowed me to be here with you good people.

Things I promised to you are now legal policy at the AG’s Office.

It is with a firm resolve that I enter the next 4 years to work with my team, the Gov. & the Judiciary to protect each and every one of you. When we all work together, our loved ones are safer. I say to the criminals, think twice under an AG Moylan administration. Follow our laws like the rest of us or suffer the consequences. Hurt us and we will force you to grow old in prison. To reduce crime victims, this AG’s administration adopts the doctrine of “Protect & Punish to Deter.”

Let’s make no “bones about it,” the next four (4) years is not going to be easy. When an AG goes into Court, we’re fighting to protect you. We are all safer and living a better quality of life when the AG enforces our criminal and civil laws passed by our lawmakers. Guam’s tourism economy cannot afford the lasting scars criminals inflict upon us.

I look forward to once again serving you, by leading Guam’s Toughest Law Enforcers. Now time to get back to work! Thank you.


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