For starters, if I were a resident of (or often traveled through) Mangilao or Asan, I wouldn’t vote for a single incumbent senator or congressman, and I’d want to recall the governor. Mangilao and Asan roads are dangerous, treacherous, and should be prioritized for improvement.
Otherwise, here is how I feel about many of the candidates for Guam senator. Ignore this post if you don’t care. Take it to heart if you do. Better yet, if you like what I have to say, take this list with you into the voting booth.
The majority party in the next legislature:
I’m a progressive Democrat, but Guam is so far from resolving fundamental and rudimentary problems that party affiliation for the sake of a division of the issues hardly matters in the short term. What matters right now is resolving the fundamentals and restoring the everyday Guamanian’s confidence in government and democracy. That cannot be accomplished without first-branch leadership that is aggressive against corruption and cronyism. And boy do corruption and cronyism flourish in the current Democratic administration of Lou Leon Guerrero and Joshua Tenorio (and let’s be real here… it’s not like previous administrations didn’t have this problem, too).
To counter the power and intransigence of the administration, it’s important that voters elect a majority of Republicans to the legislature. The right Republicans. Not the wimps. Not the sell outs. And certainly not the ones who claim to fight corruption but have never accounted for their own (Read: Joanne Brown and her 11 illegal pay raises as seaport general manager, or Telo Taitague’s run ins with stolen purses and assaulted process servers).
We need a Republican majority that will shake up the political establishment, properly scrutinize the spending and hiring of the Democratic administration, and realign the priorities of the government to reflect those of the everyday Guamanian.
Will Republicans be obstructionists against good policy Governor Lou Leon Guerrero is pushing? Well, if Ms. Brown and Ms. Taitague are re-elected we can assuredly expect bullshit from the GOP. But if you’re worried about petty obstructions, some Democrats in the legislature this term are chiefly responsible for those. Take a risk on the Republicans.
The people I’m definitely voting for:

NUMBER 1: BISTRA MENDIOLA
This relatively unknown candidate, I assure you, is the first person you want in the Guam Legislature. She checks almost all the boxes: Intelligent. Thoughtful. Has a deep understanding of the toughest issues facing our island. Understands budgets and cash flow. Sensitive to private sector needs. Direct and transparent.
I don’t agree with every one of Ms. Mendiola’s policy positions, but I can’t think of a single candidate past or present with whom I have been in full agreement. Here are two stand out facts about this candidate:
First: She survived communism in Bulgaria before emigrating to the United States through Guam in the 1990s. Ms. Mendiola is precisely the type of leader we need to see and call out both public and police corruption, having lived through the horrors of Soviet communism.
Second: The reason you might not have heard of her is because she’s funding her campaign herself. She refuses to take a single dollar from any potential donors because she doesn’t want even the appearance of quid pro quo if elected. Many candidates talk about ethics; Ms. Mendiola demonstrates it.

NUMBER 2: TOM FISHER
I remember when the Democratic Party of Guam wanted to get rid of Michael San Nicolas just because the maverick Democratic senator didn’t toe the party line whenever the powers that were wanted him to. Tom Fisher is the new Michael San Nicolas. Many in his party despise him because he refuses to bend over for party-line demands. Anyone who chooses the interests of the people over party and politics deserves to represent us in public office.
Like Ms. Mendiola, I don’t agree with Mr. Fisher’s every position; but, he checks a whole lot of boxes: Integrity. Conviction. Strength against petty adversity. Intelligence. Has a deep understanding of the toughest issues facing our island. Understands budgets and cash flow. Sensitive to private sector needs. Direct and transparent.
If we don’t reelect Tom Fisher, that’s our loss, not his.
NUMBER 3: SABRINA SALAS MATANANE AND VINCE BORJA

When I ponder the often mentioned “new blood” many voters say the legislature needs, the first people who come to mind are Sabrina Salas Matanane and Vince Borja. There is something ironic about their recent faux pax involving a TikTok video they made at the Veterans Cemetery. Some of their detractors point to it as some evidence of their deficiency. I think how they responded to the controversy tells us everything we need to know about their character and how mature their sense of leadership is.
So often throughout our island’s political history have we witnessed wrongdoing by elected officials, and rarely have these so-called leaders arrested their pride, egos, and ambitions in order to admit their mistakes and say sorry to us. These two candidates did not hesitate to throw themselves under the bus, making no excuses for their errors and instead apologizing to us.
Aside from their proven good character, there is their command of the issues, real-life experiences that will color policy in the direction of our priorities, and their concern for the plight of the poor.
NUMBER 4: CHRIS DUENAS, JESSE LUJAN, AND TOM FISHER
If you have wondered which sitting senators have done anything to promote affordable housing, sustainable lower power rates, and an overall improvement to the cost of living, two stand out: Chris Duenas and Jesse Lujan. This pair of Republican senators have been the champions of lower taxes, solutions for landowners who want to build homes, the abolition of the transportation monopolies that have caused the high prices of almost everything we consume, and real solutions to the impasse in Chamorro Land Trust residential leasing along with renewable energy production that will lead to substantially lower power bills.
They also have integrity. I included Tom Fisher with these two in this endorsement because it has been these three senators who have endured threats from the corporate corrupt to change their support for policies that will help the poor and the middle class. Anyone who stands up against these powerful and corrupt corporate assholes has my vote.
NUMBER 5: TONY ADA
Aside from checking so many of the boxes that those I mentioned above checked, Tony Ada has a quality unique among these other endorsed candidates. He’s a leader who has a natural ability to bring people together. I have no idea whether this is something new, or if the former senator’s candidacy this time around has awakened some sleeping quality within him. But, when Telo Taitague went on her bellicose rant against Tom Fisher during a GOP unity picture taking two months ago and everyone else refused to engage, it was meek and mild Tony Ada who had enough and raised his voice to end the immature squabble.
When I interviewed Mr. Ada during this general election campaign season there was something different about him. Not just his hunger to serve, but also his command of the issues and his direct answers to tough questions.
I have a strong feeling Mr. Ada will be our next governor, but that’s for another post.

NUMBER 6: SHELLY CALVO
I’ve known Ms. Calvo for two decades. And I can vouch that her campaign of concern for the poor and the marginalized isn’t just campaign speak. It has been her life’s work. I knew Shelly long before she was a Calvo. She has always been a spirited, hard worker in the private sector who understands what it is to be poor, to be ignored because of social status, and to be without opportunity. Prior to and through the Calvo administration, Shelly took on a volunteer leadership role in the effort to help homeless people. And she wasn’t one of those leaders who barked orders from behind a desk. She was on the ground, in the boon docks, with the poor and the needy, and providing and directing aid for them. The 37th Guam Legislature has been missing an advocate for the poor. Shelly Calvo can fill that void in the 38th Guam Legislature.
HONORABLE MENTION: VIC GAZA, WILLIAM PAYNE, AND SHAWN GUMATAOTAO
I regret not having the opportunity to interview both Vic Gaza and Bill Payne, both Republican candidates for senator. I have a feeling that if I did I would have many more good things to say about them. From what I have seen and heard about Mr. Payne, he’s a wise grandfather figure who won’t stand for anyone’s crap, and has been around the block long enough to understand our problems and what it will take to solve some of them. As for Mr. Gaza, I have known him since the 1990s. He’s a man of integrity, and he understands the issues.
Mr. Gumataotao is my former co-worker in the Felix Camacho governor’s office, so I know him well. He is a former journalist who has been involved in the issues facing our people going back three decades. My only reservation about him stems from an answer he gave when I questioned him during our interview last month. The question had to do with reports of women dying in the states because of irresponsible abortion regulation. He waved off those reports, and I thought he should have confronted these facts and given a more thoughtful answer. Other than that, I agree with the positions he took on several issues during that more-than-one-hour interview.
At the end of the day, I’d take a risk on these three candidates, especially considering my desire to see a Republican majority.
HONORABLE MENTION: TINA MUNA BARNES and FRANK BLAS, JR.
I have disagreed with Ms. Muna Barnes’ affection for the current administration, but if the Democrats maintain the majority in the legislature, they will need a leader. And considering the failure of leadership in the current legislature that has led to major legislation being stalled in committees, the impasse on the building of a new hospital, no firm oversight of police and public corruption controversies, and even leadership allowing both petty squabbles AND the stalling of economic-building legislation by corrupt people in the corporate world, the Democrats should turn back to Ms. Muna Barnes, who is a tested leader. She has a proven ability to work with her colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
The same can be said of Republican Frank Blas, Jr. Mr. Blas’ style of political leadership is reminiscent of that older breed of politics that tends not to publicly expose the sausage-making process in politics. That’s disappointing, to me. However, if the Republicans take the majority, they will need a speaker who can build bridges within the legislature while supporting Republicans as the loyal (and effective) opposition against the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio regime. That’s a role Mr. Blas is most fit to take.
Going into an election, I generally know who I want to vote for, but leave a few slots open for last-minute consideration. I normally don’t make those decisions until I’m looking at all their names on the ballot in the ballot booth. Here are some considerations arranged by category:
INTEGRITY AND CHARACTER: ANGELA SANTOS and DAVE CRISOSTOMO
These are good people. I question whether they have a command of the issues, but I do not for one second question their integrity and character. These two are high on my list for consideration solely because of my deep conviction against corruption and for strong moral and ethical conduct among elected officials.
KEEPING PROMISES: DWAYNE SAN NICOLAS
Some people might question his seriousness, but this freshman senator campaigned on one issue: legalizing fireworks. He got it done. He kept his promise. How many other incumbents can make such a claim and not be lying or exaggerating?

EDUCATION: CHRIS BARNETT
No matter what you think of Mr. Barnett, no senator has done more for public education than he has. How many senators over how many years have we elected on the promise of prioritizing education? Yet, not one of them ever prevailed on the government to fund something as fundamental as maintenance for public school facilities. For the first time in at least three decades, the Guam Legislature has provided a close-to-adequate budget to the Guam Department of Education for maintenance of schools. Mr. Barnett championed that appropriation. This is not to mention that it was his leadership and oversight over GDOE that forced the government to improve school facilities to the point that they passed public health and safety inspections.
There are two major reservations I have about the freshman senator. The first is his seeming ambition for higher office that I consider to be a crippling vice. He’s likely to be reelected, so I think time will tell us whether he matures into a Michael San Nicolas, or he devolves into a Ray Tenorio.
The second reservation I have about him stems from how he treated the governor IN FRONT OF thousands of Simon Sanchez High School students earlier this year at a public hearing on SSHS rebuilding held at JFK High School. While I agree with the senator’s sentiments (and also I laughed pretty hard when I watched all that drama unfold and the look on the governor’s face), it was his level of disrespect for the governor that I simply cannot condone. The fact that such disrespect was displayed in front of kids makes it so much worse.
PROGRESSIVE IDEAS: WILL PARKINSON
The senator whom I agree with most on the issues is Will Parkinson. He’s a progressive, and so am I. If it were up to him, the minimum wage would be a living wage, and every single resident of Guam would have access to health coverage. He’s managed to be our champion for lower power bills through the monthly $100 power credit. I love all of that.
What I question about Mr. Parkinson is his judgment in hiring the person who made non-credible allegations against Michael San Nicolas; allegations that appeared in the run up to the 2022 gubernatorial election, then disappeared after Mr. San Nicolas lost his primary election challenge to Lou Leon Guerrero.
An impending indictment by the federal government likely will tell us a whole lot more about the shenanigans that contributed to Mr. San Nicolas’ loss against the incumbent governor, but clearly Mr. Parkinson’s staffer created the political firestorm that complimented that loss. Guam’s loss.
FISCAL IMPROVEMENT: JOE SAN AGUSTIN
Mr. San Agustin has been in charge of the government’s budget for the past five years. For the past five years, the audited financials of the government reveal surpluses. The guy has done his job, though I would prefer he and other senators took matters several steps further: budgeting that prioritizes what we, the people, say are the priorities. Gathering surpluses and handing out major pay raises willy nilly to GovGuam employees – some of whom are lazy and undeserving of even keeping their jobs – is not a priority of the people.
Anyway, this is my two cents. Take it or leave it.