The Guam attorney general’s withdrawal of legal services from the governor’s office and 20 other GovGuam agencies under criminal and civil investigations is having a significant effect on government operations, according to a statement out of Adelup.
Contracts and transactions for road repairs, the GovGuam insurance contract, foster care, school repairs, and other matters have ground to a halt, according to a release this morning from the governor’s office. Douglas Moylan, in his February 28 confidential letter to the governor and 20 other agency heads, warned his office’s withdrawal of services would impact procurement, as the AG’s signature is required by law in certain circumstances, including procurements that meet a financial threshold.
According to Mr. Moylan, his office has been placed between a proverbial rock and a hard place with three government officials under criminal indictment for corruption raising ethical questions as to whether the AG can both represent GovGuam agencies and sue or prosecute those agencies’ officials at the same time. Mr. Moylan argues the claim is ludicrous, but until the courts settle the question, he has been forced to choose between his duty to represent the public interest by prosecuting corrupt officials or representing agencies. He has chosen to prosecute corruption.
The governor’s office statement does not address the investigation against it and the other 20 agencies and instrumentalities. Kandit has asked for comments about that matter and has been told by governor’s spokeswoman Krystal Paco-San Agustin that a response is forthcoming.
—–
Here is the full statement from the governor’s office, which is not attributed to any person:
“Attorney General Doug Moylan has decided to disregard the Organic Act of Guam, which requires him to serve as the Chief Legal Officer of the Government of Guam. This means his Organic Act responsibility is to serve as the attorney for the Government of Guam and the taxpayers it serves. Every Attorney General has upheld this Organic Act mandate without drama except this one.
“Instead, the Attorney General has sent a letter to dozens of GovGuam agencies, who are by law his clients, notifying them that he is “temporarily withdrawing” from representing them or providing legal services to them. Attorney General Moylan appears to have taken this action in response to impending court decisions considering whether his office violated his ethical obligations by advising agencies on legal issues, then prosecuting that same agency director and employees who followed the Attorney General’s office’s advice, a clear conflict of interest.
“In addition to refusing to provide legal advice to agencies, the Office of the Attorney General is refusing to sign documents as mandated by law, including critical government procurement documents and contracts, placing tens of millions of federal grant dollars at risk, stalling procurements that the Office of the Attorney General has already delayed reviewing for months, and effectively grinding critical GovGuam services to a halt to the detriment of our people. This includes the Adult Day Care, the Guma Mina’ase Foster Care Group Home, GovGuam Health Insurance, the Guam Department of Education’s school repairs, various Department of Public Works projects, and virtually any pending GovGuam procurement and contracts. These are just some examples, but the full scope of the impacts are far-reaching and still being compiled.
“Attorney General Moylan is the only attorney general in Guam’s history unable to manage both his Organic Act responsibility to agencies and his public prosecutor role. By refusing to fulfill his responsibility to government agencies, many of which do not have attorneys on staff, the Attorney General is effectively abandoning his Organic Act duties to preserve his ability to prosecute agency officials whom his office previously advised.”
1 Comments
Gloria
03/01/2024 at 9:45 PM
Of course these Agencies it seems are afraid of findings. They have to be accountable and responsible for their actions, people are taxpayers, Federal funds come Washington DC. Oh and what happened to the over 1 mil to Guam for internet for all. Because internet is not up to par. I’m for you AG