Michael San Nicolas used to let criticisms and accusations against him roll off his shoulder when he was in public office or running for office. The former Guam congressman, who no longer is a candidate for office, apparently is tired of people maligning his name with falsehoods, and has called out Republican incumbent James “Jim” Moylan for what Mr. San Nicolas said are lies Mr. Moylan is advancing in a recent campaign commercial.
This week Mr. Moylan released a minute-long campaign commercial attacking his Democrat opponent for the delegate seat he holds, Ginger Cruz. The ad accuses Ms. Cruz of misplacing blame on him over the federal government’s decision to stop providing annual $14 million to $16 million payments to Guam to help alleviate financial impacts from the migration of citizens of the Freely Associated States of Micronesia. Those FAS citizens are able to emigrate into the United States freely under the Compacts of Free Association (COFA). Guam historically has been the first settlement for the majority of COFA migrants.
The so-called compact impact funding ended in 2023, the same year Mr. Moylan came to office.
“I wanted to correct some fake news being spread by my opponent,” Mr. Moylan opens in the ad. “She blames me for the loss of COFA reimbursements. What she fails to tell you is that the federal government opted to end COFA reimbursements for host communities such as Guam in 2022. Now, I didn’t take office as your congressman until January of 2023.”
That comment triggered Mr. San Nicolas, who was the congressman in 2022.
In a rare instance, the former congressman publicly defended himself and his record on Facebook.

Here is Mr. San Nicolas’ full statement:
“Jim you are lying to the people of Guam.
“The federal government did not ‘opt to end COFA’ it was your term and your watch that failed to make sure it was included in the agreements that were passed and ratified into law when you took office.
“All of those agreements were passed and ratified by your 118th Congress in 2023, in the committee you sit in and that you are a majority member of. Any half decent member with that power would have easily amended the measure appropriately. You just don’t know what you’re doing when it comes to getting policy done, you rely on Bobby to do everything for you, and he sells out Guam to please other offices because he is more interested in promoting himself even at our expense.
“You didn’t do ANYTHING to remedy the Compact Impact situation until November of last year – 9 months after you failed to address the issue when you could have – your attempted remedy is indicative of your poor standing in the Congress, because your bill hasn’t even passed out of committee nearly a year later. You obviously are unable to fix the problem you let happen to begin with.
“And that’s just the start of why we should not vote for you.
“Stay focused on your campaign and cease trying to taint my term and my work I will not allow you to mislead the people especially at my expense.”
Kandit asked Mr. Moylan’s chief of staff, Bobby Shringi, for the congressman’s response to Mr. San Nicolas. Mr. Shringi said that Mr. Moylan did not mean to attack his predecessor and instead was trying to focus on addressing Ms. Cruz’s assertions.
Here is Mr. Shringi’s full reply on behalf of his boss:
“The COFA agreements were negotiated in 2022, and it was determined then to end reimbursements for host communities, and instead replace them with CIFA benefits. The primary genesis of this was DOI’s statistics displaying that host communities were expanding beyond Guam and Hawaii, hence reimbursements would be more costly.
“CIFA (Compact Impact Fairness Act) basically would ensure that every COFA migrant who relocated to a U.S. soil would be assured of every federal benefit provided in that district. The rules on needing to have kids, other criteria, etc. were lifted.
“There was an effort in 2022 to enact CIFA by law, and it was led by Rep. Case of Hawaii and others who were now deemed host communities as well. Our predecessor cosponsored the bill. The idea was to enact the program as law, but during the negotiations it was decided to add it as part of the renewals.
“The reason Hawaii and other host communities preferred CIFA over reimbursements, was because it provided a much larger pot of funds versus the reimbursements (Hawaii was receiving just $16m a year).
“When we came in, the FY 24 budget from the White House already stripped the $30 plus million in reimbursements for 4 jurisdictions. While we fought for the $14m, we couldn’t get any traction because all the host community members, including Hawaii, did not want reimbursements to take away from CIFA. We were reminded that for Guam alone, projections of benefits far exceeded $14m. DOI is still assessing this amount.
“Nonetheless, the decision to end reimbursements took place in 2022, and was led by the Biden White House, a Democrat House and Senate. The question is, why wasn’t the issue discussed then when it was on the table?
“While we did try and fight for it in the current House, that train left the station, as the current House merely ratified the negotiated agreements, and the intent was not to make any amendments. Just to note, the renewals were critical to the nations defense, and the House needed to move quickly on ratification, as there were concerns that any of the nations could start negotiating with the PRC.”
Cruz snaps back
Ms. Cruz’s campaign wasn’t buying it, though. By Thursday evening her campaign released a reaction piece to Mr. Moylan’s ad. In it, her campaign says, “Embattled incumbent Jim Moylan has released yet another misleading video falsely accusing his opponent, Ginger Cruz, of spreading fake news about the loss of COFA funding for our island.”
The ad resurrected statements and video Mr. Moylan made to island media and on the House floor about the loss of compact impact funding through the recent COFA renewal processes.
“Whose responsibility is it to get the funding?” Mr. Moylan is shown in a KUAM interview rhetorically asking, before admitting, “It’s Congress’s responsibility.”
The ad raises issue with Mr. Moylan’s vote in the House earlier this year to scrap compact impact funding for Guam.
Mr. Moylan and Ms. Cruz face off on November 5 to see whether voters retain him, or replace him with her. Prior to this latest scuffle over the compact impact funding ads, Mr. San Nicolas had remained relatively quiet about the election as his supporters have wondered who he would support in the congressional race. While his latest statement does not bode well for Mr. Moylan, he has not made any public endorsement for either candidate.
2 Comments
Frank
09/20/2024 at 4:16 AM
OMG! Who do we believe would be the best person to represent our interests if bickering amongst the two candidates and the incumbent continue to make the headlines!
Frank Flores
09/25/2024 at 7:31 AM
3 comments:
1) Congressman Moylan, Mr. Shringi should not be replying for you. As a leader, be bold and do not ever let anyone speak for you like that.
2). A debate would tell us who is most qualified to represent Guam in Congress.
A live recorded debate that we can watch and analyze would help us make our final decisions on Election Day.
3) Our Representative in the House needs to champion the fight to vote on the House Floor like every other Representative from each State, get a seat in the Senate, and allow us to vote for President. We need Compact funding tied to data that accurately compensates Guam for Compact impact. Guam needs a VA Hospital, significantly more funding for education, and funding to build resilient infrastructure that can withstand major natural disasters.