By Peter J. Santos
It’s not a secret that the Guam Legislature has lost public support and respect in the past few years. It is mind boggling to me some of the things that goes on in those supposedly sacred halls of the Guam Congress Building. It is flabbergasting to see the bickering and fighting among the senators, but more concerning is the fact that this body is charged with making laws that have profound effects on our lives and community. They also pass the annual government of Guam budget which uses the people’s money. They should not abuse this trust and should not be beholden to special interests.
Sadly, this aspiration is too lofty.
It is incomprehensible why the legislature gives tacit approval to Attorney General Douglas Moylan to squander tax payer money through illegal contracts and procurement violations. They passed laws ratifying his illegal activity by retroactively authorizing him to do things he was legally not permitted to do. He has gas lighted them claiming his incompetence is due to a shortage of attorneys, but the only thing that is truly short is his understanding of the law and [censored by the editor]. To add insult to injury, they reward his short-comings with a pay raise of at least $55,000, bypassing having a public hearing.
The amazingly dumb raise was introduced as an amendment to the 2025 GovGuam budget bill by Senator Jesse Lujan and supported by Speaker Therese Terlaje and Senators Chris Barnett, Sabina Perez, Telo Taitague, Joanne Brown, Frank Blas, and Dwayne San Nicolas. Senator Will Parkinson was adamant about having a fair public hearing before any public officials were given a raise. What truly makes absolutely no sense is that the justification for the pay raise, was to attract the best and brightest to run for attorney general. O.K., fine, but raising the AG salary now does nothing to support that goal. The raise in AG pay, if the reason was sincere, should take place in FY 2027.
This is fraud, waste, and abuse. This is tax payer money being used to reward a friend of a senator, or because the senator fears the AG. It is fraud, waste, and abuse because we are paying for severe underperformance. We are paying for something that is unjustified if we examine the amendment’s intent.
Doug Moylan has also hired his brother at a salary of $120,000 for a non-existent position at the AG’s Office. He also hired his fiancee, a realtor with no experience in a legal setting, and pays her $75,000. The current AG is corrupt and unethical and he is allowed to do so with impunity. He broke the law by hiring attorneys violating the procurement rules and hiring them as unclassified then when he got called out on this, he went to the legislature and asked them to change the rules to suit him, and they did. He only had to do this because no one will work for him.
[FACT CHECK FROM THE EDITOR OF KANDIT: Mr. Moylan provided Kandit with two separate documents – dated and stamped months apart – that do show the erection of a Chinese firewall within his office that preceded and were regarding the hiring of his brother and his fiancee. Therefore, we are able to verify through written and dated correspondence that Mr. Moylan – by directive – removed himself from the hiring process involving family members.]
It is patently false that Guam has a severe shortage of attorneys. The truth is that when Doug took office, the rest of GovGuam and the private sector hired many attorneys and did not have space for all the attorneys that wanted jobs. These attorneys had all left Doug. Only Doug has a shortage of attorneys. Five attorneys left in just the last 30 days. This is about average for Doug.
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Peter J. Santos is an attorney, a combat veteran, and a son of Agat. He works for the Office of the Alternate Public Defender and previously was a prosecutor.
