By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Adolpho Palacios Sr., D-Ordot/Chalan Pago, yesterday introduced a bill appropriating half a million dollars to the Attorney General’s Office to satisfy the court judgment in favor of an attorney who was wrongfully removed from his post 14 years ago.
Palacios’ Bill 14 proposes to appropriate $500,000 from the general fund to enable the AGO to pay off the $428,712 in back pay that the court awarded to attorney Alan Haueser.  The court also ordered Haueser’s reinstatement.
Palacios said the AGO’s $7.2-million budget for fiscal year 2007 “is sufficient only to fund normal routine activities of the office.” He said the AGO’s operations would be compromised if the judgment money is taken out of its  operational budget.
Palacios noted that the money owed to Haueser is equivalent to the combined annual salaries of at least four attorneys.
“A shortage of attorneys in the AGO for one year will place the people of Guam at a serious disadvantage in favor of criminal elements,” the bill says.
Last month, deputy attorney general Joseph Guthrie implemented austerity measures at AGO in an effort to save money and other office resources.
Guthrie issued a memo requiring all employees to recycle papers until the AGO pays off its obligation to Haueser.