By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

(This is the continuation of Variety’s question-and-answer session with Sen. Rory J. Respicio, D-Agana Heights, who blames the dreadful state of the Government of Guam’s finances on politics.)
Variety: Have you encountered a situation where you believe you were not told the truth?
Respicio: “Yes. Eight months ago, the administration told the Legislature that we would collect $456 million in general fund revenue. I was one of those who voted against the fiscal year 2007 budget because I didn’t believe the administration. I believed Sen. B.J.’s analysis.
Last week, based on actual collections for five months, the administration finally admitted that we would be lucky to collect $434 million, which means the Legislature has appropriated $22 million more than we could collect. But the admission came only after the administration first said that they were using a working figure of $447 million. I had to point out that the administration’s Power Point presentation (which Vice Speaker Eddie Calvo, R-Maite, did not let them present) revealed the $434 million figure.
By the way, the Camacho administration’s number is less than half of 1 percent different from what we have calculated with our office abacus, $432 million. What this means is that the administration does know how to figure out the real numbers. Obviously, they have been giving us inflated numbers, and kept the real numbers hidden for political expediencies.
The Camacho administration has not been honest. The Republican Legislature has also not been honest with the people of Guam. It seems like they haven’t been honest in years and, as a result of their dishonesty, GovGuam faces a financial meltdown.”
Variety: Vice Speaker Calvo has said that projecting revenues is not an exact science, so there will be some differences in what is projected and what is received.
Respicio: “It’s true that revenue projections are assumptions, but experienced numbers people should at least come close.
When the administration and my office abacus (namely B.J. Cruz and Bertha Duenas) can independently come within half of 1 percent of each other, then it shouldn’t be unreasonable to expect projected revenues and actuality to be close, say, within 5 percent. Businesses are able to project sales based on past revenue collection experiences. Businesses then make periodic adjustments to their budgets because they know the truth, and don’t hide from it.
A business that has been around for so long as GovGuam, for more than 50 years, does not go from ‘okay’ to the verge of financial collapse in five months. This fiasco did not happen overnight, and the administration, Speaker Mark Forbes, R-Sinajana, and Finance Chairman and Vice Speaker Calvo are not being held accountable by either the business community or by members of the media.
This is why I believe witnesses should be sworn in. As long as Chairman Calvo continues to refuse to swear in witnesses, he continues to condone the lack of honesty and the perpetuation of misinformation.
The 2,200 people who stand to lose their jobs deserve the truth. The retirees expecting their COLAs deserve the truth. The taxpayers waiting for their refunds and EITC deserve the truth. The vendors waiting for their payments deserve the truth, the teachers who continue to be shortchanged on their own salary deserve the truth…Every taxpayer and citizen deserves to know the truth.”