SENATOR Judith Paulette Guthertz should be commended for taking the time to articulate her positions and views in the Marianas Variety-Guam Edition (like former Speaker Ben). You don’t find Republicans all too eager to connect with the people and you have to wonder why. (Sen. Lujan did but the editor reserves the right to “refresh” the editorial pages, if you will.)
In the April 19 issue of the same, Sen. Guthertz’s opinion-editorial was on the impending-already-here military buildup and she listed some of the 20 points covering everything from education and alien labor to Guam’s political status. Among those mentioned are an integrated school system to end the practice of “separate but equal” school systems, a fee of $1,000 per alien worker to find local worker training and a local preference to fill civil service, NEX, AAFES, DCA and DODEA jobs.
This is why Guam will never see its political status issue come to fruition. Because elected officials refuse to admit the past mistakes, refuse to compromise and refuse to bring all into the mix, the feds pulled out of GPSS because of local mismanagement of federal funds. In fact, the same mismanagement goes on (Democrat, Republican is immaterial) to this day. On the work force issue, local boys to mean those who were born and grew up here do not really like to work blue-collar jobs especially in construction. So the shortage will always be there. Lastly, this ‘local preference’ to fill civil service DODEA jobs is the race-based 19th century paradigm that has no place in this day and age. Who is local on Guam? Is someone who came from Massachusetts 30 years ago local even if he is white? Are his kids who also happen to be white, now all grown up, also considered local, some of whom have even married out islanders?
Dear Sen. Guthertz, if you are trying to cater to the “marginalized” folks that gubernatorial candidate Carl T.C. Gutierrez brought up during his failed campaign of ’06, you must know that there is “no satisfying them.” Some of them want the U.S. out of here while others depend on the same local government that cannot educate, rehabilitate or protect. But they are in the minority and will be even more so with 20,000 new Americans on the horizon.

MATT PHILLIPS
Mangilao, Guam