The message was sent by Arriola and Tuncap using their government of Guam email account, and was sent to GovGuam email accounts of cabinet members and executive appointees.
The email message read: “Cabinet Members and Senior Staff: Senator (Frank) Blas and Senator (Chris) Duenas were staunch supporters of Governor Calvo’s budget and bond proposals. They were intimately involved and engaged with Governor Calvo throughout this difficult, but hugely successful, endeavor. It is imperative that all of us reciprocate the support, Governor Calvo, Lt. Governor Tenorio and I look forward to seeing all of you at these two fine events. Frank.”
Arriola spoke to Variety and said the email was a mistake.
“As far as the issue at hand, I wanted to make a comment on that. I’m a good guy. When I did this, it did not dawn on me at all. As I looked and I thought about it, I made a mistake, no question about it. For the public, I apologize. I’m sorry. The people of Guam deserve the truth. I made a mistake and if I offended anyone, I’m sorry,” he said.
Troy Torres, the governor’s director of communications, said: “After looking at the law, it appears this is a Mini-Hatch violation and it’s something that was an honest mistake Frank made. Frank thought that because he was sending this only to political appointees and cabinet members, that he was following the Mini-Hatch Act.”
Torres added: “He used his personal computer to send this out, he didn’t realize that sending it from his email account that he used was in violation of the Mini-Hatch Act. He is very apologetic for that.”
4 Guam Code Annotated, Chapter 5 prohibits activity, specific activity in which employees are prohibited from participating include, but are not limited to: organizing, selling tickets to, seeking support for or actively participating in a fund-raising activity of a political party, partisan political organization or candidate.