She said she learned politics as a news director and anchor of KMCV from 1992 to 1994.
“I feel that the years I spent in the CNMI were very important to me,” she said in an interview. “I learned politics here in the CNMI.”
She described the commonwealth as a political battleground that helped shape her ideas when she first ran for Guam senator in 1994.
“I think the most rough and tumble politics I have ever seen is here in the CNMI,” she said.
Leon Guerrero said then-Gov. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero taught her “to not be afraid of the courts.”
“At that time, 17 years ago, the Covenant was a pretty new document and Governor Deleon Guerrero was in court all the time with the federal government over [several issues],” she recalled.
“The federal government thought they could do this. The local government thought they could do this. And [Deleon Guerrero] was in court at one time for nine different cases and I always remember him saying not to be afraid of the courts. When you disagree and you’re arm-wrestling and you’re not getting anywhere, throw it into the court and gain some ground,” she added.
When she became a Guam senator, Leon Guerrero took the Clinton White House over a federal issue.
“And I got the courage and the understanding in doing that from [the late] Governor Deleon Guerrero,” she said.
A Republican, Carlota Leon Guerreo chaired the Guam Legislative Committee on Transportation, Telecommunications and Micronesian Affairs from 1995 to 2000.
