“WHY wasn’t it livestreamed?” Gov. Ralph DLG Torres asked regarding the House Special Standing Committee on Official Conduct and Ethics meeting last week in the House chamber.
The committee is looking into the allegations of sexual misconduct, threats, and inappropriate language against Rep. Edwin K. Propst.
Torres noted that all of the hearings pertaining to the investigation into his executive expenditures as well as the impeachment proceedings were livestreamed.
“The community has the right to know what’s going on… I’m happy that [the committee] is moving forward…. Obviously, it’s important with these kinds of [allegations] that [the committee] take serious consideration of its every action. But I think the community needs to know what’s going on. I hope that the next meeting will be live, just the way the [House Judiciary and Governmental Operation Committee] did [with] every hearing,” Torres said.
“They always talk about transparency, ‘nothing to hide,’ ‘open to the community,’ so this is exactly what we’re going through… this is a process,” he added.
Substance abuse counselor Grace Pitu Sablan-Vaiagae filed a complaint against Propst over sexual abuse allegations that occurred 20 years ago.
Former senior policy advisor to Governor Torres, Robert Hunter, accused Propst of making threats and using inappropriate language on social media in December.
The ethics committee is chaired by Rep. Donald M. Manglona, and its members are House Minority Leader Angel A. Demapan, and Reps. Sheila Babauta, Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, Corina L. Magofna, Patrick H. San Nicolas, and Leila C. Staffler.
They voted on Feb. 17, 2022 to obtain more information on the sexual abuse claims against Propst, but moved forward with the investigation into Hunter’s complaint.
