Ernest, who is acting AG until Edward Buckingham returns from a personal leave on Jan. 4, 2011, said an elected chief prosecutor will be beholden to the public while an appointed AG can help implement the governor’s policies.
Ernest noted that in most U.S. jurisdictions, the AG is elected.
“I can see merit to that. We get the government we deserve, and we show what we deserve by the people we elect,” he said.
The AG is the chief law enforcement officer so it’s good that the person who decides who gets prosecuted for what crimes has to answer to the people, he added.
But he noted that an elected AG usually uses his position as a stepping stone to higher office.
They tend to run for governor, Ernest said. This means that they may be running already against the current governor even if they haven’t declared their candidacy yet.
Ernest thinks there’s a “high potential for gridlock” when the AG is actively against the governor.
Lawmakers recently passed House Legislative Initiative 17-2 which will be on the ballot in 2012.
In an interview last year, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial expressed opposition to the elected AG proposal.
The governor said although many parts of the U.S., including Guam, have an elected AG, he doesn’t think the idea would work here.
“I have researched into this. There are more elected attorneys general in the United States, including Guam, but for a community as small as this, which is very highly political, I don’t think it has a place here. In other words, I would be against an elected attorney general,” he said.
