By Pacific Island Times News Staff
In response to a gubernatorial bid announcement today by former governor Felix Camacho and Sen. Tony Ada, the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio campaign had the following statement:
"We welcome the opportunity to put our record up against his. We are all in the midst of the most difficult times in Guam’s modern history. We continue to be focused on the people and their needs, maximizing the $1.5 billion in critical federal assistance for our people, aggressively moving ahead with hundreds of millions more in infrastructure assistance that will bring new jobs and save our economy, all while continuing to protect the precious health and safety of our people during this Covid pandemic.
"Our campaign is focused on moving forward. There will continue to be tough challenges for our island and our people, and the voters will need to judge who is the best team to lead us through these hard times. We are confident that in the months ahead, Guam will see our ongoing commitment through our actions. We are all in this together.
In a separate statement, the Democratic Party of Guam said:
“We welcome the opportunity in the months ahead to remind the electorate that Mr. Camacho’s time in office was both unremarkable and unmemorable and that his final action as the island’s chief executive was to rename Guam to Guåhan - much like his record in office, our island has also forgotten as well.
“The Camacho administration chose to take away people’s tax refunds instead of helping them, put Guam into debt instead of erasing it, and was sued for not providing the tax credits to low and middle-income workers.
“We anticipate the new Camacho campaign will want to rewrite their record and we think that's a good strategy, but not a winning one.
Led by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and with a democratic majority in the Guam Legislature, Democrats have delivered!
Democrats have:
· Erased Guam’s deficit
· Restored pay increments for government workers,
· Lowered taxes for 90% of business license holders,
· Added police to the force and raised their pay,
· Managed more than $1.5 Billion dollars in federal funding to make up for the loss of tourism, and
· Put our island on a path towards recovery.
All of this and more, in the midst of protecting the lives of those who call Guam home from the impacts of one of the worst pandemics in history.
Recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic will not be easy, but Governor Leon Guerrero and the Democratic majority will stay focused on maximizing efforts to spend federal assistance provided by the Biden Administration to help and protect our people as we weather this storm.