Jayne Flores, the director of the so called Bureau of Women’s Affairs, is all in for abortion but opposed to the doctrine of separation of church and state.
Consider the screenshot of the item set out above which appeared in the Bureau of Women’s Affainrs’ official Facebook page on July 5.
Flores goes to some length to tell Christians what their “job” is, what they can and cannot be happy about, not to condemn or judge, and so on ad nauseam.
Intense perusal of the organic statute under which Ms. Flores operates, 5 GCA Ch1. Art.8, reveals that at a mininmum she is ultra vires her authority per the statute as there is no lanuage whatsover authorizing Ms. Flores to engage in religious instruction.
More serious is Ms. Flores’s violation of our Organic Act, viz.:
§1421b. Bill of rights
(a) No law shall be enacted in Guam respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of their grievances. Cf. 1421b.(p)&(s), US Const. Am. I, Establismnent clause.
This is a matter that cannot be taken lightly, dealing as it does, with a breach in the wall of sepration between church and state. Gov. Leon Guererro, by her apparent acquiescence to Ms. Flores’s conduct, endorsed it.
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Here’s one of the legal reqirements for the BWA that Flores didn’t adhere to:
5 GCA § 1805. Committees: formation. The director shall advertise throughout the government of Guam and the private sector for interested persons wishing to participate on committees to effectuate the purposes of the bureau. The Board of Advisors appointed by the governor pursuant to Executive Order 87-14 shall organize the bureau's structure and shall establish the organization of the bureau and the committees necessary to further the work of the bureau."
Had Flores followed the law, the committee might have steered her to President Thomas Jefferson’s famous statement about the “wall of separation between church and state.”
In 1802, Jefferson wrote this prescription to Baptists of Danbury, Ct:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and state. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”
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Flores is a salaried ($90,000+total pay)officer of GovGuam, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature, and a member of the governor’s cabinet. What Flores did is not the “job” of any GovGuam officer or employee. Democrat de rigeur attempts to excuse Flores’s Organic Act and constitutional violations with, “Oh that’s just Jayne’s personal opinion,” don’t work here any better than they did for the Blacklist 12.
Finally, here’s some religious instruction that Flores might take to heart. Jesus instructs, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.”
Bob Klitzkie is a former senator and Superior Court of Guam judge pro tem. He hosts the talk show, “Tall Tales,” on KUSG-FM (93.3 FM) weekday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. Send feedback to klitzkie@hotmail.com.
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