JAY Rojas, representing the Republican Party of Guam, and Carlo Branch, representing the Democratic Party of Guam, debated each other yesterday during a Rotary Club of Guam meeting.
Rojas, while giving some praise to the democratic majority in the Legislature, said he is curious how Democrats propose to push economic growth. He also spoke on why he chooses to be a Republican and his beliefs in the GOP.
“Let’s not forget that Guam is broke and it’s up to us to be able to fix it. It is time for change, it’s time to move forward and not continue to point the finger at who said what and who did what, and what’s in it for whom. It’s time to hope that Guam can do better,” he said.
Rojas noted the democratic majority has more than 117 years of political service under their belt but questioned what that experience has done to improve the economy, hospital services and education.
“We can only track that the democratic majority has experience in public service, but we’re unable to track how many years of experience the Democratic Party has in leading – and leadership is what we need right now,” he said.
Rojas also criticized the democratic majority and the number of bills passed in the 31st Guam Legislature, which is more than 500, with less than 10 percent of those bills dealing with economic growth.
Democrats
For his part, Branch, the Democratic Party of Guam executive director, expressed confidence there will be another democratic majority on the Legislature as seen in recent polls.
He said the GOP has held the administration positions at Adelup for 10 years. Yet, Branch said there have been more people unemployed or not wanting to find work under Republican leadership at Adelup.
Branch also disputed Rojas’ comments about the democratic majority passing too much legislation. He criticized Republican senators for coming up with a bill on the number of parking stalls and another bill, which seeks to charge movie director and explorer James Cameron every time he uses the words "Mariana Trench."
“It also was a Republican senator who said you have to use a helmet while riding a bicycle but not a helmet while riding a motorcycle and going more than 100 miles per hour,” Branch said.
