WE'VE been looking at a couple of contracts recently, six-figure agreements for the top executives of two of Guam’s most important organizations. Last week it was the $150,000 a year for Jon Fernandez to head the Department of Education. This week, it’s the $200,000 annual salary for the newly designated administrator of Guam Memorial Hospital, Joseph Verga.

Both of these government of Guam executive employees will make more than the governor of Guam, who doesn’t get six figures and recently imposed a salary cut on himself and other top front office executives. They won’t even be the highest paid people in GovGuam. There are doctors at GMH who make more, as does the Guam medical examiner.

But it’s not the high salaries that concern us. The amounts being paid to both of these people are in line with what those jobs would bring elsewhere in the country. We’re glad the Education Board and the GMH board of trustees had the authority to recruit top candidates for these positions, and could offer to pay them what it took to get them on board.

No, we’re more concerned with a couple of paragraphs in the contract for the GMH administrator that basically tell him he cannot talk to anybody about what goes on at the hospital. Section VII of the contract has the heading “CONFIDENTIALITY,”and here’s what it says:

“Employee recognizes and acknowledges that information gained while in the Hospital’s employ, including without limitation that concerning the Hospital’s patients, customers, suppliers, and the methods, techniques, devices, and operations of the Hospital, as they may exist from time to time, are of a confidential nature and are valuable, special and unique assets of the Hospital’s business. Employee agrees that he shall not during the term of, or after termination of employment, disclose in any way any such confidential information to any person, firm, corporation or any other operation or entity, or use the same in (his) own behalf, for any reason or purpose, without prior written consent of the Hospital.”

The agreement then goes on to threaten legal action if the employee violates this confidentiality stipulation, and points out the provisions shall remain in full force and effect even after termination of the employee’s employment; in other words, forever. Guess we won’t be having any news conferences with Joe Verga.

We’re not sure how this squares with Gov. Eddie Calvo’s transparency pledge at the outset of his administration. At that time, he authorized GovGuam employees to talk freely with the media, answering our questions and doing their best to be open and candid. Of course that hasn’t worked out as well as we, and perhaps the governor, hoped. But at least it represented an attempt at open government.

At the government’s only hospital, apparently the lid is to remain tightly clamped on any and all information, including the price of bandages. Welcome to Guam, Joe.