EVERY administration invokes it, but this one has refined it to an art form. When a new day dawns and it’s a nice day, it is because of the policy of the administration. If the new day is cloudy and raining, it is because of the deficit of sunshine caused by previous administrations.

The public has been barraged with media reports and press releases that either directly or indirectly suggest that the government’s past deficits, either in FY2010 or FY2011, greatly affects its cash situation today. What is important to understand is what the government’s deficit is now, since much of it has been converted into longterm debt through the issuance of the more than $340 million in bonds, which has greatly reduced the deficit to date.

Because the government has almost completely paid the deficit with the cash from the bonds, the deficit of past fiscal years, audited or otherwise, should have no bearing on the cash situation of today. We do not need to take current year cash collections to pay past-due bills.

It is time to man up, manage and lead without excuses. Not only has the government of Guam received more than $300 million in cash from bond issues within the past seven months, it has also collected more than $409 million – almost 2 percent more than was budgeted, including the cash budgeted for tax refunds as of April 30 this year. Yet, the administration has shorted taxpayers approximately $20 million from that $409 million of cash collected, which should have gone to pay income tax refunds and has withheld 15 percent of cash to line agencies of the government.

Even with all this cash, there appears to still be a finger pointed at a previous year’s deficit, even when the current deficit is minimal. This reminds me of a fairytale, entitled “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” where a shepherd boy would call the villagers that a wolf was attacking the flock of sheep, when in fact there was no wolf. But when the wolf actually came, the villagers did not believe the shepherd boy, and the flock was lost.

What good does it do for the people of Guam when the boy cries deficit yet the deficit was already captured by the villagers with a bond issue? It is my hope that the villagers and the public realize that the big bad wolf deficit of previous years that the boy continues to cry about has almost been completely extinguished and the government must look ahead and work for the people.

In order to validate this, I have sent a letter to the Public Auditor of Guam, requesting that she update her Government of Guam Liabilities Assessment for the most recent period, so the public can be apprised of the current deficit the government of Guam faces after the hundreds of millions in bond proceeds have been received, as well as with the supposed prior year obligations that the administration continues to say they have paid, yet has not provided any ounce of evidence to substantiate such claims.

In the fairytale, the villagers believed the shepherd boy a couple times until they realized he was tricking them for fun and games. In an election year, we will continually see these types of fun and games being played on the people of Guam, with fingers being pointed and blame being cast so that the administration can have an easier time influencing the policy coming out of the Legislature.

This time, it is not grabbing the gavel from Speaker Won Pat or dismissing staff for not wanting to participate in the alleged attempt to cheat his way to a master's degree, instead while giving the governor’s weekly address he tries to convince you that the Legislature should not scrutinize anything the administration submits to the Legislature.

I urge the villagers and the people of Guam: Do not succumb to the cries of the shepherd boy. For all we know, the shepherd boy may only have fun and games in mind and not the people of Guam.