VIRTUALLY all of Gov. Calvo's so-called cost-cutting initiatives rely on raids on the Government of Guam Retirement Fund. I'm reminded of the comment attributed to famous bank robber Willie Sutton, who, when asked why he robbed banks allegedly, said – though he later denied it – “Because that's where the money is.”
Why target the Retirement Fund? Because that's where the money is. Add to the fact this administration and Legislature are essentially clueless about how to pay the bills now that their borrowing ability is tapped out ... you get the picture.

Now that federal judge Consuelo Marshall has spoken on the timely income tax refunds issue, our governor, along with every other elected official, is scrambling around within “square one” to determine where the cost-cutting axe really must fall, for fall it inevitably will. Assuming the governor’s Retirement Fund raid fails, as I’m pretty sure it will, we’ll soon discover that there’s no “Plan B.” Foresight just isn’t a GovGuam strong point.
We all know, of course, where gross financial mismanagement is most obvious – essentially every penny of local revenue is sucked up by the GovGuam payroll and benefits. We’re now treated to a rare spectacle, as Guam politicians stare myopically at the reality of a $100 million shortfall in working capital as we go into Fiscal Year 2013. Those who can’t prove they’re in absolutely critical positions, or have the right connections, should brace themselves for transition to the private sector.

Of course nothing detrimental to the GovGuam workforce will happen until after the November election, but thereafter anyone and everything is fair game. It’s a virtual certainty that the Legislature has once again, as in each of the past 10 years, overestimated revenues. It’s different this time, however. This time they’ve painted themselves into a financial corner from which they can emerge only through radical, painful (not to them but to others) decisions and actions, on an issue they’ve managed to tap-dance around for decades. As the saying goes, the chickens – the product and result of years of malfeasance and procrastination – have now come home to roost.

Guam voters have finally caught on to just how inept the current batch of professional politicians really is. They showed it at the polls in the primary election. Several newcomers polled far better than many incumbents who’ve considered themselves sufficiently entrenched to be untouchable, so there will be new faces in the 32nd Legislature. That means, of course, that some of those “untouchables” will be out of a job, or at least out of the job they now hold. They’ll doubtless be hired on as “consultants” at high salaries, as is the custom in this corrupt political culture, but they at least won’t be directly making decisions that impact our lives and livelihood.

I can hardly wait.