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Benjamin J. Cruz (D), Senator Lou Leon Guerrero (D)
Ken Wetmore (KUAM): Good evening and thank you for joining me for at issue, joining
me in studio this evening are democrat incumbent senator Lou Leon Guerrero and former
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Guam B.J. Cruz a democrat welcome. Let's go
ahead and get right to the questions. We'll start with Senator Lou Leon Guerrero,
the President Elect of the Guam Medical Society, Dr. Vince Akimoto, gave the legislature
and the Camacho Administration an 'F'. What grade would you give yourself?
Senator Lou Leon Guerrero: I would say that I would give myself a 'B', and certainly
that grade that was given of an "F", I don't think that was reflective really of the
work that I have done along with my democratic leadership in the area of healthcare.
We have, KW, for the first time earmarked a stable source of funding for healthcare
in the area of the Healthy Futures Fund and the Safe Streets Fund. We took the bold
action of increasing alcohol taxes and tobacco taxes and all that money is geared
toward health. We've given the hospital 3.8 million dollars we've given public health
4 million dollars, we've given mental health one million dollars and all this funding
is going back into the healthcare in the area of treatment, and prevention of drug
abuse, tobacco abuse and substance abuse which is a great concern in our community.
Certainly, in the area of acute care, we have given the hospital over about 13 million
dollars in revenues, subsidies although they did not ask for it, and certainly the
usage of that is dependent on the management of GMH so.
KW: You gave yourself a "B" so obviously that means there's room for improvement,
what do you think you could have done better?
LLG: I think what we could have done better maybe look at the policies to see what
we could change to make sure that people have greater accessibility and healthcare
is much more affordable in terms of insurance. One of the things that I'm looking
at is creating a healthcare commission where we can certainly regulate health insurance
premiums we can regulate the cost of healthcare and the quality of healthcare that
is provided, so you know KW in any society there is always areas for improvement.
KW: Former Chief Justice, you were the number one vote getter in the Primary Election…
You're admired for your career on the bench and your work with Sports… but how will
those things make you a good senator and what's the first piece of legislation you
will introduce?
Benjamin J. Cruz: I think my years on the bench have given my some insight that a
lot of people don't have, the problems the real social problems that are being suffered
that are being endured by the community. Those aren't publicized, the ones that you
can even get into to cover. You get the glorified corruption cases but you don't'
get the family cases, I mean like in today's paper the article about suicide amongst
teens, the article about drug and alcohol problem we have among young people, that
has given me a very good foundation upon which to build on. One of the first pieces
of legislation that I would like to work on is universal healthcare for the children.
I mean, I've spoken in the past about how I want to address mental health and the
drug addiction problem and rehabilitation, but the one thing that I wanted to do is
provide healthcare, My generation, when you look at the obit section, people younger
than myself are passing away, for various causes and I would like our children to
have health insurance so that they can have some preventative medicine and care so
that hopefully they'll be a much more healthier generation than our generation and
those are the two areas that I would like to address, its not the judiciary and the
other thing, its those two areas that I would like to address I was surprised this
morning to realize that we don't' have universal education until that young man was
being interviewed, but to try and find healthcare for the children.
KW: Senator I know you're considering a run for governor in 2006, in what ways do
you think that would impact your actions if you were elected to the 28th Guam Legislature?
LLG: I certainly won't change any of my actions as I have always been very consistent
in ensuring that the interests of the public is provided and we provide basic services
of our government and I'll continue to do that in the 28th Guam Legislature.
KW: Do you think that you'll be able to work cooperatively with the Governor in the
28th Guam Legislature, knowing that you'll be running against them?
LLG: You know I've never not worked cooperatively with the Camacho Administration
in fact in the beginning of our term, we the democrat majority worked much more closely
and collaboratively with the Camacho Administration. We passed the budget for fiscal
year 2004 with the help and the work and the input and information from the Camacho
Administration where as the republican minority did not vote for the 2004 fiscal year
budget, which the Governor had submitted and we practically gave him everything that
he had asked for including an increase in the GRT as a revenue enhancement, so I think
my actions and my demonstrations and my work in the Legislature have shown collaborative
work with the administration not only with the administration but also with my oversight
directors.
KW: Mr. Cruz for years, you've interpreted the law, now you are looking to make the
law, from the perspective of a jurist, are there any Guam laws that need to be repealed
or changed?
BJC: Well the three years, four years, that I sat on the Supreme Court bench, there
were a number of laws that we had issues about and we recommended there be some clarification
and one of the things that I would like to do is have a commission set up where we
would go through all of the old opinions of the supreme court, where the supreme court
has said there's this ambiguity here lets try and resolve this issue so it doesn't
need to get back to court, the other one that I would like to address is the fact
that at least a couple of years ago we really had a lot of suits on procurement and
I have yet to figure out what the problem is in implementing the procurement law and
the procurement appeals board to keep those cases out of the court and resolving those
issues without having to resort to the court and I would like to get a group together
to try and figure out a way on how we can resolve that.
KW: I now have five yes or no questions, first, would you support legalizing same
sex marriages in Guam?
LLG: No.
BJC: No.
KW: Would you support legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes?
LLG: Yes.
BJC: Yes.
KW: Do you support the Governor's bridge financing that's currently held up in court?
LLG: Yes.
BJC: Yes.
KW: Do you support the position of an elected attorney general?
LLG: No.
BJC: No.
KW: Do you support the Governor's reorganization plan?
LLG: No.
BJC: No.
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