"It's not rocket science" - that's what a local attorney had to say in response to our story with Guam Attorney General Doug Moylan and his request to the Guam Legislature to allow his attorneys to be able to engage in private practice.

"It's not rocket science. Its pretty basic," said Attorney Jay Arriola. "And when the attorney general gets on the air and says ‘I need to fulfill a mission. We’re now having staffing problems', quite frankly that’s not the people of Guam’s biggest problem in terms of regulation of lawyers."

Arriola is clapping back at Moylan. As we previously reported, Moylan asked the legislature last month to amend Guam law to allow his attorneys to remain in private practice to boost hiring efforts. The Guam Bar Association rejected that proposal after majority of its members in a survey disagreed with his request. 

"The general contends that its the way the law always was. We always had private prosecutors and so he’s just going back to the way it was to fulfill a staffing pattern and a need for human resources in his office. that is an incorrect statement of the law. That is a misstatement of the law," said Arriola.

Arriola says the law is very clear that the attorney general is prohibited specifically from engaging in private practice outside of representing the government and the people. 

"I think all of the Guam lawyers who responded set forth some pretty basic tenets of the law that we don't have private prosecutors because of inherent conflicts of interests," he added.

"Does anyone see a problem there? That one day he’s sitting at a table prosecuting defendants. The next day he’s asking for his client's bail," he said.

Arriola, also a board member, pointing out with more than half of the lawyers in the AG’s Office leaving since he took office – it’s a management problem. 

"I think if they take a closer look at his contracts, look at what it says, ‘They will do their services at the sole discretion of the general.’ Sounds like your hired hatchet man! hired hatchet man! I will tell you what to prosecute and what not to prosecute. And like what he says, if you don’t like it, out the door!" he said.

Arriola adding it’s not on the legislature to accommodate one attorney general and hopes they ‘see through his smokescreen.’ Arriola said, "There's a reason they’re leaving. It's not because of pay. If the public defender is getting 15 percent less and can have their full staff with all locally based lawyers–there may be one or two temporary lawyers who are under the realm of the general– then it's a management problem. And it is not the legislature's problem to change the laws on Guam to accommodate this one general."