Timothy J. Rohr
Honorable Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D.
Speaker, Thirty-First Guam Legislature
Suite 201
155 Hesler St.
Hagåtña, Guam 96910
June 30, 2011
RE: MANUFACTURED JOURNAL RECORD
Dear Madame Speaker:
There appears to be a pro-abortion conspiracy among certain members of the Legislature. Consider the following:
There is a completely manufactured entry on page 34 of the Legislative Daily Journal for November 26, 2010 relative to SBill No. 54-30(COR)
In violation of the Organic Act, the Open Government Law, and the Legislature’s Standing Rules, a copy of the journal was only acquired after more than six months of numerous requests including a Freedom of Information Act request that was initially ignored.
The manufactured record and the extraordinary difficulty in procuring the journal with the concocted record are simply two more chapters in a very long history of attempts by the pro-abortion faction of the Legislature to quietly prevent the passage of pro-life Bill 54-30 and, failing that, to replace it with a gutted and ineffectual simulacrum (SBill 54-30) bearing the same name. These efforts to prevent the passage of this pro-life bill by senators who, on account of their largely Catholic and pro-life constituency, present themselves publicly as pro-life, have gone on for over two years and are well documented.
Bill 52-31, which addresses the same issue as Bill 54-30, is now being treated in similar fashion, with more unethical trickery and blatant attempts to doctor the public record. (Documented here.)
Madame Speaker, these are serious infractions and an insult to the people of Guam who have a right to expect their lawmakers to act lawfully. AND these outrages have occurred ON YOUR WATCH.
The manufactured record is particularly egregious. This is simply tampering with a public document. The Daily Legislative Journal for 11/26/10 records the following event:
“Senator Calvo moved to accept Bill No. 54-30(COR), a (sic) substituted by the Committee on Economic Development, Health and Human Services, and Judiciary, and further substituted on the Floor. There was no objection and the motion carried.”
(See a copy of the journal here.)
Madame Speaker, the video record provided by the Legislature shows NO SUCH EVENT. In fact, the video shows you directing Senator Calvo to address Bill 54 and when he attempts to ask if the bill, the substitute bill, had been accepted - as it should have been, you pound the gavel and press him to continue. Watch it here.
Why Senator Calvo did not know if the bill had been accepted or not is not clear, perhaps he came late. But it doesn’t matter. The fact is that YOU, as Speaker, are responsible for seeing that the proper legislative procedure is followed. You did not.
You knew that before the bill as “further substituted on the floor” could be discussed, there had to be a motion to accept the bill. There was none. Yet, because you knew that the motion was required, you had the motion recorded in the journal.
I knew from the video, which I acquired several months ago, that there was something extremely fishy about the way the substitute bill “further substituted on the Floor” suddenly appeared on the Floor. I needed the journal to confirm my suspicions.
While attempting to procure the journal for over six months, I also asked for copies of other journals, both previous and subsequent to the session in question. I was able to procure the other journals immediately, but NOT the journal which recorded the proceedings on Bill 54-30. Now I know why. You did not want me to have it.
After my June 7 letter to all the Senators documenting the long history of my inquiries and the non-response to my request under the Freedom of Information Act, you finally released the journal, but not before the journal was doctored to cover for the crucial event that NOT ONLY did you know DID NOT happen - you did not ALLOW to happen, as per your actions recorded on the video.
Madame Speaker, the trail of Bill 54-30 and now Bill 52-31 is littered with the trash of legislative trickery, conspiracy, and utter disregard for public transparency. It is a trail that now leads right to your door.
When one watches your actions on the video record at the moment described above and compares those actions with what is recorded in the journal, there is not much left to believe other than either you are complicit in a conspiracy or you are completely inept.
While I will leave that for the voters to decide (for now), the fact is that the presence of a wholly manufactured record in the legislative journal for the session held on 11/26/10 is, at worst, criminal, or, at best, an extreme dereliction of duty.
If you were indeed complicit in these actions, then your willingness to place yourself at risk of criminal or legislative sanction in order to effect this pro-abortion subterfuge, is both a sad and an extraordinary testament to your devotion to the institution of abortion, which kills 500 unborn babies each year on Guam.
This has occurred on YOUR WATCH. And while there seems to be little doubt that the Clerk of the Legislature was put up to it, she is in fact, at this point, wholly personally responsible.
What are you going to do about it?
Yes, I know that you are going to attribute the fabricated journal entry to an oversight, a clerical error perhaps. But your actions on the video cannot be attributed to a clerical oversight. Senator Calvo attempted to ask if the substitute bill had been accepted and you silenced him.
I look forward to your reply.
If you have any questions, please call me at 483-0467.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tim Rohr