Moylan tells governor to fix Guam's problems or quit
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Adelup today demanded that Attorney General Douglas Moylan stop his unauthorized use of the Office of the Governor’s seal on his billboards.
In a cease-and-desist letter issued today, Jeffrey A. Moots, legal counsel for the governor, warned Moylan that using an agency seal without authorization constitutes a misdemeanor punishable by up to one-year imprisonment.
The billboard, with the header “Governor, Help Our People,” depicts a collage of homeless shanties around Guam, along with a concept design for a proposed homeless encampment in the public park within the Ricardo J. Bordallo Governor's Complex.
“To be clear, the Office of the Governor does not approve of your use of the seal. Your continued use of the seal in these billboards without authorization
compounds the violation and implies our approval," Moots said, demanding the removal of the seal from the billboard.
The billboard also carries the official seals of other agencies, including the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center and the Guam Department of Labor.
Moots said every billboard depicting the unauthorized use of the seal constitutes
a new count, exposing Moylan and his team “to consecutive sentences for three or more years.”
The governor's legal counsel said Moylan's failure to get approval from other government agencies exposes the attorney general and others involved in the project "to up to nine or more years" behind bars, "if sentenced consecutively for each count."
“Title I GCA § 412 provides that government agencies may design emblems
representing such agencies,” Moots wrote.
“Section 414 makes it unlawful for any person, without the authority of law, to use any representation of any government seal in any manner likely to give the
impression of official territorial approval without first obtaining a permit for such use from the custodial of the seal, and provides that any person in violation shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
“The laws of Guam apply to the AG the same way they apply to everyone else, though he has demonstrated through his words and actions that he thinks he can violate the law without consequence,” said Krystal Paco-San Agustin, director of communications.
“From ‘nepo hires’ to drugs in his conference room, non-existent procurements for questionable contracts, and now illegal billboards. Maybe we should park a dedicated crime-busting unit in matching outfits outside the AG’s office – they may never run out of work,” she added.
Moylan, however, argued that the restrictions on the use of official government seals apply to “non-government private persons” and not to his office.
“There also exists vagueness and ambiguity concerns with how the language is crafted between what is the official Guam seal, emblems and seals,” Moylan said in a letter to Speaker Frank Blas Jr.
He described the cease-and-desist letter as an attempt “to retaliate against and intimidate” him for the criminal and civil investigations and lawsuits initiated by his office.
"Punishing suggestions, recommendations and operational plans to fix Guam’s homeless and poor problems (like what the billboard proposed); criticisms about basic law enforcement operations enforcing Guam’s begging in intersection laws; and engaging in a billion-dollar hospital without any contracts reviewed by the people’s elected attorney general all reek of a totalitarian government," Moylan said.
"If public officials get threatened by a governor for expressions of free speech, this Island is doomed. This AG has never and will never threaten any person, whether private or government, for expressions of free speech," he added.
Moylan said threatening the attorney general and removing the governor’s logo from the billboard won’t fix Guam’s homelessness and poor problems.
"The message remains that this governor must help our people, and the billboard provided an immediate fix to ending the strife in all 19 villages. After six years of excuses and inaction, this governor must fix our deteriorating healthcare, education and public safety conditions or quit," he said,
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