SENATOR Matt Rector says, and adamantly, that he wants to continue to fight for the working families of Guam. How successful has he been so far in the 30th Legislature?
The Legislature is a place where you have to find consensus and learn to live with compromise. If the Legislature is a “hostile work” environment for labor interests, then how could Senator Rector — or anyone else for that matter — advance labor issues that would help the working families of Guam?
Any good thing for working families of Guam has come from federal legislation. Keep in mind that our likeable politicians and business aristocracy here do not like earned income tax credit and other federal mandates, not realizing and accepting the fact that their policies over 30 years have contributed to a vanishing middle class thereby necessitating the EITC.
It does not mean much when people talk about bringing in new faces into the Legislature because anyone who wants to run for public office here must get the blessing of the traditional power structures on Guam to gain traction for their candidacy. Such practice of political patronage traps the newcomers in public service into doing what the vested interests want them to do, for the most part. Sure there are some lone wolves but that is the exception to the rule.
Real positive change will only come via outside forces, either from D.C., when they help push the self-determination issue forward or some world body (maybe the U.N., maybe some other agency) when they recognize the fact that the people of Guam have really no or not much say in their political — and therefore economic — charter.
MATT PHILIPS
Mangilao, Guam
