PUBLIC Auditor Doris Flores Brooks yesterday said the Office of Public Accountability would be politicized if her challenger, former Gov. Carl. T.C. Gutierrez, would continue holding the Democratic Party’s banner while on the campaign trail for a non-partisan post.

“Carl Gutierrez intends to remain Democratic Party chairman. He said he’ll resign that political post if he is elected public auditor,” Brooks said in a statement, citing the OPA enabling act, which states, “No candidate for the position of public auditor shall declare a political party affiliation.”

Urged by his supporters to run for public auditor, Gutierrez last week agreed to be drafted as a write-in candidate.

Brooks, who described the former governor as “a season politician,” was not exactly caught off-guard by Gutierrez’s announcement. “There had been rumors and so it was not a surprise,” she said.

Gutierrez, meanwhile, said it was not necessary for him to step down as the party chair at this point because, unlike Brooks, he is not yet officially registered as a candidate.

“[Brooks] is way ahead of the game. The people are just trying to write me in. I am just a write-in candidate,” Gutierrez said. “I have not submitted my papers to the Guam Election Commission. How is that politicizing?”

Gutierrez said he would definitely resign as the chairman of the Democratic Party once he gets enough number of votes in the primary that would lead him to the general elections in November.

Carlo Branch, executive director of the Democratic Party of Guam, said the issue of Gutierrez’s chairmanship of the party is “not yet ripe” for a decision.

‘Unbiased audits’

Brooks, a Republican, said OPA has conducted independent and unbiased audits throughout her term.

“Over the past 10 years, all OPA audits were of entities under Republican administrations,” said Brooks, who is serving her third term. “OPA employees are civil servants, not political appointees.”

The public auditor position became an elected office in 2000. Before then, public auditors were appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Legislature.

“During my years as public auditor, senators from both parties have commended OPA for producing objective, thorough and unbiased audits,” Brooks said. “Legislators continue to ask us to do additional audits and we respond, subject only to staff limitations.”

Brooks refuted Gutierrez’s allegation that the OPA has been “quiet” on the suspected anomalies involving the government’s insurance contract. The OPA, she added, has been monitoring the healthcare issues.

“Over the past several years, we have made recommendations on the growing high cost of health insurance,” Brooks said. “We conducted an audit on the health and wellness aspect of the health insurance contract and recommended that it be provided on a per usage basis rather than a flat per capita assessment.”

The OPA’s recommendation, Brooks added, would have resulted in more than $700,000 in annual savings for the government of Guam. “This recommendation was ignored,” she said.

Insurance rebates

As for the issue of federally-mandated insurance rebates, Brooks said reports submitted on June 1 by local insurance companies to the Department of Health and Human Services showed Guam's 46,390 consumers stand to receive a total of $15.4 million in rebates, for an average of $852 per family.

Rebate checks are anticipated to be issued this month.

“Guam rebates are higher than what will be paid in most states,” Brooks said. “Members of the healthcare negotiating team should take note.”

Independence

She also denied Gutierrez’s allegation that she “picks and chooses” what to audit.

“The [Government Accounting Office] independence standard requires auditors to not start an audit with ‘preconceived ideas toward individuals, groups, organizations or of objectives of a particular group,’ and that auditors should disqualify themselves if they are biased by ‘political, ideological, or social convictions,’” she said.

Brooks said the OPA conducts an annual risk assessment to determine programs and agencies that are high risk, “coupled with audits mandated in law and requests from public officials.”

The Public Auditor said her office continues to face the challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified staff “because of the low classified salaries” administered by the Department of Administration.

“That's unlike autonomous agencies that are now in their third year of their own versions of the Hay Study,” Brooks said. “The majority of staff who left took jobs with significantly higher salaries. Many hold senior positions throughout our government. OPA staff are well trained and highly sought after by autonomous agencies.”