“I‘ve been in politics and I can smell people like Gary Gumataotao from a mile away,” said Governor Eddie Calvo.

Guam – Governor Eddie Calvo continues to target what he says is a cast of character who conspired to eliminate Superintendent Jon Fernandez for political reasons. He went on an angry tirade against Senator Underwood, Attorney Gary Gumataotao and others in the democratic party for what he calls a hatchet job.

Governor Eddie Calvo went on a media tour today starting with K57 Mornings with Patti where he unleashed an inferno on what he calls a cast of characters in the democratic party. He also questioned Attorney Gary Gumataotao, who led the investigation into superintendent Jon Fernandez that then led to the termination of his contract; and Gumataotao’s assistant, Bernadette Stern Meno.

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“That’s why I say it was keystone cop, this has been a keystone cop process and they’re all talking about process–how do you have a process when you terminate somebody up front? There was no process. This was a hatchet job, a hatchet job by folks that did not, they did not cross their t’s and dot their i’s and i’m pretty sure now they’re trying to find many, many ways to find a way to clean up the mess that they just started,” lamented Calvo.

Calvo’s senior adviser, Troy Torres, yesterday suggested that Fernandez’s termination is all part of one big conspiracy to remove him as a contender for the 2018 gubernatorial elections. We asked if the governor his thoughts on this conspiracy.

“I don’t read blogs. I know some of my people do. So I don’t know all the gossip that’s going on. I do know that once you separate all the gossip and innuendo, it goes back to, something occurred in the middle of the night and many people were caught unaware and there was supposedly reasons for this attack occurring,” explained Calvo.

The governor then brought up Attorney Gumataotao, who ran for the lieutenant governor seat in the 2014 elections with former governor Carl Gutierrez.

“I’m questioning Gary Gumataotao as well … I’m questioning his legal advice. I’ve seen him as a lieutenant gubernatorial candidate and some of the cast of characters that are surrounding him are part of that last campaign and it was a campaign of falsehoods and innuendos and character assassinations. Hey, But that’s a campaign. I’ve been in politics I can smell people like Gary Gumataotao a mile away,” Calvo said. “But poor Jon Fernandez. The guy, he came from Washington D.C. He’s a professional I guess he doesn’t understand the hard ball game of politics, particularly democratic politics on Guam.”

PNC: “So you’re questioning the process in which Gary is advising his clients, the board of education?”

“For a lawyer to say… that the bill of particulars comes after. For lawyer to say they’re surprised at the actions of the board that he is supposed to be guiding … all I know is, see I’m not a lawyer but even a non-lawyer could see there was no transparency and there was no due process,” said the governor.

PNC: “That the board of education acted on his advice?”

“Where was the accuser? Where was the accused?”

At the end of the governor’s interview with NewsTalk K57 Mornings with Patti host Patti Arroyo, the governor mentioned Gumataotao and his assistant, Bernadette Meno, noting that they would be the ones to approach for a copy of the Fernandez investigation.

“All I know is all of these folks involved in this are or were members of the democratic party and I’ve seen democratic gubernatorial campaigns run in a very classless and mudslinging type of game plan. It’s how they moved on their campaigns. I see the same formula by the same cast of characters in this particular move on Jon Fernandez,” he said.

Asked about his thoughts on Senator Nerissa Underwood, who is the oversight chairperson on the public education committee, Calvo said: “I think [Senator] Nerissa’s in the middle of it. Obviously, it started with July and her displeasure on how the board was moving in regards to title IX violations and t would appear that senator Underwood has gotten what she wanted. She’s gotten the superintendent replaced.”

And then there’s this warning from the governor: “Hopefully as we peel this onion–because I’m not gonna let this go before or after the election, I’m gonna be governor for two more years–and people are gonna be held accountable for this.”Published in Guam News [/restrict]