After a long fought campaign by President Barack Obama, Democratic members, Senator Matt Rector, Guam and families are on the verge of becoming a part of historic healthcare reform, but like their counterparts across the Nation, at least one of Guam’s for-profit health insurance companies, Calvo’s SelectCare, is fighting back.
Calvo’s SelectCare, which profits millions of dollars from Guam’s families, has made it quite clear that they oppose National Health reform and Guam’s inclusion in it. Their corporate officers travelled to Washington DC to lobby against it, in hopes of persuading Congressional leaders from backing health reform legislation. However, Senator Matt Rector has championed the fight for quality healthcare and healthcare reform well before he was elected into office. In recent trips to Washington, DC, his purpose was to gain support for healthcare reform legislation. While there, he met with Congressmen, Senators and White house staff in efforts to ensure Guam’s families are treated like every American family and included in the New National Health plan. Unfortunately, while Guam’s families appreciate those efforts, the people that profit from status quo and from denying medical treatment, don’t.
Calvo’s Corporation, which also owns Payless Supermarkets, Mid Pac distributions, a hotel and a number of other companies employ thousands of workers. Its owners, the Calvo’s, stand to lose thousands of dollars in profits if Senator Rector’s bills pass, like: The Working Family Health Leave Act,which provides paid sick leave for private sector employees, the Democracy for All Act ,which provides 4 hrs of paid democracy leave every month, the Living Wage for Guam’s Families Act,which requires any company that receives tax breaks from or does business with GovGuam to pay their employees at least $13.40 per hour, or the Angel LG Santos Memorial Water for the People Act which puts water and sewer infrastructure on Chamorro Land trust land and makes corporate accounts and golf courses pay for it. Senator Rector says, “It’s no secret that there has been a concerted effort to discredit me, soil my image and do everything possible to stop my efforts to improve the quality of life for Guam’s working families and that includes threatening my life. Over the last couple of months I have received threatening phone calls that have gotten so persistent that last week I applied for a concealed weapon permit.”
History has shown that time and time again progressive leaders who have fought against the rich and powerful and the tyranny of corporate power have been attacked and assassinated. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, John and Bobby Kennedy, Malcom X, Huey Long and even our very own Senator Angel Santos have all met their untimely death for standing up for Working Families.
Senator Rector continues, “Winning a better life for Guam’s Families has become my foremost mission in life and I can’t get it done if I am dead so I thought that it was important that I have the means to protect myself and the people around me. When I applied for a concealed weapon permit I had forgotten that I had a misdemeanor conviction 26 years ago.”
Somehow Calvo’s corporation’s media arm, KUAM, got their hands on confidential information before Senator Rector was even informed that the FBI report came back saying that there was a Burglary conviction in 1983, but what the report didn’t say was that it was a misdemeanor conviction which doesn’t prohibit the issuance of a gun permit.
Senator Rector says, “I’ll admit that my friends and I came home on Christmas break had a few drinks at my house and walked over to the mall behind my house and climbed on the roof. Unfortunately, there was a door open and we stupidly opened it and went in. After a couple of minutes we decided that it was a pretty stupid thing to do but once we climbed off the roof the police were already there and we were arrested. We eventually pled guilty to misdemeanor burglary got informal probation and a few hours of community service. Was it a stupid thing to do? Yes, of course! Did I lie on my application for a gun license? No I don’t believe so. It was my understanding that my record was automatically sealed if I kept my nose clean, but I have since learned that I should get the record expunged which is already in the works.”
As always Senator Rector is a champion for truth, justice and a decent standard of living for all of Guam’s families not just the wealthy few and this shameful attack full of lies and deceit will not go unnoticed by the rest of Guam’s families.
