When Carl Tommy Cruz Gutierrez was elected Governor in 1994 alongside his running mate, Madeleine Z. Bordallo, it was the fulfillment of a personal 30-year dream.

He brought to the highest elected office of Guam his experience as a businessman and unrivaled achievements as a public servant. Governor Gutierrez and Lt. Governor Bordallo were re-elected to a second, four-year term in 1998. He retired in January 2003 after serving eight years as Governor of Guam, twenty years as senator and nine years as a government of Guam data processing manager.

Born on October 15, 1941 in AgaÒa Heights, Carl was the 4th of 11 children born to the late Tomas Taitano Gutierrez and the late Rita Benavente Cruz. As a young child during World War II, he endured the horrors of the Manenggon Concentration Camp, and alongside his mother and other captive Chamorros he was among those who were rescued by American soldiers during the liberation of Guam.

When Carl was just a boy his father died, and his mother had a difficult time raising such a large family by herself. When a friend offered to help Carl finish high school on the mainland, Rita Gutierrez scraped together every penny she could save and they took advantage of the opportunity. Immediately after graduating from high school in California, Carl enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. While serving his country, Carl married his “girl next door,” Geraldine Chance “Geri” Torres, on September 7, 1963 after a 6-month courtship. Carl and Geri are practicing Roman Catholics, involved in many church organizations and activities.

Following his tour in the Air Force, Carl entered into the business world, eventually forming CarlTom Construction Company. At the urging of his late sister Evelyn G. Ybarra, Carl became interested in the world of politics and assisted the late former Democratic Governor Ricardo J. “Ricky” Bordallo in one of his campaigns. Carl’s tireless and personable approach to campaigning made him many new friends, and eventually Ricky, Evelyn and others urged him to run for elected office. His political career began in 1972 when he was elected at large to the 12th Guam Legislature as a Democrat. He was selected to serve as chairman of the Committee on Housing and Urban Development in the first of what eventually became nine terms as a Senator. He created the Guam Youth Congress in his first term, stressing the importance of developing young leaders for our island.

His long history of public service also includes election as President of Guam’s first Constitutional Convention and employment as a Computer Data Processing Specialists at the Government of Guam’s Department of Administration. In 1977 by authorization of Federal Law and Local Law, Carl was elected to the First Constitutional Convention (authorized by federal law) and was elected by his colleagues to preside as President. A Constitution was drafted and approved by President Jimmy Carter and the U.S. Congress but was later not ratified by the Guamanians in 1979. In 1978, after a Republican majority had drawn districts for the island to ensure their continued dominance, Carl realized he had no chance to win a fourth term in a district with so many powerful Republicans, and that Democrats could not regain control of the Legislature. In order to keep his name in the public eye, and with full knowledge that he wouldn’t be successful, he ran for the office of Governor as an independent, with the late Dr. Joe Dizon as his running mate. As expected, Republicans maintained their control of the Legislature and the Gutierrez-Dizon ticket lost.

In 1980, Carl returned to the Legislature successfully unseating the incumbent Republican Senator in his district. Two years later, the courts threw out the senatorial districting plan for Guam, ruling that it violated the principle of “one man, one vote.” With the election switching from districting to at large, Carl and the Democrats regained the Legislature and he was elected Speaker of the Legislature by his colleagues for two terms. In 1986, Carl again threw his hat in the ring for Governor, challenging the incumbent Democrat, Ricky Bordallo, the party icon that had encouraged Carl to get into politics in the first place. The team of Gutierrez and Senator John P. Aguon were defeated by the incumbent team of Governor Bordallo and Lt. Governor Eddie Reyes in the primary election. Carl returned to the Legislature in 1988 and served three successive and successful terms before entering the gubernatorial sweepstakes once more. Of his nine total terms, he served three as Chairman of the powerful Committee on Ways and Means, and was twice elected by his colleagues to be Speaker of the Legislature. Other committee assignments included several terms as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Rules and the Committee on Tourism and Transportation. Carl wrote or co-sponsored 270 Public Laws during his 18 years as Senator.

In 1994 he teamed with Senator Madeleine Bordallo, who was Ricky’s widow, to run for the highest office once more. Using the theme “Helping the People of Guam,” they successfully portrayed their Republican opponents as conservatives who would cut programs and jobs without any concern for the people. Their wide margin of victory demonstrated that the public wanted leaders with a personal approach to solving the island’s problems.

Despite a super majority Republican Legislature that opposed virtually every executive initiative, the Gutierrez-Bordallo administration was successful in guiding the island through the rough waters of economic downturns throughout the region. In 1998 they were re-elected, but not without controversy, as the Republicans and the Guam Pacific Daily News with Publisher Lee Webber refused to admit defeat.

Although the Democratic team had a victory margin of over 3,000 votes, the Republicans challenged the results with a bogus list of names of voters who were supposedly not registered, and with a claim that blank ballots should be counted. After a long battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the loss by Republican challengers, former Governor Joseph F. Ada and then-Senator Felix P. Camacho, was embarrassingly affirmed ( 9-0 ). Ada/Camacho, Legislative Counsel Douglas Moylan, Guam Courts Administrator Anthony Sanchez, Attorney Curtis Van De Veldt were embarrassing rebuked by Judge Joaquin Manibusan and ordered Joseph Ada and Felix Camacho to pay all legal fees of Gutierrez.

During the second Gutierrez-Bordallo term Republicans continued to hold control of the Legislature, and their philosophy seemed to be “politics over progress” as they continued to block and thwart the administration’s initiatives and efforts. Carl’s credibility and integrity have been under constant attack by those who oppose him and his style of leadership. Beginning when he was still in office, efforts are continuing to this day to find him guilty of nonexistent crimes. He has never been found guilty of any crime.

Together with Senator and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Benjamin J.F. Cruz, he is seeking the island’s governorship in 2006.

Despite every threat and challenge, Carl has kept his head high and his sights on the future, surrounded by the love from Geri and their three children—Carla G. Stahl (Chris), Tommy and Hannah, and grandchildren Lily and Livia Stahl.

Gutierrez is a veteran of the United States Air Force. After a short career introducing data processing to the government of Guam, Gutierrez was elected Senator in 1972. He has served at total of 10 terms in the Guam Legislature and ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 1978(As an Independent with running mate Dr. Joe Dizon), and again in 1986 (As a Democrat with running mate Senator John P. Aguon. Gutierrez was defeated by Governor Ricardo J. Bordallo and Lieutenant Governor Edward D. Reyes in 1986. He won in the 1994 gubernatiorial election with his running Senator Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the popular caucasian widow of former Governor Ricardo J. Bordallo. Gutierrez-Bordallo defeated Republican Senators Tommy Tanaka and Doris Flores Brooks. Bordallo was elected in 2002 as Guam Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, and Brooks was elected Public Auditor in 2000.

He focused his work in the areas of infrastructure and economic development by aggressively completing 85% of his Vision 2001 plan by the end of his term in 1998.In the 1998 Gubernatorial election against former governor Joe Ada, there were widespread allegations of fraud alleged to have been committed by the Democrats. Allegations of dead people voting were numerous, leading to a challenge all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which overturned the District Court of Guam's decision to have a run-off election, thus ending the Republican challenge. It was recently revealed in a March 31, 2006 article in The Wall Street Journal that convicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff conspired with convicted DeLay staff members Michael Sanlon and Tony Rudy, to have Congressman Tom DeLay call for Federal Investigations into the Gutierrez Administration 1 week before the election to affect its outcome.

His second term in office was marked by political instability caused by the 1998 election challenges, a super majority Republican (12-3) Guam Legislature, an unsuccessfulk Recall Movement, and the destruction of the island's infrastructure by Supertyphoons Chata'an Paka and Pongsona. The tourism economy was also severely impacted by the crash of Korean Airlines flight 801 on August 6, 1997. During the rescue efforts, Carl was one of the first responders and the first to reach the burning plane along with Dep. Fire Chief Chuck Sanchez and his security police officer Cecil Sulla. Carl was credited with saving lives including an 11 year old girl Rika Matsuda and comforted an injured helicopter mechanic from New Zealand, Barry Small who during his interview by N.Z. media, called Governor Carl Gutierrez a "Hero." Carl was awarded by the head of the U.S. National Guard Bureau with the Eagle Award, the highest award given to a civilian. He was recognized by the governm,ents of the Republic of Korea and Japan.

After leaving office, he was indicted by Guam Attorney-General Douglas Moylan on numerous corruption charges. Nearly a dozen of his former cabinet officials have also been indicted by both the Federal as well as the local governments. Former official Austin S. Shelton has been in federal prison serving his sentence after being found guilty. In one of the corruption cases, email was uncovered between the Offices of the Public Auditor and Attorney General to alter the findings of an audit report to make a case to indict Gutierrez. Gutierrez has been charged over 150 times but has not been convicted of any crime.

His wife, Geri Gutierrez ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor but lost to Delegate Robert A. Underwood; who went on to lose to the Republican team of Senators Felix Camacho and Kaleo Moylan in 2002.

Gutierrez is running in the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary with Senator and former Chief Justice Benjamin Cruz against former Delegate Robert Underwood and Senator Frank Blas Aguon. Cruz retired as Chief Justice after serving 17 years on the bench including 9 years as Family Court Judge. Prior to his appointment to the Superior Court in 1984, Cruz served as Legal Counsel and Washington Office director for Governor Ricardo J. Bordallo. Many see this election with Carl Gutierrez difficult to predict because of the alleged corruption he left Guam to deal with. However,Gutierrez has popular support from Chamorro nationalists, Filipino immigrants, government retirees, and blue collar workers and is a very hard campaigner. Gutierrez formally filed his candidacy for Governor with Cruz on Thursday, June 29 and has received the endorsement of the President of the Mayor's Council of Guam, Republican Paul McDonald.

People from Guam | Governors of Guam