Håfa Adai & Welcome

2007 has been a good year for Guam; in truth, it has been a great year for our island! As the year closes, it is important that we take time in our busy lives to recall and to count our many blessings. Indeed, we have much to be thankful for in the present, and we have an even more extraordinary future ahead of us.

Before I go any further, I think it is important that we all take time to wish our best and a safe return to the sons and daughters of Guam serving overseas and bravely defending the freedoms we now enjoy.

As one of your senators, it has been one of my greatest pleasures and honors to serve you. It is no small challenge to take something wonderful and beautiful and then to make it even more so, but that is precisely what a senator is elected to do.

As Senators, we don't simply preserve our island and maintain the status quo; we seek to improve the place where we live, the place we call our home, and thereby improve the quality of life of the people who have made it their home. I take my duties and office very seriously, but more importantly, I love what I do. I love our island and our people, and I take immeasurable satisfaction in making our island home a happier and healthier place, a place where we enjoy continued prosperity and a strong sense of community.

But while our island is beautiful and a truly wonderful place to live, we must work hard to keep it so. In 2008, I will worker harder than ever to keep our island beautiful and our people contented. I will work to keep our government honest and to ensure that our government keeps its commitment to meeting the needs of the people it serves. To this end I will be working in three vital domains: land, sea, and air. On the ground, I will continue to advocate safe, reliable, and affordable electricity; additionally, I will seek to keep ALL government services offered to our people at reasonable costs and accordingly seek to repeal the numerous inappropriate fee increases (excepting the driver's license fee) that have been unfairly mandated recently. In the air, I will continue my commitment to Open Skies and keeping transit to and from our island a possibility for everyone. And at sea, I will work to ensure that our port takes appropriate measures to accommodate the upcoming military buildup and that the port authority is provided with necessary resources to do so.

2008 is a new year that brings with it new opportunities and new promise. I look forward to working with you this year to increase the happiness and vitality of our people and to preserve the beauty and prosperity of our island home's lands, seas, and skies. On behalf of my office and my family, I wish all of us here on Guam and throughout the world a very happy new year!