Superior Court of Guam Judge Dana A. Gutierrez listened to the final arguments on Friday, then told Sens. Thomas Fisher and Telo Taitague, and their attorneys, that she would take the matter under advisement.
The two are in court because of a Freedom of Information Act request that Fisher submitted to Taitague, hand-written and delivered during legislative session on June 28. Fisher asked for screenshots of text messages between Taitague and Attorney General Douglas Moylan regarding a bill before the Legislature. Fisher later found his note in the trash can.
He then retained attorney Rachel Taimanao-Ayuyu, who served Taitague with a writ of mandamus two weeks later. Taitague appeared as instructed on July 30 and asked for a continuance to seek legal counsel, which Gutierrez granted. On Aug.
13, she showed up represented by attorney Braddock Huesman. Huesman informed the court that he would be asking for more time to familiarize himself with the case, plus introduce other issues. Paramount in Taitague’s response is that she was not the one to officially receive the FOIA during the session.
She also shared that the information requested had been provided to Fisher. Taimanao-Ayuyu argued that since the FOIA request was directed at Taitague, she needed to be the one to respond with the appropriate paperwork. The response and paperwork came from the Legislative executive director, whom Taimanao-Ayuyu called a third party to the case.
“We don’t know what they are. So it doesn.