Cover Story
Run, Geri, Run
First Lady Geri Gutierrez May Be Guam's Next Governor.
“My initial reaction to running for governor was ‘absolutely not,’ says Geri Gutierrez, best known as First Lady to Governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez. As large billboards and bumper stickers emblazoned with nothing more than “Geri” began appearing around Guam in early 2001, she was resistant. She recalls an elderly woman coming up to her earlier in the year and asking if she was going to run. “I told her ‘no’ I wasn’t,” Geri says. “She got very upset. ‘I always listen to you,’ she said, ‘and now you’re not going to listen to me?’”
Governor Gutierrez bristles at the suggestion that his wife, if elected, would merely be a front for him. She comments that her husband has always encouraged her to be her own person, from heading official delegations to working with community groups. For example, working with the group People Helping People, she’s helped raised more than $1 million that has gone for charitable causes.
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In contrast to his testy relations with the media, Carl Gutierrez thinks Geri will do well. “She believes she can bring peace to the community,” he says.
Once Geri’s mind was made up, she began organizing her campaign early this year — well before any other candidates. Her early start coupled with her grassroots appeal should make her a formidable candidate in the 2002 election.
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She’s expected to face Guam’s current congressional delegate, Robert Underwood, in a tough primary battle. If she survives that test, and there are many who give Underwood the odds, Geri is expected to face former Republican Gov. Joe Ada in the primary. Ada, now a member of the Legislature, has been a vocal critic of Governor Gutierrez, the husband, that is.
