Baptism By Fire

Your island has been flattened by a supertyphoon, the economy is worse than bad, investment has dried up, tourism has collapsed, and government workers have to be laid off by the hundreds, perhaps the thousands. And you want to be governor of Guam?

For Gov. Felix Camacho the answer is more than just an unequivocal "yes."

"I've never doubted my decision," he told Pacific Magazine recently. "I have no regrets. I'm firm in my belief that God puts us in a certain place at a certain time. I'm here to lead our island and our people out of the abyss that we're in. This is my calling."

Camacho, 45, carries a sense of destiny-which includes a mix of strongly held religious beliefs, family honor and personal responsibility-in everything that he does. He is an intriguing combination of old and new influences: His father, Dr. Carlos Camacho, was Guam's last appointed governor (under the Nixon administration) and then the first elected governor for the U.S. territory. It was the first Gov. Camacho, who with his wife Lourdes, laid the foundation for Felix's firm convictions. (Both Camachos are Republicans.)

Public Persona Felix Camacho has a quiet style in public. At the renaming of a road in honor of Guam’s Vietnam War veterans, above left, Camacho and his wife, Joann (standing to the right of the governor) helped cut the ribbon that opened the road. Before the program, Camacho, above, spoke with a veteran.

But the current Gov. Camacho is also the first Guam chief executive to be born after World War II, a product of the upheaval and change of the 1960s and 1970s. A devout Roman Catholic, he frequently consults the Bible that sits at a corner of his desk, prays before tough decisions and is unabashed about his religious underpinnings. But he doesn't push it on others. "It may offend some, shock others so I try to be as discreet as possible," he says. "It's a personal thing."

When asked about his leadership style, he replies without a pause: "Mine is based on the greatest who ever lived-Jesus Christ. Every answer you seek can be found in the Good Book."

In a small island environment, where literally everyone knows you and what you are doing 24 hours a day, reputation is paramount. For Felix Camacho, a childhood incident on Guam remains firmly implanted in his memory, guiding his thinking even today.

Camacho recounts a story involving his older brother Carlos and a group of friends. They were hiking into the hills, and as they passed by a car parked along the way, one of the kids pulled off a hubcap and put a rock inside. It caused a slow leak to the brakes. The car's owner later learned who was responsible for the damage.

"Because of my father's stature, they pinpointed my brother, even though he didn't do it," Camacho says. "Word got to my grandfather (Felix Martinez Camacho). He pulled all of us grandkids together and explained what had happened. He said, 'I've worked very hard all my life to make sure the family's reputation and integrity remains intact and before me, my father and his generation. Now your father's governor and everyone has their eyes on you.

"'Remember, our family is held in esteem. All it takes is one act to destroy all that those generations before you have done. Be mindful of all the sacrifices that I and my father before me have made. Do everything to uphold the honor of our family.'

"I was 10 or 11 years old," the governor remembers. "It struck me and gave me a glimpse of my father's upbringing."

Man Of Faith Camacho is a devout Roman Catholic, and incorporates prayer into his daily life. At a Father’s Day service at his parish church, Saint Anthony’s, the priest asked family members to place their hands on the fathers present and pray for them. Mrs. Joann Camacho, son, Felix “Champ,”and grandson Colin James prayed for the governor.

Camacho may be image conscious from his upbringing, but it's tempered by his need to do what he believes is the "right thing." If the right thing happens to be taking out a surgeon's knife to cut the pay of government workers by 20 percent, raise taxes, move to privatize services, reduce the workforce and contract from 52 government agencies to just 12, he's resolute about doing it, despite criticism that's developed and personal consequences.

"This decision is politically suicidal to everyone else," he acknowledges. "But change must occur."

While it might be easy to dismiss Camacho as a governor with values who can't close the deal politically, that would be wrong. He's clearly a pragmatist and isn't afraid of a fight-an attitude that seems to have developed at a surprisingly early age. Describing a sophisticated how-to-stay-out-of-trouble "policy," he recounts starting the second grade and asking around to find out who was the toughest kid in the class. After identifying the tough guy, Camacho called him outside and got into a fight, after which, he says, "no one ever bothered me after that. You establish your ground and they respect you for that."

He saw himself during his teen years as looking out for the underdog, and while he'd stand up for student friends who were being bullied around, "I could always reach across the line and hang with the rough guys," he says. This is an example of the equilibrium that he constantly refers to as essential for his life. "I have to find balance in everything I do," he says.

Growing up, Camacho was a jock, and played baseball, soccer, basketball and volleyball in high school. "I like sports because of the organization and teamwork, and I love to compete," he says.

He describes his early years as a perfect childhood: Supportive parents, a tight-knit family, dinners with parents and siblings at home, education in Roman Catholic schools.

"But that all changed when my father became governor," he says. "Our happy life changed to one of political notoriety. We lived in a fishbowl. I remember being at Government House for a formal dinner. It was so uncomfortable and foreign to all of us."

Weekend Warrior Camacho is an avid athlete, usually finding time to get in a round of golf on the weekends. He is a low handicap player, shooting in the low 80s when he’s got his A-game.

Like it or not, his father made clear the new ground rules for his family. "He told us we're under the spotlight and we have to behave in a certain manner," Camacho recalls. "He laid down the rules. It was important we maintain our family's integrity."

Camacho is the only one of his six brothers and sisters to follow his father into politics, and that decision wasn't reached until he'd worked in the private sector through most of the 1980s. Beginning in 1988, he obtained hands-on management experience in the government, first as deputy director of the Public Utility Agency, and then as executive director of the Civil Service Commission.

In the early 1990s, he was offered a fast track management position with IBM Corp. if he moved to the U.S. mainland. It was a fork in the road for the then-35 year old Guamanian.

"At that point, I sat down and mapped out my life and decided to get into politics," he says, adding that he wrote out his goals and objectives for a political career. "My goal was to run for senator and eventually become governor of Guam."

He was elected to the Guam Legislature in 1992, a post he retained through four successive elections. "I figured after 10 years in the Legislature, it was time to move on."

But his decision to run for governor wasn't taken without some soul searching and advice from his mother, a veteran of Guam's political wars. Before making the decision, "I sought her advice," he says. "Her concern was that public life is not easy. The challenge can eat away at you. There's always criticism no matter how well you do."

He's learned that lesson first hand since he took office in January. Camacho's been criticized for a lot of things since he came into office, including for not being as outgoing as his predecessor Carl T.C. Gutierrez. "In these troubled times, you need a captain at the helm who's steady, unmoved by how great the challenges are," he says. "My strength is I have a good relationship with the Lord. He's my guide and keeps me steady to do what's right for the people."

His administration got off to a slow start, in part because of the combination of fallout from Supertyphoon Pongsona and a difficult transition from the previous administration, but also because of an inexperienced staff. In his first year of office, for example, he hasn't appointed a chief of staff-a deficiency he says will be corrected early in 2004.

Father Figure When Camacho’s youngest daughter, Maria, is out of school, she sometimes accompanies him on appointments.

In his first six months in office, Camacho took a beating from the Guam news media-so much so that he became increasingly reluctant to engage on a regular basis with reporters. While Guam media are highly critical of political leaders, and took on Camacho's administration immediately, the poor profile that Camacho initially received in the media can at least in part be attributed to the inexperienced handling on the part of his administration.

By June, however, Camacho had shifted gears and was taking a direct approach to the press, a move that appeared to be allowing his administration to project its plans more effectively.

Discussions with Camacho invariably return to his faith in God, whether it's having the strength to survive a political attack in Guam's cutthroat political environment or making a controversial decision to reduce the government workweek to 32 hours.

He's also clearly conflicted about the burdens that his political prominence creates for his children, but has the advantage of experience of growing up with his father as governor more than 30 years ago. "Life throws so many things at you," he says talking about his three children. "How you handle it is dependent on you."

Family Man The close-knit Camacho clan often gathers at their mother’s home in Tamuning. From left to right, brothers Thomas, Carlos, Felix and Francis like to barbecue and joke around.

As parents, he said, he and his wife Joann support and love their children no matter what. "We protect them as best we can to make life as normal as possible," he says, while acknowledging that it's next to impossible given his position. "This is just a moment in life. There's always good and bad. But make the best of it."

Camacho says that he tells his children that they "must take responsibility for their actions and not blame others. Whatever happens in your life, take responsibility. It's easy to blame others for all your misfortunes."

But he looks to the positive side of difficulties, saying that from conflict comes resolution. "Time heals, but how you learn and adjust from mistakes is what counts. Learn and move on." His message to his family is to be humble, stay strong and remember that "nothing will break us."

His focus on his family is readily passed onto his staff, who say that the governor frequently admonishes them not to get so focused on work that they forget their families. Camacho will often tell staff to take the weekend off to spend time with their spouses and kids.

Camacho knows he's confronted with a crisis faced by no other Guam governor and is taking steps that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago.

"I'm here to bring about changes that will lay the foundation for future growth," he says. "We're in the midst of a change that has never been seen before." But he is absolutely certain that the crises brought by natural and economic disasters will pass.

"We have to change fundamentals in how we run our government so in the long run, we move forward," he says. GovGuam requires revenues of $1.4 million every day to pay for its operation. But in June, the government reported it was generating only $800,000 a day-while some estimates placed revenues as low as $600,000. GovGuam is looking at a cash deficit of $250 million on Sept. 30. Camacho says his agenda is to bring a halt to "runaway government."

Camacho asked this group of youngsters at the Agana public library if they’d ever seen a “jumping muscle.” When they said no, he flexed for them.

If Camacho comes close to remaking GovGuam in his image, it will be one of the most remarkable political success stories in the Western Pacific. At this moment, he has precious few allies in his corner. But that doesn't seem to bother the governor, whose religious faith and family focus remain his steel core. Indeed, at a time when the challenges on Guam appear overwhelming, Felix Camacho actually seems to relish the challenge.

"Heroes are not made during times of peace, but during times of war," the governor says with quiet conviction. "I'm at war. This island is at war. We're fighting for our lives. We've got to go to war and make changes."

He also believes most Guam voters are fed up with politics as usual, and are desperate for a new vision for the future. "Never before have we had this chance for change, have we had people so willing to accept that change must be made," he says.

For Felix Camacho, early into the first year of his four-year term, there's little talk about the political consequences of trying to implement drastic change. "The biggest failure would be not to try," he says. And ever the optimist, an optimism based on a faith symbolized by the large Bible on his desk, Camacho adds, "we'll be successful. I don't have all the answers, but I'm very confident we will turn Guam around."