Madeleine Bordallo

Madeleine Z. Bordallo
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Guam's At-large district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Robert Underwood
Lieutenant Governor of Guam
In office January 2, 1995 – January 3, 2003
Governor	Carl Gutierrez
Preceded by	Frank Blas
Succeeded by	Kaleo Moylan
Senator in the Guam Legislature
In office Five Terms – 16th, 19th, 20th, 21st, & 22nd Guam Legislatures
Personal details
Born	Madeleine Mary Zeien (1933-05-31) May 31, 1933 Graceville, Minnesota, U.S.
Political party	Democratic Party of Guam
Spouse(s)	Ricardo Bordallo (1953–1990) (his death)
Children	1
Alma mater	St. Mary's College, Indiana St. Catherine University
Religion	Roman Catholic

Madeleine Mary Zeien Bordallo (born May 31, 1933) is the Delegate from the United States territory of Guam to the United States House of Representatives.

She is the first woman ever to serve as Guam's Delegate, the first female Lieutenant Governor of Guam (from 1995 to 2003), the first female candidate for Governor of Guam (in 1990), and the first female Democrat elected to the Legislature of Guam. Her 1990 campaign also made her the first non-Chamorro gubernatorial candidate in Guam.^[1] As the wife of Ricky Bordallo, she was also the First Lady of Guam from 1975 to 1978 and 1983 to 1986.

Biography

Madeleine Mary Zeien was born in Graceville, Minnesota to a family of educators who moved to Guam after her father took a job with the Guam Department of Education. She attended St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana and the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota where she studied music.^[2] In the 1950s and 1960s, Bordallo was a television presenter for KUAM-TV, the NBC affiliate that was the first television station on Guam.

Bordallo was married to Ricardo Bordallo, who served as Governor of Guam from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1987. While serving as first lady, she worked to emphasize the arts in the classroom and to increase awareness of the local Chamorro culture. Bordallo's husband, the former Governor, committed suicide in 1989 when his appeals were unsuccessful and convictions of witness tampering and conspiracy to obstruct justice would require incarceration in federal prison. Bordallo was the first woman Democrat to be elected to the Guam Legislature, and served five terms as a senator from 1981 to 1982 and again from 1986 to 1994. During the 1988 U.S. presidential election, Bordallo was a member of Guam's uncommitted delegation to the 1988 Democratic National Convention.^[3]

Bordallo and Carl T.C. Gutierrez

Mrs. Bordallo was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Guam in 1990, following the death of her husband. Ping Duenas ran as Bordallo's running mate for lieutenant governor in the 1990 gubernatorial election.^[4][5]

In 1994, she ran alongside Carl T.C. Gutierrez on the Democratic ticket and was elected Lieutenant Governor of Guam, serving from 1995 to 2002, the first woman in Guam's history to hold this position. In this role, she worked to promote tourism, environmentalism, and island beautification.

In 2002, as Bordallo reached her term limit and as Delegate Robert Underwood vacated his seat and attempted to run for governor, she campaigned for and was elected as a Democrat to the House, serving from January 2003 to the present, and is the first woman to represent Guam in Congress. She is one of six non-voting delegates to the House of Representatives. While in Congress, she has devoted herself to economic issues and has helped to pass legislation that aids small businesses on Guam. She has also been involved in military and environmental issues.

In April 2008, Bordallo apologized after an investigative report by the Pacific Daily News revealed that she and Senator Jesse Lujan both claimed to have degrees on their official biographies and resumes when they had not graduated from college.^[6]

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Readiness (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Vice Chair)
• Congressional China Caucus (Co-Chair)
• International Conservation Caucus
• Long Range Strike Caucus
• United States-Philippines Friendship Caucus
• Wounded to Work Caucus

Legislation

Bordallo objected to amendments the United States Senate made to the Omnibus Territories Act of 2013 (S. 1237; 113th Congress). Originally, the bill would have included the provisions to create a fund in the U.S. treasury to pay reparation claims to "living Guam residents who were raped, injured, interned, or subjected to forced labor or marches, or internment resulting from, or incident to, such occupation and subsequent liberation; and (2) survivors of compensable residents who died in war."^[7] This provision, however, was removed from the bill. Bordallo was "extremely disappointed" by this change and said that she was "committed to continuing our fight for war claims for our manamko despite all the obstacles the conservative Republicans continue to raise."^[8] The changes were made so that the bill could pass by unanimous consent.^[8]

Elections

In January 2012, Republican Guam Senator Frank Blas Jr. announced he will challenge Bordallo in the upcoming November election for her delegate seat.^[9][10] Bordallo defeated Blas in the November general election. She received 19,765 votes (58%) to his 12,995 votes (38%)^[11]

In May 2012, Yale graduate and former White House intern Karlo Dizon, Democrat, also announced his bid as delegate to Congress.^[12] Bordallo defeated Dizon in the primary election, with 73% of the vote.^[13]

By this year 2014 she is running for delegate alongside with Matthew Pascual Artero for the primary election. Bordallo defeated Artero in the primary election on August 30, 2014. In this years election, Republican running candidate Margaret McDonald Metcalfe announced she will challenge Bordallo in the upcoming November election for her delegate seat.

Public service

References

External links

• Madeleine Bordallo at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Congressional Website

Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from Guam Won Pat Blaz Underwood Bordallo

Lieutenant Governors of Guam Kurt Moylan Rudolph Sablan Joseph Franklin Ada Edward Diego Reyes Frank Blas Madeleine Bordallo Kaleo Moylan Michael Cruz Ray Tenorio