Rudy Sablan

Rudolph Guerrero Sablan (November 13, 1931 – July 24, 1995) was a Guamanian politician and member of the Democratic Party of Guam. Sablan served as the second lieutenant governor of Guam from January 6, 1975, to January 1, 1979, under Governor Ricardo Bordallo.

Biography Early life and education Sablan was born in Agana, Guam, which is now known as Hagåtña. He graduated from Father Dueñas Memorial School in 1950 as the valedictorian of his class.

Sablan was hired by a Navy Public Works Center after college before being drafted in the United States Army in 1956.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ricardo Bordallo chose Rudy Sablan as his running mate for Lt. Governor. The Bordallo-Sablan team won the 1974 Democratic primary election, defeating the three other candidates. Governor Carlos Camacho won the Republican nomination, beating the Calvo-Palomo ticket, but badly dividing Guam's Republican Party. The Republican split worked to the Democrat's advantage, allowing Bordallo to defeat Governor Camacho in the November gubernatorial election.

Governor Bordallo and Lt. Governor Rudy Sablan were sworn into office on January 6, 1975. Sablan became the second elected Lt. Governor in Guam's history. However, Bordallo and Sablan frequent, public spats and disagreements on policy issues plagued the Bordallo-Sablan administration throughout their four-year term. The political relationship between the Governor and Lt. Governor broke down by the 1978 general election. In 1978, Rudy Sablan ran against Governor Bordallo in the gubernatorial election. Sablan chose Jose L. "Joe" Leon Guerrero as his running mate for Lt. Governor, while Governor Bordallo replaced Sablan with Dr. Pedro C. Sanchez, a historian and educator, on his ticket. Governor Bordallo defeated Sablan in the 1978 Democratic primary, taking 34.2% while Sablan-Guerrero placed second with 25% of the vote. Ricardo Bordallo ultimately lost his re-election bid to Republican Paul McDonald Calvo in November 1978.

Four years later, Sablan once again announced his candidacy for Governor of Guam in the 1982 gubernatorial election. Sablan again picked his Joe Leon Guerrero, as his running mate for Lt. Governor (Sablan and Guerrero had also run on the same ticket in 1978). However, the Sablan-Guerrero lost a rematch in Democratic primary to Ricardo Bordallo and his new running mate, Edward Diego Reyes. Bordallo defeated Sablan by 35 percentage points in the Democratic primary to win the nomination. Bordallo, in a second political rematch from 1978, then beat Governor Paul McDonald Calvo in the November 1982 general election. (Calvo had previously ousted Bordallo from office in 1978).

Later career and life Governor Ricky Bordallo appointed Sablan as a member of Commission on Self-Determination, which oversaw the future relationship between Guam and the United States, from 1983 until 1987. Sablan remained a proponent the Guam Commonwealth Act, even after the end of the Bordallo-Reyes administration in 1987. In December 1989, Sablan testified in support of the Guam Commonwealth Act at the sole U.S. congressional hearing on the Act, which was held in Honolulu.

In 1983, Sablan was appointed Chairman of the board of directors of the Guam Airport Authority, a territorial government agency which operates the island's international airport (now known as Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport). Under Sablan, the airport's terminals and runways were modernized and expanded to encourage a growing tourism industry.

Sablan worked to reconcile the various, often infighting, factions of the Democratic Party of Guam by 1993. He endorsed the 1994 gubernatorial campaign of Governor Carl Gutierrez and Lt. Gov. Madeleine Bordallo and has been credited with helping the Gutierrez-Bordallo team win the 1994 general election.

Sablan became an integral advisor to the new Gutierrez administration. Governor Carl Gutierrez appointed Sablan to the Commission on Self-Determination from 1994 until his death in 1995. (Sablan had previously served on the commission from 1983 to 1987 under Governor Ricky Bordallo). In 1994 and 1995, Gutierrez appointed Sablan as part of a team who represented Guam at the Base Reuse and Realignment Commission hearings in San Francisco, California.

Sablan died on July 24, 1995 (equivalent to the early morning of July 25, Guam time) at the age of 63.