Ricardo Bordallo

He was the son of Baltazar Jeronimo "BJ" Bordallo (August 8, 1900 – May 10, 1984), a businessman, and Josefina Torres Pangelinan (December 18, 1904 – December 2, 1945).

Ricardo Jerome "Ricky" Bordallo (December 11, 1927 – January 31, 1990) was an American politician and businessman, who served two terms as the 2nd and 4th Governor of Guam with Lieutenant Governor Rudy Sablan from 1975 to 1979, and with Lieutenant Governor Edward Diego Reyes from 1983 to 1987.

Bordallo was born on December 11, 1927 in Hagåtña, Guam.

BJ Bordallo was a popular politician from the 1930s to 1950s.

Ricardo Bordallo was the first child of a family including his brother Paul Joseph Bordallo (1930–2007), who was a former senator.

Ricardo Bordallo attended the University of San Francisco before returning to Guam and becoming a successful businessman and car dealer.

Among other positions, he was the proprietor of "Ricky's Suburban Club," a restaurant and bar in Tamuning, Guam.

Bordallo also established "Ricky's Auto Company" in the mid 1950s which became Toyota's first American car dealer.

Bordallo was married to Madeleine Zeien Bordallo in 1953; together they have one daughter Deborah, and one grandchild, Nicole Nelson.

Bordallo was first elected to the Guam Legislature in 1956 as a member of the Popular Party (predecessor to the Democratic Party of Guam).

A member of the Democratic Party of Guam, Bordallo previously served as a Senator in the Guam Legislature from 1957 to 1971.

Bordallo served in the territorial legislature from 1957 to 1970 and twice served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Guam.

As a senator, he introduced the law that first created an unofficial Guam delegate to the U.S. Congress.

Bordallo first ran for governor in the 1970 election, which was the first election in which the people of Guam were allowed to elect their governor.

He ran with Senator Richard "Dick" Taitano against two other former gubernatorial teams: Former governor Manuel Guerrero and his running mate Dr. Antonio C. (Tony) Yamashita, as well as attorney and former speaker Joaquin C. "Kin" Arriola and retired judge and former senator Vicente Bamba.

Bordallo-Taitano came in first in the primary election by a close margin over Guerrero-Yamashita and then won the run-off election.

However, due to the contentious Democratic campaign, Bordallo-Taitano lost in the general election to the Republican team of incumbents Carlos G. Camacho and Kurt S. Moylan.

The election was significant for Bordallo, however, as he and Dick Taitano created Guam's first "grassroots" political organization throughout the villages.

Bordallo's wife, Madeleine, also proved to be a passionate and untiring campaigner and helped draw many supporters to the organization.

Dick Taitano was the manager of the Bordallo-Sablan campaign and broadened the organization he had set up in 1970.

This organization proved decisive, and Bordallo-Sablan easily beat the other Democratic teams.

The Bordallo-Sablan team then went on to beat the Camacho-Moylan team, which had just barely beat the Republican rival team of Paul Calvo and Antonio Palomo in the primary.

Calvo ran as a write-in candidate in the general election, drawing support from Camacho-Moylan, and Bordallo-Sablan won by less than 600 of the 22,000-plus votes.

This organization and base of supporters would prove valuable when Bordallo ran again in the 1974 election.

Madeleine Bordallo was most known for her humanitarian pursuits.

She sponsored many civil cultural events including the Guam Symphony and a program for instructing children in the Suzuki method of violin.

Bordallo ran for governor for a second time in 1974, this time with Rudolph "Rudy" Guerrero Sablan.

They were up against four other Democratic tickets: Manuel Guerrero and running mate David D.L. Flores; Pedro C. Sanchez and Esteban U. Torres; and Joaquin C. "Kin" Arriola and Theodore "Ted" Nelson.

Bordallo's first term in office, from 1975 to 1979, was contentious.

He was characterized as highly charismatic but highly controversial.

Someone wasn't afraid to speak his mind on any issue.

During this time the issue of independence, statehood, commonwealth status or continuation as a U.S. territory was put to the voters.

Senator Paul Bordallo, his brother, favored independence.

The voters elected to keep the status quo as a dependent territory.

Bordallo was successful in securing $367 million for typhoon reconstruction, capital improvement project and Government of Guam investments.

A new was secured at the Guam Memorial Hospital.

In 1978, Bordallo ran for re-election with a former University of Guam president Dr. Pedro C. Sanchez as his running mate for lieutenant governor.

Lieutenant Governor Sablan declared his candidacy for the gubernatorial election and was a candidate in the September 1978 Democratic primary, along with his running mate for Lt. Governor was Attorney Jose Iglesias Leon Guerrero.

Bordallo won the Democratic primary and defeated the Sablan-Leon Guerrero campaign with more votes.

Bordallo's widow was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1990, and served as Lieutenant Governor of Guam from 1995 to 2003, and as the island's Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from 2003 until losing renomination in the 2018 election.