Benjamin Joseph "BJ" Franquez Cruz (born March 3, 1951) is an Chamorro lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as the Speaker of the 34th Guam Legislature from 2017 to 2018 and as Vice Speaker from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the Guam Legislature from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2008 to 2018. He was Chief Justice of the Guam Supreme Court from 1999 to 2001. In September 2018, Cruz was elected to serve as Public Auditor of Guam. Early life and education He was born Benjamin Joseph Franquez Cruz on , in Guam, the second child and only son of Juan Quenga Cruz ("Tanaguan") and Antonia Cruz Franquez. His father, who had just been elected Commissioner (Mayor) of Piti, was killed by Marcelo "Mar" C. Biscoe in 1956 when Cruz was five years old. In 1960, while in Guam, Cruz's mother married Vicente Cruz Guerrero ("Tico"). They resettled the whole family in California in 1962.They returned to Guam intermittently, where Cruz attended grade school at St. Francis School in Yona. He went to St. John Bosco High School in California until 1968. His bachelor's degree political science and economics was obtained in 1972 from the Claremont Men's College, and his Juris Doctor in 1975 from the Santa Clara University School of Law. Career Upon graduation in 1975, Cruz returned to Guam to work as Consumer Counsel in the Attorney General's Office. Four months later, Governor of Guam Ricardo J. Bordallo, who had just begun his first term in office with Lieutenant Governor of Guam Rudy Sablan, asked Cruz to serve as the Governor's Legal Counsel, which he did for Bordallo's first term through January 1979. Between Bordallo's two gubernatorial terms, Cruz established a private practice and served as Minority Legal Counsel to the 15th and 16th Guam Legislatures. In 1983, Governor Bordallo was elected to his second term as Governor of Guam with Lt. Governor Edward Diego Reyes. Bordallo appointed Cruz to head the Washington, D.C., Liaison Office. There, he served as Liaison to the White House, the United States Congress, and the National Governors Association. In 1984, Bordallo appointed Cruz to be a Judge of the Superior Court of Guam. At 33, Cruz would be one of the youngest attorneys ever appointed to be a judge. His appointment was controversial, and several leaders of local Protestant churches testified against the