The Puerto Rico Governor Started 3 Days Ago. But His Future Is Already in Doubt.
SAN JUAN, P.R. — Moments after being sworn in as Puerto Rico’s new governor, Pedro R. Pierluisi pledged in no uncertain terms that he would willingly step down in the coming days if the island’s Senate voted against confirming him — even if that made him one of the shortest-serving governors ever to take office.
“I have to admit that that could happen,” Mr. Pierluisi said with a chuckle. “But that’s the situation.”
That was on Friday. By Sunday afternoon, Mr. Pierluisi had appeared to reverse himself, arguing that the Senate had no say and that the courts would settle the issue. Then a few hours later, he was sued.
Puerto Rico remained on Monday where it has been for weeks: in a state of protracted political paralysis that appears not to have been resolved by the installation of Mr. Pierluisi, who took over after former Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló’s resignation became effective on Friday.
Mr. Pierluisi’s fate now lies in the hands of the commonwealth’s Supreme Court, which on Monday took up an emergency legal action filed against his appointment. It is unclear how long the court will take to issue a ruling.
The Puerto Rico Senate met in a special session on Monday but did not to vote either to support or to censure Mr. Pierluisi’s installation, leaving the final decision to the high court.
Public furor fueled huge demonstrations against Mr. Rosselló after leaked private messages showed him and his closest aides insulting Puerto Ricans. Questions over Mr. Pierluisi’s legitimacy as governor left open the possibility that protesters would again take to the streets, if they see his installation as evidence of the unpopular political establishment unconstitutionally attempting to perpetuate itself in power.
“This isn’t about whether Mr. Pierluisi is a good candidate, as some people have argued,” said Julio E. Fontanet Maldonado, a constitutional scholar and the dean of the law school at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. “It’s about defending the rule of law.”
The Senate president, Thomas Rivera Schatz, asked the high court in San Juan, the capital, to grant a preliminary injunction ordering Mr. Pierluisi to cease functions as governor because he had not previously been confirmed as secretary of state by both chambers of the Legislative Assembly. The court asked for written arguments by noon on Tuesday.
The secretary of state is next in line to succeed the governor. The House of Representatives confirmed Mr. Pierluisi as secretary of state on Friday, but the Senate did not hold a hearing. Even in the case of the House vote, new questions arose on Monday as to whether Mr. Pierluisi had submitted all the required paperwork before the vote. The Senate said Mr. Pierluisi had not turned in any paperwork.
“Puerto Rico is living a situation without historical precedent,” wrote Mr. Rivera Schatz, who leads the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, which Mr. Pierluisi and Mr. Rosselló also represent.
Representative Jenniffer González-Colón, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting resident commissioner in Congress, who criticized Mr. Pierluisi’s installation last week, said Puerto Rico’s credibility in Washington was at stake while the island’s leadership remained unsettled. The Trump administration has delayed sending $8.3 billion in disaster prevention funds for the island, pending stricter oversight controls.
“This has to be resolved well — it cannot be resolved with any legal subterfuge,” Ms. González-Colón told reporters at the Capitol in San Juan.
Originally, the Senate had scheduled a confirmation hearing for Mr. Pierluisi for Monday morning. But Mr. Pierluisi said that as governor, he could no longer be subject to confirmation as secretary of state. The hearing was canceled.
Mr. Pierluisi had argued on Friday that the Senate could “ratify” him as governor. But no legal framework for such a vote exists in Puerto Rican law.
Still, the Senate met on Monday afternoon. And in spite of his earlier waffling, Mr. Pierluisi said that he would abide by any Senate action.
But the Senate ultimately did not vote. Instead, lawmakers took turns on the floor decrying the confusing state of affairs.
Opposition leaders blamed Puerto Rico’s predicament on Mr. Rosselló, for failing to appoint a secretary of state until two days before he left office; on Mr. Rivera Schatz, for failing to hold a confirmation hearing last week; and on Mr. Pierluisi, for failing to clearly define a constitutional path forward before taking the oath, even though he is a lawyer.
“We are in the darkest moment because, due to personal whims for power, one person did not submit himself to the constitutional order,” said Senator Juan Dalmau RamÃrez of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.
Mr. Rivera Schatz said Mr. Pierluisi would not have received enough votes to be confirmed in any case.
“That is a fact,” he said. “His swearing-in is null. He is acting illegally as governor. It is my duty to take him to court.”
Mr. Pierluisi said after the end of the Senate session that he would await the high court’s decision, “trusting that the best for Puerto Rico will prevail.”
Mr. Pierluisi, 60, who served as resident commissioner in Washington for eight years, has drawn criticism from lawmakers over conflicts of interest. Since leaving public office, he has worked for a law firm hired by the unpopular federal oversight board that controls Puerto Rico’s bankrupt finances. He also lobbied on behalf of a coal-power utility accused of dumping toxic ash in southern Puerto Rico.
A second lawsuit against Mr. Pierluisi was filed on Monday by Mayor Carmen YulÃn Cruz of San Juan, who asked the Supreme Court to declare Mr. Pierluisi’s swearing-in illegitimate. Ms. Cruz is a 2020 candidate for governor for the opposition Popular Democratic Party, which supports keeping Puerto Rico a United States commonwealth.
Ms. Cruz told reporters over the weekend that while she does not support the next New Progressive official in line to be governor — Wanda Vázquez, the secretary of justice — the court must clarify existing law over the constitutional succession.
Outside the Supreme Court on Monday, Frank Torres Viada, a lawyer for the city of San Juan, described the island as being in the middle of a “judicial vacuum.”
“Right now, Puerto Ricans are in a state of uncertainty, unrest and restlessness of spirit,” he said, “because we don’t really know who is governor of Puerto Rico.”
Post a Comment