Domenech insists he has no links to, does not intervene with Politank contracts.

La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech Fernández

By THE STAR STAFF

La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech Fernández told the island Senate’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday that he has implemented formal measures to avoid any involvement in government matters related to Politank, the firm he co‑founded and later sold but acknowledged the process is not in written form.

Domenech delivered an extensive and frequently contentious testimony before the committee, defending his management practices, his recusal from all matters involving his former firm Politank, and the administration’s handling of delayed public projects, while simultaneously confronting allegations raised the same day by former Health Secretary Carlos Mellado López regarding pressure to reverse a major health‑information‑exchange contract.

Before entering the Senate chamber, Domenech delivered public remarks emphasizing the defense of democratic institutions and constitutional rights. He argued that neither dissenting citizens nor political opponents should ever be persecuted for their freedom of expression, invoking both the Puerto Rico and United States Constitutions. He warned that officials must not become “silent witnesses” to abuses of power. Domenech then proceeded into the hearing without taking questions from the press.

Inside the Senate, Domenech read remarks characterizing the proceeding as an unprecedented constitutional event, noting it was the first time since the office was created that a La Fortaleza chief of staff had been summoned to a Committee of the Whole. He stressed the importance of checks and balances while warning that legislative oversight must not become arbitrary or invasive of executive authority. He rejected any suggestion that his appearance constituted a waiver of the governor’s constitutional privileges.

A substantial portion of the early questioning focused on Politank, the government‑relations firm Domenech co‑founded and later sold. He reiterated repeatedly that the company has never had contracts with the Puerto Rico government and that he divested entirely on Dec. 31, 2024, receiving a $4 million payment by check, with no outstanding debt. All shares, he said, were purchased by the corporation itself under Article 5.4 of the Corporations Act. Domenech insisted that since Jan. 1, 2025, he has held no direct, indirect, passive, or contingent interest in Politank and does not expect any future benefit from the company.

Domenech insisted that his recusal practices go beyond what ethics regulations require, adding that he voluntarily stepped back from all matters related to the firm as La Fortaleza chief of staff and head of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority even though a 2025 Government Ethics Office (GEO) ruling involving his wife, Veronica Ferraiouli, had concluded that he was not obligated to do so. Senators pressed him to state whether any written policies or memoranda exist to document those recusals. Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz replied by reading a letter from the GEO that stated that the consultation with the GEO was extensive only to Ferraiuoli and not to Domenech.

“You are wrong,” Rivera Schatz told Domenech. “Don’t come here to confuse or lie.” 

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz

Senators pressed him on how he could have recused himself from reviewing contracts involving Politank clients if, by his own acknowledgment, he was unaware that certain clients -- such as Intervoice and Accenture, both former clients -- held government contracts under the current administration. Domenech said he learned of some of those contracts only upon receiving the Senate’s interrogatory ahead of the hearing.

He said his abstention occurred through a pre‑intervention screening process conducted within the Governor’s Office. Domenech said contracts are awarded by agencies, reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and then forwarded to the Governor’s Office for final compliance verification. At that stage, he said, contract specialist Ana Delgado has been verbally instructed to block from his review any contracts involving former Politank clients. That oral instruction, not a written policy, he said, constitutes the “instituted” recusal mechanism. The chief of staff said he does not discuss Politank‑related matters with Delgado or any government official.

Senators also questioned Domenech about former Politank employees now working in government. He named Marilinda Ramos and Claudia Méndez, now working in senior posts in the Senate, and Elisa Muñoz, who works as an adviser in the Department of Health and chairs Medicaid’s Proposals Evaluation Committee. Domenech said Ramos and Méndez have not worked for Politank since January 2017, and Muñoz since January 2023, and insisted he played no role in Muñoz’s appointment.

Still early in the hearing, questions turned to district‑level issues, notably the prolonged delay in opening the Vieques hospital. Sen. Marissa Jiménez Antonini confronted Domenech with frustrations from Vieques residents, who say that although the hospital’s construction was completed earlier this year -- with funding secured by both the current and prior administrations -- it remains closed because essential medical equipment has not been procured.

Domenech responded that procurement is “stuck” at the General Services Administration (ASG by its initials in Spanish), which has not adjudicated the necessary bids. He said ASG already has all proposals and must choose vendors before the hospital can operate. Jiménez countered that the community has waited far too long for a functioning facility and that ASG’s inaction amounts to an unacceptable delay in basic healthcare access. 

The senator repeatedly urged Domenech to exercise his expansive authority under Executive Order 2025‑008, which centralizes oversight of government contracting. Domenech replied that while the order grants him significant powers, it does not require him to micromanage agencies. He nevertheless committed to “follow up with ASG” now that he had been fully briefed.

He was also asked about project delays at the former U.S. Naval Station at Roosevelt Roads. During questioning about stalled redevelopment projects at Roosevelt Roads, Domenech told senators that the matter is being handled directly by the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC). He said the projects are currently before the Financial Oversight and Management Board and that, according to what he had been told in recent weeks by the board’s executive director, the oversight entity “favors” those projects and has received all required information from the government.

Jiménez Antonini immediately disputed Domenech’s statement, noting that just three weeks earlier she had met with the oversight board alongside the Ceiba mayor and the board had told them the opposite: that the projects had not been prioritized and that the Puerto Rico government had not allocated the necessary funds to execute them. She cited the DISCOVER project as an example, explaining that the developer had said it could invest in repairing basic infrastructure -- such as water, wastewater and electrical systems -- but would then expect relief from payments owed to the government, because the government had not fulfilled its obligations to fund those utility improvements.

Jiménez argued that the problem was not the oversight board, which she said was willing to approve the projects, but rather that the government had removed or failed to assign previously designated funds. Domenech reiterated that the information given to him was that the board did support the projects and recommended that the senator address further technical questions to the DDEC secretary, who oversees the Roosevelt Roads initiatives directly.

Rivera Schatz pressed Domenech to clarify whether the ASG alone was responsible for the delay and whether he believed the oversight board misled senators about the prioritization of Roosevelt Roads and Vieques‑related projects. Domenech, who said the board opposed certain projects, could only speak to what agency officials communicated to him and emphasized that he had not been present at the oversight board’s meeting with the Senate.

The day’s tensions were heightened further by the release of an affidavit prior to the Committee of the Whole from former Health Secretary Carlos Mellado López, who alleged that after the 2024 general elections, he experienced pressure -- including from former Senate president and lobbyist Kenneth McClintock and, in a subsequent meeting, from Domenech himself -- to reverse a bid award for a health information exchange contract. Mellado said he perceived “pressure and intimidation” but refused to overturn the award, which went to KONZA after an 11‑company competition. Intervoice, represented by McClintock, placed second. 

The hearing continued with additional questions about fiscal planning. Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón confronted Domenech over comments he made to the press about having already identified “contingency plans and reserves” to confront a looming Medicaid funding cliff. Domenech said the reserves are housed within the Treasury Department, developed jointly with the OMB, and include at least $250 million earmarked for that purpose, with plans to grow the fund. He agreed to provide documentation if authorized.