By The Star Staff
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, who is vying to become the New Progressive Party’s gubernatorial candidate, said Sunday that Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia was using cabinet officials to undermine her performance in obtaining federal funds for Puerto Rico and described island Health Secretary Carlos Mellado López as a frustrated candidate who appears to be “under medication.”
Mellado López said last week in a televised program that the efforts of local lobbying groups such as the Hospitals Association, and members of Congress from the Democratic Party, have been responsible for the federal health funds obtained by Puerto Rico and not González Colón. He also said he only met once with the resident commissioner as Health secretary.
González Colón said Mellado López “probably suffers from amnesia” because he has posted in his own web page about his meetings with her.
“He is under medication. … I think [his remarks] are part of his frustration and [inferiority] complex,” she said. “He wanted to be resident commissioner, and no one backed him, not even the private sector.”
The resident commissioner asserted that Pierluisi is using cabinet members to attack her during the primary campaign and undermine her work. In 2015, she said she met with numerous organizations to discuss her political platform in Washington. González Colón said that before she became a primary candidate, Pierluisi, former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares, and former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced said she was the best resident commissioner.
Pierluisi asked for her support against Vázquez Garced in 2020, which she provided, she said.
“What happens is that now I decided I was not going to be a rubber stamp to anybody,” she said.
The resident commissioner made her remarks at a news conference in which she announced the names of the lawmakers and legislative candidates she is supporting for election, including former House Speaker José Aponte Hernández and Roberto Lefranc Fortuño for an at-large House seat and Pedro “Pellé” Santiago Guzmán for district representative.
She said she wanted to introduce her slate of candidates because there are already 16,352 ballots from people who requested early voting out there. Some 83,000 people have asked for early voting.
“I am calling for people to support these candidates who will help me do my work,” González Colón said. “I plan on filing my bills on day one. I will not wait until the last minute, and I need a capable Legislature.”
The resident commissioner declined to say which candidates she will support as House speaker or Senate president because “first we have to win.” She insisted she has not promised anybody contracts or positions.
Comments