Governor denies threatening to fire NPP municipal presidents over support for González Colón
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón
By THE STAR STAFF
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Monday that he has issued no order to fire government employees who serve as municipal presidents of the New Progressive Party (NPP) for supporting the gubernatorial campaign of Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón.
“If they refer to public servants, it’s the other way around,” the governor said in response to questions from the press. “On the contrary, all they have received from me is support, economic support; every time I have the federal funds to give bonuses to public servants I have done it, and salary increases.”
“I don’t know where that comes from. … There is no need to investigate because there is no such instruction,” he added. “On the contrary, public servants have a job to do.”
On Sunday, during a campaign activity she was hosting, González Colón said in her message that “I want to recognize all the NPP presidents of each of the municipalities who are here today, although they have called them to threaten that they are going to throw them out.”
“I like to say things head-on, and to those who have threatened to throw them out of government agencies, be calm …” she said. “Here there is no fear, here there is no fear. We are ready.”
On Monday, the resident commissioner told reporters that “I made some statements that are self-explanatory.”
Likewise, the governor repeated his position that he will run for re-election and added that there is still communication with the resident commissioner.
“Everyone knows since I began the four-year term that I will [seek a second term],” he said.
González Colón attended Sunday’s campaign event in Las Marías with Sens. Thomas Rivera Schatz and Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló, former Sen. Nelson Cruz Santiago and the former mayor of Adjuntas, Jaime Barlucea Maldonado, among others.
The statements of the governor, as well as the resident commissioner, were given separately on Monday, after they participated in a press conference announcing the beginning of the construction phase of the Port of San Juan improvement project.