Méndez Núñez: PDP reps’ info should also be made public
By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
The New Progressive Party (NPP) minority leader in the House of Representatives, Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Núñez, said Tuesday that he will comply with the order of Judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos to publish information on NPP representatives’ recommendations for funding allocations and called on the speaker of the House to the same with Popular Democratic Party lawmakers’ recommendations.
“We have not been notified of the lawsuit and much less of the decision of the honorable Judge Anthony Cuevas,” Méndez Núñez said in a written statement. “We were not summoned at any time, but we are respectful of the decisions of the courts, so we will proceed to provide the speaker with the data that we made public last week and that everyone has.”
Judge Cuevas Ramos ordered Méndez Núñez and the other NPP district representatives, Ángel Bulerín, Yashira Lebrón, Joel Franqui, Luis “Junior” Pérez, Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló, Jorge “Georgie” Navarro, Víctor Parés, Juan Oscar Morales and Ángel Morey to hand over information on the recommendation of funding allocations for nonprofit entities through the Land Authority. The process is being investigated by the authorities after alleged irregularities were found in the procedures.
“Without anyone forcing us, we publish in all our social networks the data related to the recommendations of assignments to the Land Authority made to assist the residents of the representative districts for services and permanent improvement works,” Méndez Núñez said. “We call on the speaker of the House to make public all his recommendations, as well as those of the district representatives of the Popular Democratic Party, as we did days ago.”
“Ironic that the speaker in his petition to the court said that he made his data public and that is why the order does not apply to him. Thus, with that logic, it should not apply to us, but we all know the trouble that this [majority] delegation is going through,” he continued. “The insistence of the speaker of the House on this information, which we freely provide to the People, is another attempt to divert attention from the disaster that the Popular Democratic Party is experiencing. Here we are not going to be the object of political persecution by a speaker who acts like a dictator.”