By The Star Staff
Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón appointed the members of her Transition Committee on Monday, naming individuals from all political ideologies.
Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz will preside over the committee. Four years ago, he chaired the transition committee of outgoing Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia.
“Each of my actions, both as governor-elect and once I am sworn in on January 2, are focused on ensuring that my administration is a government for everyone in Puerto Rico,” González Colón said. “The period of partisan politics has passed. The members of my Incoming Transition Committee represent varied political ideologies and have experience in the public and private sectors, academia, justice, finance, management, and others who will transparently analyze the current state of the government of Puerto Rico and provide an x-ray of it. In this way, we can responsibly begin to implement and comply with our government program, AcciónPR, endorsed by the people at the polls on November 5.”
She thanked each of the selected members for accepting the challenge of carrying out the task with the highest sense of responsibility and professionalism.
Composing the Incoming Transition Committee chaired by Rivera Cruz, a former senator, will be Oriol Campos, who served as finance director of González Colón’s campaign committee. Campos, a member of the New Progressive Party (NPP) Platform Committee, is a lawyer, accountant, former administrator of the House of Representatives, and adviser on public, legal, administrative and financial policy.
González Colón also appointed Marcos Rodríguez Ema, a former La Fortaleza chief of staff under then-governor Luis Fortuño; an adviser on financial, corporate, governmental and banking policy; and a former president of the now defunct Government Development Bank.
Other members include:
1. Zayira Jordán Conde, a member of the NPP Platform Committee and president of Atlantic University, has been a professor and researcher for the engineering and computing faculties. In 2020, she was a candidate for resident commissioner under the Citizen Victory Movement.
2. Jorge Colberg Toro, former at-large representative for the Popular Democratic Party (PDP), is a former secretary of public affairs and spokesperson for La Fortaleza, a former secretary general of the Popular Democratic Party, and is a political analyst and university professor.
3. Veronica Ferraiuoli Hornedo, director of the Luis A. Ferré Public Policy Institute in charge of preparing the González Colón #AcciónPR government program, is a state and federal litigator, former president of the Federal Bar Association Puerto Rico Chapter and deputy director of the Resident Commissioner’s Office.
4. Juan Zaragoza Gómez, a current at-large senator for the PDP, chairs the Senate Finance, Federal Affairs and Fiscal Control Board Committee, and is former island Treasury secretary.
5. César A. Alvarado Torres is the associate dean of academic affairs at Interamerican University School of Law, where he directs the Continuing Legal Education program, and served as public policy adviser and as the last executive director of the Permanent Joint Commission for the Review and Reform of the Civil Code (1998-2009).
6. Tere Riera Carrión, winner of the Truman Democracy 2023 scholarship program, is a member of boards of directors of cultural entities, a public financing analyst, an adviser to the Office of Management and Budget.
7. Janet Parra, a member of the NPP Platform Committee, is a lawyer in private practice, former prosecutor and former head of the Organized Crime Division of the Department of Justice.
The incoming transition committee will be holding its internal meetings this week. It will later provide details on when the transition hearings, which will be held with the transition committee appointed by Pierluisi, will begin.
After the transition committee announcement, PDP President Jesús Manuel Ortíz González, who finished third in the voting for governor last week, acknowledged that the PDP primaries did not leave him on the best of terms with Zaragoza Gómez, his opponent in the primaries.
“Look, now I understand the ‘irreconcilable gaps,’” Ortíz González wrote on his X account.
After the June primary event, there was no communication between Ortíz González and Zaragoza Gómez, but the latter had stated that there were “irreconcilable gaps” between the two men.
It does not matter which Party is in power in Puerto Rico. Little to nothing will change. Property and personal crime will still be high, children's education will continue to be of a low standard, the electric grid will continue hanging on a thread as it has for decades, and the economy will not flourish. The island of enchantment: Oops, the lights went out. Oops, there is no water to take a decent bath. It can happen on any day and at any hour. It is a true shame.