Time for AOC to show her leadership instead of just criticizing others.
Pierluisi is mired in conflicts and is not suitable for this position. But Wanda Vázquez is also not fit due to her silence and lack of accountability on the corruption in Roselló's administration. We need to continue to scrutinize the remaining candidates in the line of succession. What Puerto Rico needs ultimately needs is a strong governor who will stand up for Puerto Rico's public institutions and stand up against the austerity measures being imposed by the Fiscal Oversight Board.
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Pedro Pierluisi looks good on paper but his background is shady. It seems like Ricardo Rosselló didn't learn anything from the protests. There are far better candidates, but he picked the one that is not going to be confirmed by the Senate or the House of Representatives as governor. Come Friday we'll have a corrupt governor again.
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@Carol
Doesn't he have a lot more experience than Ricardo Rossello, including 8 years as resident commissioner? Wasn't he Secretary of Justice? Shady background? Can you describe what you mean by this? Or is it that no matter what, if he is pro-statehood, you don't agree with his appointment? This has been sooo politically motivated!
Why does the law allow the ousted allegedly corrupt person to name his successor? It will be more of the same if he is confirmed.
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@SAS Because he hasn't been convicted of anything? If he was lawfully removed from office that would be one thing, but he's just resigning under public pressure.
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@KM- Best concise answer I've read here so far.
Dumb question: does it have to be someone from the island? 340 million Americans and they have to choose from this gaggle of idiots? The island needs an honest, caretaker technocrat who is Spanish-speaking. Some level of charisma would help. Surely someone fits the bill in the USA?
If not that what about Lin-Manuel Miranda? He’s probably the biggest advocate for Puerto Rico!
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The PR constitution requires the governor to be a resident of Puerto Rico, Lin Manuel does not reside in PR. I don’t see why we would need to bring an outsider to govern, he/she could be corrupt as well. We have had a successful democratically elected local government for over 60 years, let it work.
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@Philip Duguay- This may be a bit hard to keep in mind at times but "the people of Puerto Rico" as a political body and "Puerto Ricans" as an ethnic/cultural group are not synonymous or equivalent; there are ethnic Puerto Ricans all over the US and those who live and vote in the 50 States are "Floridians" or "Texans" or "New Yorkers" for legal purposes. Although most residents of Puerto Rico are ethnic Puerto Ricans there are substantial numbers of US citizens of Anglo, Dominican and Cuban descent --to name a few-- living in the territory which may not be ethnic Puerto Ricans and yet are very much a part of "the people of Puerto Rico". So US citizenship and island residence are the required criteria to hold public office in Puerto Rico, not merely US citizenship or a particular ethnicity--same as in the 50 States.
Pedro Pierluissi is more of the same
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@Cammy Irizarry- Beg to differ; his political track record is far different from Rosselló's, he is way more mature, he has never been convicted of anything illegal, he is not under investigation for anything even remotely resembling corruption and his professional and personal ties to the federal oversight do not pose insurmountable problems and do not disqualify him automatically from becoming governor--in fact those ties do not even fall under the legal definition of "conflict of interest", they are strictly in the nature of partisan/ideological political objections to his appointment, which is a horse of a different color.