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PDP Governing Board sides with Bernier

By on August 28, 2016

Shortly after entering the Popular Democratic Party’s (PDP) Governing Board meeting, where his plea for the House of Representatives’ president’s resignation was attended, the party’s gubernatorial candidate David Bernier reiterated that his candidacy hinges on Jaime Perelló’s renunciation.

However, after a lengthy meeting in the PDP’s headquarters in Puerta de Tierra, the Party’s Governing Board approved a resolution to back up Bernier’s petition to ask Perelló to leave the House’s leadership.

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PDP president and gubernatorial candidate David Bernier stated the party had to agree on House Speaker Jaime Perelló’s abdication or he wouldn’t pursue his candidacy.

“Having attended the presented situation regarding the House of Representatives’ presidency, the PDP’s Governing Board expresses its support and solidarity with the entity’s president in his interest to protect the institution above any other consideration,” recites the decision read to the press by Héctor Ferrer, the party’s candidate for Resident Commissioner in Washington, D.C.

The Governing Board’s settlement was approved with 15 votes in favor, four refrained attendees and five other members who left the gathering before the vote casting.

The ex-president of the PDP, Victoria “Melo” Muñoz, Representative Charlie Hernández, Reynaldo Castellanos and Perelló himself abstained from voting.

“The Board has backed up Bernier’s petition concerning the resignation of the House of Representatives’  president… the Board did what it had to do: listen to the president’s petition, vote in favor or against,”  said Ferrer.

He clarified that the Board’s siding with Bernier did not imply the House Speaker’s demission, whose supporters had unsuccessfully launched Representative Conny Varela’s proposal for Perelló to hand over his job title’s occupations until past the federal trial that endures against the co-accused in a fraudulent contract scheme crowned by convict businessman and the PDP’s former fundraiser, Anaudi Hernández Pérez.

Ferrer explained that there is no tool or law that allows the PDP Board to dismiss anybody from the House’s presidency.

The House of Representatives’ Ruling allows such measures in the subsection that details the faculty’s origin to hold the role as president.

“It was an agreement, an understanding respecting his position (Perelló’s) and Bernier’s. However, there are communication, negotiation processes that aren’t completed and this unfortunately was not completed,” Ferrer expressed.

 

“It is incompatible for the House’s president to keep

his position and I to be the party’s candidate”

 

Bernier is the president of the PDP, but it is Governor Alejandro García Padilla who leads the party’s Legislative Conference.

García Padilla distanced himself from the controversy and stated he’d stay on the edge.

The way things are, the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate doesn’t have the regulatory power to summon the caucus.

Bernier had asked his party’s representatives to meet up with him after the Board’s congregation to discuss Perelló’s case.

“David Bernier is the PDP president who will head the ballot in which all of us under the Popular Party’s emblem will aspire. David Bernier is setting the course to face in November, facing the party that he will present Puerto Rico,” stated Manuel Natal Albelo.

The PDP's candidate for governor, David Bernier, and for Resident Commissioner, Héctor Ferrer (Inter News Service)

The PDP’s candidate for governor, David Bernier, and for Resident Commissioner, Héctor Ferrer. (Inter News Service)

Representative Ángel Matos, who backs up Bernier’s demand for the House Speaker’s presidency retirement, acknowledged that Perelló doesn’t face any corruption accusation gestured in the House, although he emphasized that in the political complex there aren’t the same safeguards than in criminal processings in the courtrooms.

“Politics aren’t fair, politics aren’t fair, at least in the courts’ processes there’s the preumption of innocence—unfortunately politics isn’t like that,” lamented Matos.

Upon his arrival to the PDP’s headquarters shortly before 10:00 a.m., Bernier emphasized he’s seek the Governing Board’s support in his attempt for Perelló’s resignation.

In addition, he maintained that his gubernatorial candidacy hinged on whether he obtained approval from the PDP’s internal structures for the House Speaker’s renunciation.

“It is incompatible for the House’s president to keep his position and I to be the party’s candidate,” Bernier affirmed.

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