Can the charades just stop about how amazing and awesome the Puerto Rican Wonder Boy, Governor Luis Fortuño, has been for the island of Puerto Rico? The latest news is that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is now telling the Washington Post that it plans to showcase Governor Fortuño, a darling among GOPers who have no clue about how unpopular and divisive the governor is on his own island (psst, he is not even leading in current polls for his re-election bid), so that the Mitt Romney’s campaign can gain more of the US Latino vote.
Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño
Let’s just give Mr. Priebus the benefit of the doubt and share the following, since the 2012 campaign is all about jobs, right?
- So you want to roll out a leader who heads up an island that is still stuck at 15% unemployment even though the governor continues to mislead and misinform the public that there is a Puerto Rican recovery happening? Don’t take it from us, take it from the US Department of Labor statistics.
- Also, let’s really stop to look at the actual stats about Fortuño’s push to make Puerto Rico leaner and meaner when it comes to public sector jobs. Just a few facts, from the same DOL stats: In September 2011, there were 265,000 public sector employees in Puerto Rico. In February 2012, there are now 269,000 public sector employees. Of the total jobs in all of Puerto Rico as of February 2012, roughly 25% of the jobs are classified as public sector jobs. Sure, Fortuño came in when it was a 33% but it is still at 25% and the number of public sector jobs is growing again.
- When Fortuño took office in January 2008, the unemployment rate in Puerto Rico was at 10.7.%. As of February 2012 it is at 15%. Call us crazy, but that is progress? Romney and the RNC is praising a leader whose unemployment rate is worse that the overall US rate and this is the guy who want to showcase to US Latino voters? Also, does anyone who wants to look at actual statistics want to share the following information: the labor force in Puerto Rico is plummeting, young people are leaving the island for jobs in the US. Where is the Fortuño miracle?
- Can you imagine where Puerto Rico would have been if the Fortuño administration did NOT take the 2.7 billion dollars in federal stimulus money from the socialist President Barack Obama?
Hey, but if the RNC wants to roll out Governor Fortuño as the new Latino star of the GOP, more power to them. In the end, Romney will be lucky to gain 15% of the US Latino vote, anyway. Bringing out Fortuño to prove that the GOP is listening to US Latino voters won’t really make a difference anyway.
Julio, you’re right on the mark about jobs. The 33%-to-25% (and rising) change in public sector jobs was not the result of reducing government’s size, but from reclassifying many of those jobs from “permanent” to “contractual,” usually as “consultants.” And the average salary/benefits package of a government employee has gone up, but as with the U.S. of part of A. economy, only at the top, where “consultants” are averaging close to $110,000 a year in a country where the average salary is around $18,000. This discrepancy is the largest of any democratic nation and is a further disgrace because it is based on the “haves” running roughshod over the “have nots.” But then again, that is EXACTLY why Flojuño is a GOP darling, although he’s nothing more than a blow-up doll with a leak in its as–pirations.
Gil, this is the biggest sham going on right now. The head of the RNC is propping up Fortuño as the savior of the US Latino vote. If it weren’t real, it would be one of the funniest pranks I have ever read. My take is simple: Fortuño is already thinking “exit strategy” because he knows he won’t win in November. And THAT is sad because this is clear political opportunism. And PRico suffers.
Please, don’t tell the truth about governor Fortuño. We in the island are expecting him to leave as soon as possible. So, if the RNC is saying he is a “Wonder Boy”, please let them take him. We don’t care where he goes or to which position, we just want him to leave.
Good point, that is another way to look at it.