Insists they are natural feature of a process built on dialogue
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Gov. Jenniffer González Colón confirmed on Wednesday that there are some problems in confirming several of her nominees to the constitutional cabinet.
“He is the designated secretary of health [Víctor Ramos Otero], who in my opinion is doing an excellent job,” the governor said at a press conference. “I believe that no one knows the health area better than the secretary. The things that the secretary has dealt with in these eight weeks, I believe are enough to speak of his knowledge. There have been battles for the president of the Physicians Association, like with the one who ran against him in an internal primary of the Physicians Association, he has a personal dispute with the Health secretary, a political dispute, and the insinuations led to them being evaluated, but I believe that all of that will be clarified with the nominee who has the opportunity to respond. People can make the accusations they want, but that should not allow reputations to be tarnished. We did a federal evaluation of these nominees, so they are all in accordance with the law, so at the time it will be addressed. I trust that this will be delimited. You saw that the same thing happened with other nominees and everyone is rushing through the process.”
“The secretary of state has not delivered one of the documents and has not said that the House will have it first,” González Colón continued. “And I think that this communication should be as frank as this. I think it is natural, it is good. […] I feel very comfortable with the pace of this approval and I trust that it can continue to happen in this way.”
When asked again about the appointment of the former chairman of the State Elections Commission, Francisco Rosado Colomer, she limited herself to saying that he had problems being confirmed by the Senate, which is why she withdrew it.
“We withdrew Colomer’s appointment because the Senate president said he has problems with that appointment,” the governor said. “So we withdrew that appointment. At this time, until they can be overcome, I believe that the person has all the qualifications, he has proven integrity, but at this time what I want is to put an agenda in the back burner; we are not looking to tarnish anyone’s reputation here, and much less, if at this time the process is not prepared for that nomination, I will prefer to withdraw the appointment. As governor, I am not going to enter into a fight, into a dilemma, when a recommendation is made to me in good faith and believe me, there are many appointments here. So I am not saying that it cannot be submitted again. I prefer to have the space to be able to work with that one and with any other. It is not the first appointment that I have withdrawn. I have withdrawn other types of appointments to other positions. So that is very natural in the process.”
