By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Wednesday that the objections raised by the presidents of the political parties and their affiliated groups are irrelevant to the issue of a status consultation he has proposed for election day in November.
“Those who are now speaking out, candidates for governor for the Dignity Project, the Independence Party and the Popular Democratic Party, have not realized that this has nothing to do with their personal aspirations,” the governor said in response to questions from the press. “This has to do with the future of Puerto Rico from the point of view of our status, that the one we have is unworthy, that the one we have limits us and is practically shameful.”
“My decision is final and firm. I used a law, Law 165 of 2020, which empowers me to call this consultation,” Pierluisi said. “As for then, the executive order itself, as the law establishes, asks the State Elections Commission to give me a budget plan to cover the cost of the consultation. Law 165 empowers me to identify the budget item that is necessary to cover that cost. In other words, I even have the power in law to allocate the funds that I have to allocate. The Office of Management and Budget will be in charge of analyzing the budget plan that is presented to me and [...] will be the office that assigns any additional funds that the State Elections Commission needs to fulfill this mission.”
“At the same time, the [Financial Oversight and Management] Board cannot intervene in this matter because PROMESA [the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act] prohibits it,” the governor added. “In other words, this is clear. There can be no objection here from a budgetary point of view. There can be no objection from a political party point of view either, because it is irrelevant. And as for these thunders that perhaps they will go to court, that law, which I studied thoroughly, is very well drafted, I am talking about Law 165, it is very well drafted and well founded. So I predict that any legal dispute is stillborn; it will not yield results.”
Spokespeople for the Dignity Project, the Puerto
Rican Independence Party and the Citizen Victory Movement expressed their opposition to the referendum. The Popular Democratic Party was slated to hold a meeting of its governing board to make a decision on how it would respond to the status vote proposed for election day.