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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSPuerto Rico's New Crop Of National CommitteemenLuis Fortuño and Kenneth McClintock bring generational change to the island's national party representationBY KEN OLIVER-MENDEZNovember 15, 2001 One is a corporate attorney in private practice; the other is an elected official. They are the best of friends--one was the other's best man at his wedding--and now they both occupy key positions in the leadership of the two U.S. national parties in Puerto Rico. Though one is a Republican and the other a Democrat, they also have decided they are going to work together on issues that can benefit Puerto Rico. After all, with a divided government in Washington--the White House and the House of Representatives are in Republican hands while Democrats control the Senate--the two say bipartisan cooperation is more important than ever to get things done at the federal level. "This is an excellent coincidence for us and for Puerto Rico," newly elected Republican Party National Committeeman Luis Fortuño told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS. "Economic development issues will be one of the main areas where we'll now be able to work together effectively at the national level," Fortuño said. Sen. Kenneth McClintock (NPP-at large), who since August of last year has served as Democratic National Committeeman for the island and who sat alongside Fortuño for the exclusive joint interview, concurs. "People shouldn't see us as simply occupying political posts as national committeemen," McClintock says, "they should also understand that in these positions, we can be instruments that diverse sectors of the economy can turn to and that we can get a lot accomplished." As a matter of fact, Fortuño points out that in the national Republican Party, most national committee members from the various states aren't politicians, but private-sector people, including businesspeople and lawyers. One area that Fortuño and McClintock identified as being ripe for their new brand of bipartisan cooperation is getting the U.S. Census Bureau to include Puerto Rico in all nationwide research projects. They pointed out that the Census Bureau still doesn't include Puerto Rico in the production of many ongoing research projects, the results of which are regularly used by businesspeople throughout the nation for retail and marketing analyses. "Having that type of research available for our businesspeople in Puerto Rico would be extraordinarily helpful," Fortuño noted. The two also see themselves collaborating in proactive economic development efforts, such as positioning Puerto Rico to withstand possible negative impacts of--and take advantage of opportunities arising from--an eventual normalization of U.S. trade relations with Cuba, once that island nation's communist dictatorship falls. National trends Contrary to popular belief, Fortuño and McClintock say national committee members don't spend most of their time on fundraising duties. In the local Democratic Party, for example, that task is primarily in the hands of private businessman Miguel Lausell and attorney Andres Guillemard Jr. At the national level, incidentally, McClintock noted that former Puerto Rico Secretary of Economic Development & Commerce Xavier Romeu was recently appointed deputy finance director of the Democratic National Committee--the party's No. 2 finance person--and also has been given the task of creating the party-affiliated Hispanic Business Council, a network of businesspeople that will have a nationwide presence, including Puerto Rico. At the local level, McClintock sees the current 50/50 split between PDP and NPP-affiliated Democrats continuing into the foreseeable future. Currently, McClintock is the only NPP-affiliated National Committeeman. The party's local National Committeewoman is the PDP's Cielito Arroyo. PDP Sen. Eudaldo Baez Galib is the party's state chairman, while Mercedes Otero is vice chairwoman. The local Republican Party leadership structure is comparatively smaller, as well as being free of local partisan divisions. National Committeeman Fortuño is accompanied by National Committeewoman Zoraida Fonalledas. The island's "Mr. Republican," don Luis A. Ferre, of course, is state chairman. Fortuño said his plans as National Committeeman include pushing for more island residents to affiliate themselves with the Republican Party, as well as participating actively in the party's national "Reach Out" initiative, which is especially targeting Hispanics who he says are naturally attracted to the party's economic growth-oriented policies and family-friendly, compassionate conservative values. This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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