By
Will Collette
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| Nellie Gorbea's former boss, former Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Rosselló (R), called the most corrupt governor of the century. |
I’ve
met Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea on a number of
occasions.
Before I left the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee, I was in on the extensive interview the committee had with her before it decided to endorse
Guillaume deRamel instead. She was always charming and friendly.
I liked her
and liked the idea of supporting a Latina, though, on balance, I liked
Guillaume deRamel better.
But
then I looked closer at her as I have with just about all the candidates
running for state office this year. Part of it was professional interest. Even
though I am retired, I spent most of my worklife doing political research. But it's also my personal interest as a voter to know more about candidates than what
they are willing to tell us.
I
saw two major issues with Nellie Gorbea’s candidacy that raise questions about
her qualifications to be the next Secretary of State and about her espoused
progressive values.
Public
records show that at least five of the non-profit organizations Nellie Gorbea has
served (as staff, board member or registered agent) failed to comply with the
simple annual reporting requirements set by the Secretary of State.
Ms.
Gorbea also has claimed as part of her credentials that she served as an
economic advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico. However, that resume bullet point comes
with some troubling history.
Non-profits mess up on their Secretary of State reports
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| There's really no excuse for this from a former Deputy SoS or a candidate looking to become SoS |
Ms.
Gorbea has a commendable record of service to a number of Rhode Island
non-profits, including HousingWorksRI where she served as Executive Director.
However, at least five of those non-profits violated public accountability laws that
require regular filings with the Secretary of State’s office.
Since
Ms. Gorbea once served as Deputy Secretary of State and is now running to
become the Secretary of State, I
would have expected she would make sure the organizations she served stayed in
compliance.
For
example, HousingWorksRI where she worked as executive director before resigning
to run for Secretary of State was cited and fined on November 14, 2013 by the Secretary of State for failing to
file its annual report. That report was due to be filed the day after Ms. Gorbea
resigned to run for Secretary of State.
The
Women’s Fund of RI was cited for late filing of its 2011 annual report while Ms. Gorbea was a director.
The RI Latino Policy Institute was cited for late filing in 2009 and later that year, dissolved.
The RILPAC Civic Fund dissolved after Ms. Gorbea left to work for then Secretary of
State Matt Brown. The RI Latino Civic Fund has been cited five times, once leading to their charter
revocation, for tardy filings.
These
things can happen on occasion to the best of organizations. However, non-profit
directors have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the organizations on whose
boards they serve comply with legal obligations. Ms. Gorbea is a former
Deputy Secretary of State and hopes to be the next Secretary of State. Is it
not reasonable to expect her to pay attention to the compliance of non-profits
she serves with the requirements of Secretary of State?
Why did she go
to work for a right-wing, scandal-plagued lame duck Governor of Puerto Rico?
I
looked further into her work history and found something even more disturbing. She
used to tout her work as “economic advisor” to the Governor of Puerto Rico as one of her qualifications. That
was right around the time when then Governor Pedro Rosselló decided to privatize the
government-owned Puerto Rico Telephone Company by selling a controlling
interest to GTE (which is now Verizon) for a bargain price.
 |
| Rosselló's decision to sell PRTC to Verizon at a bargain basement price sparked mass protests all over the island, especially in San Juan |
The company
generated $160 million in profit for the Commonwealth every year. The unions
representing the workers charged the company was worth $3 billion more than
Rosselló’s asking price [Financial Times, June 3, 1998].
NOTE:
Under Puerto Rico’s multi-party political system, Rosselló came out of the NDP,
the equivalent of the Republican Party on the island.
Rosselló’s
decision rocked the island and led to mass protests that included a general strike by all unionized workers across the island. Despite the bitter and
bloody protests, Rosselló ramrodded the deal through, putting hundreds of
workers out of jobs.
In
2001, shortly after the sale of Puerto Rico Telephone to GTE/Verizon was
completed, Governor Rosselló stepped down as Governor, according to the Associated Press “amid allegations his administration was corrupt.” Leading San Juan
newspaper El Nuevo Dia questioned whether Rosselló was the most corrupt Puerto Rico
governor of the century.
 |
| Thousands of public workers lost their jobs |
Ms.
Gorbea’s campaign materials were not very specific about what role Nellie
Gorbea played in Governor Rosselló’s final term of office and exactly what
dates she worked for him.
I particularly wanted to know what role she may have
played in the controversial Puerto Rico Telephone Company deal so I sent her
campaign my typically edgy questions.
Her
campaign manager Rico Vota answered, saying in his August 25 e-mail he was
“troubled by the inaccurate questions posed to Nellie.” He said that she became
Rosselló’s “Governor’s Advisor for Economic Affairs in 2000.” And since the
sell-off was completed in 1999, she played no role in the privatization.
I
sent Mr. Vota a follow-up, asking “why did she take employment with a lame duck
Republican Governor who just presided over a tumultuous privatization plan, not
to mention the numerous corruption cases that led El Nuevo Dia to ask in
February 2000 whether his administration was the most corrupt in 100 years?”
And I asked,
“Since Rosselló decided in June 1999 not to run again in 2000 and left at the
end of his term when the new Governor was sworn in in January 2001, how long
did Nellie work for him?”
That
was several days ago and I still have not received an answer. However, I think
I’ve gotten an indirect answer – all references to her job as economic advisor
to Rosselló have been scrubbed from Nellie Gorbea’s website as if it never happened!
Maybe it’s just me, but I wonder why a person now running as a progressive Democrat would work for a lame duck, scandal-rocked Republican Governor on the heels of his actions that put hundreds of public workers out of jobs.
And now I want to
know why they decided to drop all references to that job down the memory hole.
She can't make this part of her history disappear, however. Political reporters such as Ted Nesi have already reported it and I have confirmation in her campaign manager's e-mail.
I
hope the Gorbea campaign has some answers before the September 9 Primary.
