A foggy political picture

With all the talk about government layoffs, rising crime and now - the break-up of Luis Fonsi and Adamari López - grabbing all the headlines of our fearless media, no one has brought to light the fact that the current legislative session ends on Thursday and most of Gov. Fortuño's economic packages have yet to go to a floor vote, not to mention the new Permits Law, the new Tourism Incentives Law and the ever-controversial Closing Law.

The backlog of key economic legislation is not just due to the Legislature's foot-dragging. A key element to the delay lies on the fact that Gov. Fortuño's leadership is badly eroded after only 10 months and both the House and Senate are basically operating like rudderless ships.

A great example of this is the Permits Law. Caribbean Business quoted House Socioeconomic Committee chairman José Chico this week saying that the bill is "about ready" to go to a floor vote, but the fact that the legislation neither has the votes from the New Progressive Party majority nor the support from industry leaders, who have time and time again filed through the House saying that the legislation is flawed.

While the Senate agenda has been a little more upbeat about moving administration bills through, they have been heavily amended - some of them ladened with poison pills - that even if they go to floor votes, it is unlikely that they will come out of Conference.

Adding more confusion to the already convoluted mix is the fact that, politically speaking, Gov. Fortuño does not have a hold on his Legislative conference - a fact that has already opened the door to massive speculation that he will be a one-term governor and should expect a challenge from within his own party once candidacy season opens midway through 2010.

In baseball terms, there's already movement in the bullpen and that has been validated by an already-busy fundraising season and an unprecedented amount of exploratory balloons being floated from many different sources.

It is going to be a very interesting week indeed in the Puerto Rico's politics. Stay tuned ...

Another sign of the times in Puerto Rico

El Vocero de Puerto Rico, one of Puerto Rico's last bastions of good hard-nosed reporting, is on the brink of collapse as the latest judgement from the federal government looms as a mortal blow to its already fragile state.

The U.S. Department of Labor issued this press release earlier today:

Caribbean International News Corp. has been ordered by a federal court to restore more than $1.2 million to the El Vocero de Puerto Rico Union Employees Savings and Investment Plan, a retirement plan established for the benefit of the company's unionized employees. The corporation does business as El Vocero de Puerto Rico, a newspaper based in San Juan.

A lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor simultaneously with the judgment alleges that El Vocero violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by failing to deposit into the plan contributions withheld from employees' wages and to collect matching employer contributions during the period from 2003 to 2006. The suit also alleges that the company owed $1,432,233 to the plan.

"Protecting workers' retirement funds is one of the highest priorities of this administration," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "The Labor Department's legal action orders El Vocero to restore more than $1.2 million to ensure that these workers are made whole and that money is set aside to pay benefits."

The court judgment orders the employer to pay immediately the full amount owed to the plan. The amount now due is $1,282,233, which is the original amount found due minus $150,000 already paid by El Vocero between December 2008 and July 2009 to reduce its obligation to the plan.

This case was investigated by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Miami District Office at the direction of the agency's Atlanta Regional Office. The legal actions announced today were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Employers and workers can contact EBSA at 404-302-3900 or toll-free at 866-444-3272 for help with any problems relating to private sector pension and health plans. In fiscal year 2008, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.2 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and their families.

Solis v. Caribbean International News Corp. doing business as El Vocero de Puerto Rico

Civil Action Number: 09-CV-2064

Source: U.S. Department of Labor