The Mayor of San Juan Isn't Finished With Donald Trump: "Power Does Not Make You a Good Person"

[DonViejo]

She explains how Puerto Rico is grappling with the new normal.

AJ VICENSNOV. 22, 2017 6:00 AM

Ten days after Hurricane María ripped through Puerto Rico—lashing the island with 155-mile-per-hour winds and pounding rain that knocked out the entire power grid and destroyed nearly half a million homes—President Donald Trump went after the mayor of the island’s capitol city.

“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” the president tweeted on September 30. “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers on Island doing a fantastic job.”

The attack brought international attention to Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who, before that tweet, wasn’t widely known outside of Puerto Rico. She took full advantage of the spotlight, critiquing the Trump administration’s sluggish response to one of the worst natural disasters in decades, and pushing for more aid and support for the island’s 3.4 million residents.

These residents are going to need all the help they can get. Recovery has been slow, but there are signs of progress. On a website with data from a number of sources, the government reports that water for nearly 82 percent of the island has been restored—although a boil advisory remains in place. Nearly 85 percent of gas stations have reopened, and nearly 89 percent of grocery stores are fully functioning. All of the island’s ports and post offices are functioning, and commercial flights—both domestic and international—are back to normal levels.

But Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told Congress last week that the damage from the category 4 storm will cost roughly $95 billion, a staggering amount for an island already grappling with nearly $120 billion in outstanding debt and unfunded pension obligations. During one of the hearings, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) told Rosselló, “A legacy of dysfunction” at the island’s power authority created “a competence deficit” that threatened the ability of the governor’s administration to improve the lives of Puerto Rican residents.

more
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/the-mayor-of-san-juan-isnt-finished-with-donald-trump-power-does-not-make-you-a-good-person/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Power seems to make people act badly.

Maybe we should change our democracy to a lottery system.
People are selected to office by lottery and hold office for 2 yrs.
Period.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I've thought of something like that, but more like jury duty.

A person is selected from a list of constitutionally eligible people who have no criminal record, no conflicts of interest and no history of substance abuse, serious mental illness or medical conditions that would interfere with the job. Check some references to be sure the person isn't a narcissistic asshole, and there's your president, senator, etc.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Yes this is more what I mean, better than a lottery system.

More like jury duty.
Sounds like a good system to me.

Citizen leadership.

[niyad]

4. I am so glad that Mayor Cruz is not intimidated, and is continuing to speak out.