Wednesday, August 7, 2019 What's new?

So to recap: after two weeks of peaceful demonstrations, Governor Ricky Rossello resigned in disgrace. Because of the line of succession, his Secretary of State should have become the new governor. But the Sec. of State resigned before the Governor, caught in the same scandal. That would have put Wanda Vásquez, the Secretary of Justice in the governor's chair.

Just before leaving office on Friday, Rossello nominated Pedro Pierluisi to be the new Sec. of State and de facto the new governor. Pierluisi was confirmed by the island House of Representatives but not by the Senate on Friday. On Sunday, in a controversial move, Pierluisi was sworn in as governor with the expectation of being confirmed by the Senate on Monday.

Ha! Ha, I say. The Senate, led by Tomás Rivera Schatz, a political enemy of Pierluisi, refused to confirm him. The whole thing wound up in the island's Supreme court yesterday.

Today, the Supreme Court ruled that the law under which Pierluisi was sworn in is unconstitutional. Today Pierluisi is out and Wanda Vasquez was sworn in as the new governor. So far we've had three governors in five days. As one meme on Facebook put it, "Every time I refresh my network, there is a different governor in Puerto Rico."

Wanda Vásquez is herself under investigation for various misuses of her office of Sec. of Justice. She said from the outset she did not want the job as governor but would take it.

But wait - there's more! El Nuevo Dia, an island newspaper, is reporting that deal has be reached between Rivera Schatz, the president of the House of Representatives Carlos Johnny Mendez and Wanda Vásquez. Under this scenario, in the next few day, Wanda Vazquez will nominate Jenniffer González, our "Resident Commissioner" - essentially our elected lobbyist - in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Secretary of State. Both the House and the Senate will approve Gonzálex, Vásquez will then resign, and González will become governor.

In the famous words of Samuel L. Jackson, "Hold on to your butts!" This ride ain't over yet.