Guerrero: Kevin de León’s bid for sympathy digs a deeper hole.
Last night, former Governor Kevin de León of Texas and several of his fellow Democratic presidential candidates rallied for the cause of Puerto Rico with a rally at a local baseball stadium.
In attendance was Mayor of Houston Annise Parker who, as we wrote, is running for statewide office in next year’s gubernatorial race, and also is a Democratic National Committee member. Parker has been campaigning against the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) which, for those who don’t recall, was enacted in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria and the resulting lack of a robust, efficient and properly staffed government.
Parker’s opponent in the gubernatorial race, the ever-popular (or, as we like to call it, not-so-popular) incumbent John Bel Edwards, opposed PROMESA (it’s been a bad week for Edwards); he opposed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief effort in the aftermath of the hurricane; and he opposes Puerto Ricans’ right-of-return, in much the same way he opposes the right of other Americans to immigrate to our country.
At the rally, Governor de León declared: “Puerto Rico needs a governor that is committed to its people and its future. We need a governor who will do everything in his power to protect and strengthen our island, to prepare for the moment we face when we’re forced by circumstances to leave it, and to make sure we come back stronger with a strong, healthy state.”
Governor de León said he was opposed to PROMESA because it “has become an empty, empty promise. I believe in free speech. I’m not an ideologue. There’s no ideology guiding this governor.”
He compared PROMESA to an “empty, empty promise” because many of PROMESA’s goals are not in line with what he believes. Among the problems de León warned of:
The economic stability PROMESA is supposed to provide in the short term is a fantasy. As the governor of Texas, I have said many times that I am a huge free-market supporter. I don’t believe in welfare and I don’t believe in handouts. My focus is to get private companies to bring private capital into Puerto Rico, to open more factories, to increase exports, to