Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá has for years counted on his longtime friend in Washington, Robert Menendez.
First in the House and then in the Senate, the New Jersey Democrat has long advocated positions on some of the most politically volatile issues on the island — most notably the debate over Puerto Rico’s relationship with the U.S. — that comport with Acevedo-Vilá’s views.
But their relationship has become trickier in recent years, as separate federal investigations have touched the two men.
Puerto Rico’s governor has considered their relationship as one of his most critical in Washington, given that it has just one non-voting member in the House and no representation in the Senate for the island’s 4 million residents.
On Tuesday, the House Natural Resources Committee will mark up a bill that would have Puerto Rican voters decide by referendum whether to back the status quo as a U.S. territory or support a non-territorial status, such as a state, an independent country or a sovereign entity with a relationship to the U.S.
The debate over Puerto Rico’s future status dominates the island and divides its political parties. The governor detests the bill, which he says would set up a rigged process in favor of statehood. He is one of the strongest advocates of an option known as “enhanced commonwealth,” which would preserve the current status of Puerto Rico but could grant it stronger legal and regulatory powers than statehood.
If the bill makes its way to the Senate, the governor can count on Menendez to serve as a major roadblock.
But their friendship has become fodder in what is shaping up as a highly contentious 2008 race for the governor’s office in San Juan.
A federal grand jury has looked into allegations that Menendez improperly helped a former aide’s lobbying firm as well as a nonprofit group run by a campaign donor, which Menendez has denied. More recently, Menendez has been accused of secretly attempting to block Senate confirmation of a U.S. attorney nominee, who as an interim prosecutor has been investigating Acevedo-Vilá’s campaign financing activities.
The allegation that Menendez is trying to impede an investigation that could lead to an indictment of his friend has become a hot topic in Puerto Rico.
“There is no question that the general public is very much aware as to why he did that,” said Arturo J. Guzman, a political analyst in Puerto Rico who supports statehood. “This can be construed as obstruction of justice.”
Menendez declined to comment on whether he has blocked the confirmation of Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Vélez, who as an interim attorney inherited and intensified the three-year probe into Acevedo-Vilá’s activities. The governor says Rodriguez-Vélez is conducting a witch hunt and should not be confirmed by the Senate.
Earlier this month, a U.S. District Court used its power under federal law to circumvent the stalemate in the Senate by appointing Rodriguez-Vélez to the spot for up to four years. But the Justice Department still wants the chamber to confirm her for the post.
In an interview last week, Menendez said that he has a deep interest in the affairs of Puerto Rico largely because New Jersey has a substantial Puerto Rican population, not because of his friendship with the governor.
“The bottom line is I have been taking these positions before I ever met Acevedo-Vilá, before he ever came to Congress,” Menendez said. “So my position has been long-standing, and my involvement has been long-standing.”
For its part, the governor’s office says political opponents have distorted the relationship.
“The statehood lobby for some reason is attacking Bob Menendez — it’s not like he is out there as a lone ranger,” said Eduardo Bhatia, the governor’s top Washington liaison. Bhatia added that he believed Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and several House members had equally close relationships with the governor.
But Bhatia acknowledges that Menendez is one of the governor’s top allies on Capitol Hill. On a personal level, Menendez is a regular visitor of Puerto Rico, where some of his friends and relatives, including his brother, live. Like other politicians, Menendez has vacationed at the governor’s beach house. And his aides and supporters say the Cuban-American Menendez has a natural interest because of the shared history between Puerto Rico and Cuba.
The friendship grew when they served together in the House from 2000 to 2004. In 2003, Acevedo-Vilá helped propel Menendez to the third-highest Democratic position as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
The two have campaigned for each other, and since 1991, Menendez has raised more than $250,000 in Puerto Rico, mainly from donors in Acevedo-Vilá’s Popular Democratic Party, according to federal records.
Menendez and the governor have similar business interests in pharmaceuticals, with both Puerto Rico and New Jersey serving as major hubs for the country’s drug production.
On the House floor in 1996, Menendez opposed efforts to repeal tax breaks for pharmaceutical production in Puerto Rico, echoing Acevedo-Vilá’s position that it would “disenfranchise” the island. Last week, Menendez said that that stance had drawn support from people on all sides of the question of Puerto Rico’s future status and the drug industry he represents.
Unlike during the Puerto Rican debate, however, Menendez went against the pharmaceutical companies in supporting the importation of prescription drugs and opposing adding the 2003 prescription drug benefit to Medicare.
Ultimately, though, the most intense fight boils down to the status of Puerto Rico.
In 1998, Menendez was one of just 31 House Democrats who voted against a measure that called for a referendum for Puerto Rico to decide its future. The bill passed 209-208 but died in the Senate, under ferocious opposition from Acevedo-Vilá, who was the president of the Popular Democratic Party at the time. Since then, as senator, Menendez has offered legislation that would instead establish a convention in which delegates would help choose the future status of the island.
Menendez says he does not necessarily support the “enhanced commonwealth.” But when a White House task force in 2005 issued a report on Puerto Rico’s future and called the governor’s proposal unconstitutional, Menendez said the report was “neither serious nor objective.”
“He’s responding to his friendship with the governor,” said Kenneth McClintock, a proponent of statehood and president of Puerto Rico’s Senate.
Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño (R), the House’s Puerto Rican delegate, is a co-sponsor of the bill being marked up on Tuesday. He called it “odd” that Menendez is the lone Hispanic in the Senate opposing a similar bill drafted by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.). Fortuño is seeking the Statehood Party’s nomination for the 2008 governorship.
Afshin Mohamadi, a spokesman for Menendez, dismissed suggestions that the senator was beholden to the interests of the governor.
“We’ve seen people without much access to the facts make some pretty wild attempts at making the senator the boogeyman back in Puerto Rico,” Mohamadi said. |
