Puerto Rico governor-elect wants transparent transition

Puerto Rico Governor-elect Ricardo Rossello said Thursday that he wants a transparent transition after meeting with outgoing Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla in their first get-together to discuss the transfer of power.
"We want the government's situation to be known," said Rossello, with the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, or PNP, and who on Tuesday won the island's gubernatorial election with 41.76 percent of the vote, according to figures released by the state election commission.
Rossello said that in his conversation with Garcia Padilla he asked the governor to order the state agency chiefs and fiscal and debt advisers to place at the disposal of his team all relevant information they possess about the island's economic status.
"Between (Friday) and Saturday, there will be technical meetings - between the two teams - on the fiscal issue," said the governor-elect, after insisting that the aim is transparency and that there is no intention to assign blame to anyone for the current situation.
Rossello emphasized that as soon as he has a true perspective on the situation it will be easier to begin working to deal with it, and to do so acquiring in-depth knowledge of the island's public accounts will be required, a task to be undertaken by his technical team comprised of Carlos Vivoni, Jose Izquierdo, Manuel Laboy and Itza Garcia.
"It's important for this transition to be one where the flow of information is clear, where we can show the people of Puerto Rico what is happening," he said.
Regarding the immediate measures he will take when he is sworn in as governor, Rossello said that letters will be sent via the Department of Education to families to make clear that responsibility for children's sex education falls to parents.
He expressed his rejection of the letter sent to families in recent months by the Department of the Family in which authorities said that students in the public education system could choose the school uniform they wanted to wear in accord with their gender identity, regardless of their gender at birth.
"The law in which the notice of gender perspectives is based will remain. What we will change will be the component that isn't tradition. Our commitment with Puerto Rico is that the power to decide where and how sex education is given to the children rests with the parents," Rossello said at a press conference at La Fortaleza after his meeting with the governor.
He also said that one of his first executive orders after being sworn in will be to establish equal pay for male and female government workers having the same jobs.

 Puerto Rico governor-elect wants transparent transition

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