While we were all on vacation during the Fourth of July, Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rosselló took a first step in enacting his Tennessee Plan this past Monday, by naming the first four of seven members to a equality commission that will promote the results of a June statehood plebiscite vote in Washington, D.C., and ask for two seats in the Senate and five seats in the House of Reprsentatives, according to local reports.
The members for the commission are former governor Carlos Romero Barceló (you know, this guy), Rosselló’s dad Pedro Rosselló González (another former governor), Hall of Fame baseball player Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez (seriously, this is not a typo) and Charlie Rodríguez, who heads up Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party.
So these are the first four members who will head to DC and beg the federal government for statehood recognition by demanding that they be given congressional seats during Trump Era. We shudder to think what a future Trump tweet might be when the image of seven Puerto Ricans head up to Capitol Hill, when it’s clear to us that Trumpistas are some of the most vile anti-statehood supporters around.
The governor insisted that the costs to maintain the commission won’t cost the Puerto Rican government anything. The commission nominations are not finalized by Puerto Rico’s legislature, but that’s a formality.
For those who want to know, Rodríguez will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at the end of this month.