Como solicitado leE envío la lista de Congresistas de la delegación de Florida que aun no han co.doc 26K   View   Download

4 attachments — Download all attachments

GOP Platform on PR Statehood – 2012.jpg 343K   View   Share   Download

Miami Herald – OpEd – Congress Must Move on PR Statehood – March 6, 2013.docx 24K   View   Download

Ballot and Certified Results – Puerto Rico Political Status Plebiscite – November 6, 2012.pdf 920K   View   Download

Resolution – Young Republican National Federation – Supporting PR Statehood – April 27, 2013.pdf 294K   View   Download

• ****************************************

• Hernan Padilla	8:45 AM (18 minutes ago)

  Aquí va el mensaje sugerido par motivar a otros Congresistas a unirse al HR 2000.
  Pueden hacerle cambios a su estilo. Solo tiene que escribir el nombre del Congresista, y por su puesto toda la información al final del mensaje.

  Sugiero lo pasen a sus contactos en Florida y en otros estados para que le escriban al Congresista de Distrito, etc

  Hernan

  The Honorable (Full Name)
  (Room #) (Name) House Office Building
  United States House of Representatives
  Washington, DC 20515

  Dear Representative……..,

  I write to respectfully request that you support H.R. 2000, the Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act, as a co-sponsor. This bi-partisan bill responds to the historic referendum that took place last November in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico where 54% of U.S. citizen voters on the island said they did not consent to the current undemocratic territory status, and more voters expressed a desire for statehood than for any other status option. Given these momentous results the bill would provide for a federally authorized vote in Puerto Rico on the question of statehood and, if a majority of voters affirm Puerto Rico’s desire for statehood, it describes the stepsthat the President and Congress shall take.

  Puerto Rico has been a territory of the U.S. for the past 115 years and its approximately 3.7 million residents have been U.S. citizens since 1917. Yet as a result of that transitional territorial status, U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico do not have a democratic form of government at the national level. They are disenfranchised in the election for the President and the Vice President of the U.S., are not represented in the U.S. Senate, and their one representative in the U.S. House of Representatives can only vote in committees of the House. Not only can they not vote for the officials who make and enforce their national laws, but they are also treated unequally under those laws a fact that has held the island and its people back from reaching their true potential.
  .

  After the November plebiscite it’s clear that to the extent that the people of Puerto Rico had ever consented to the present territorial arrangement, that consent has now been withdrawn. The people of Puerto Rico have made countless contributions to the U.S. in times of peace and war, now Congress must show the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico and the 4.7 million Puerto Ricans living stateside that America will respect the results of that democratic process.
  .

  Providing an opportunity for these American citizens to vote in a federally authorized plebiscite on the question of statehood is the right thing to do and will strengthen America’s democracy, security and economy. To not take action would be an affront to the most fundamental principles, cherished values and worthiest traditions of the United States as stated in the American’s  Creed: “…agovernment of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed;  a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.”Therefore, I trust that you will give this matter due consideration and I thank you for that effort.
  .

  Sincerely,
  Constituent Name
  Address
  Email

• *****************************
• I pleased with Pierluisi’s response in the Hill’s Comgres Blog Good for him! We need to cover all bases. Hernan 

  Setting the record straight: A response to Puerto Rico’s governor By Pedro Pierluisi – 05/21/13 04:00 PM ET

  Puerto Rico’s governor recently wrote about the results of the U.S. territory’s November status referendum (“Moving forward together,” May 20), painting a picture that bears little resemblance to what actually transpired. The governor supports Puerto Rico’s current territory status, while I support statehood. I cannot comprehend how one can defend a status that deprives the 3.7 million U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico of voting representation in their national government, denies them equal treatment under federal law, and is the root cause of the significant economic and security problems on the island that the governor bemoans.

  Pro-status quo leaders are entitled to their beliefs. But they are not entitled to distort the referendum results simply because those results are not to their liking.

  The referendum’s first question asked if Puerto Rico should continue as a territory. Pro-status quo leaders urged a “yes” vote. Of the 1.8 million voters who answered, 970,910 voters — 53.97 percent — voted “no” and 828,077 voters — 46.03 percent — voted “yes.” This was the result: the vote totals and the percentages, certified by the Puerto Rico Elections Commission, consisting of representatives from each of the territory’s status-based parties.

  Pro-status quo politicians are now trying to claim that “No” actually obtained 51.7 percent of the vote, slicing 2.2 percent from the certified result. They manage this sleight of hand by adding 67,000 blank ballots and 13,000 invalidated ballots to the 1.8 million ballots properly cast, and using that total as the new denominator. Of course, they fail to note that counting blank and invalid ballots would also reduce the “yes” vote from 46 percent to 44 percent. Their goal is not intellectual coherence; it is to complicate and confuse.

  In any event, counting blank and invalid ballots contradicts general election law, Puerto Rico election law (which says a blank ballot “shall not be deemed to be a vote cast”) and common sense — one cannot divine voter intent from a blank or invalid ballot.

  In the referendum’s second question, voters expressed their preference among the three alternatives to territory status. Of the 1.36 million voters who chose an option, 834,191 voters — 61.16 percent — chose statehood. The number of votes for statehood on the second question exceeded the number of votes for the current status on the first question. For the first time, more people want Puerto Rico to become a state than to remain a territory.

  These are the official vote totals and percentages certified by the Elections Commission. This result cannot just be wished away by those who find it inconvenient.

  However, to downplay the results of the second question, the status quo party again summons the blank ballots argument. In the run-up to the vote, some pro-status quo leaders did encourage their followers to leave this question blank. Presumably, some — but by no means all — of the 500,000 ballots that were left blank were done so in response to that appeal. If blank ballots are included in the vote total, the theory runs, the 61 percent vote for statehood becomes 45 percent.

  This argument falls flat. In our democracy, outcomes are determined by ballots properly cast. We can speculate that some voters may have left the second question blank because they prefer the current territory status to its alternatives. Those voters were able to vote for that status in the first question, so their viewpoint was reflected in the results. Others may have declined to answer because they believed another option should have been on the ballot — a best-of-all-worlds proposal promoted by the governor’s party called “Enhanced Commonwealth.” But federal officials have consistently rejected this proposal on legal and policy grounds, so it could not appear as a choice on the second question.

  The governor appropriately praises President Obama for the actions he has taken in response to the November referendum, but ignores the fact that, after the vote, a White House spokesman confirmed that “a majority chose statehood in the second question” — rejecting the theory that blank ballots should be computed in the vote total.

  Since the referendum, my explanation of the outcome has not deviated from the certified results, which demonstrate that a majority of my constituents want to end territory status, a supermajority favor statehood among the alternatives and more voters want statehood than territory status. Now the federal government must respond.

  To obstruct change, the status quo party misrepresents the referendum results. The same voters who placed the governor in office also voted against territory status and for statehood. He ignores them at his own peril.

  Pierluisi, a Democrat, is Puerto Rico’s sole representative in the U.S. Congress.

  Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/lawmaker-news/301073-setting-the-record-straight-a-response-to-puerto-ricos-governor