Jenniffer Gonzalez: “Elias Sanchez has not been and is not part of my campaign team”

Jennifer Gonzalez denied today, Friday, that Elias Sanchez Sifonte be part of his political campaign, given the abrupt departure of the representative Jose Enrique “Quiquito” Melendez of his team, after alleging that the lobbyist is part of the electoral machinery of the resident commissioner, in the face of a possible primary for the candidacy for governor in the New Progressive Party (PNP).

“The Atty. Elias Sanchez has not been and is not part of my campaign team. When I decide my political future, I will present my team”Gonzalez said in brief written statements shared with The new day.

At the end of July, the resident commissioner opened his campaign committee and announced to the former representative and former mayor of Toa Baja Anibal Vega Borges as its electoral director. At that time – and as he has done until now – he again refused to provide details about his political aspirations.

In the midst of the noise they have caused Melendez’s expressionsseveral PNP figures consulted by The new day This Friday they downplayed the possible collaboration of Sanchez Sifonte in Gonzalez’s campaign.

“I haven’t seen him, but if he enters the campaign, for me, there is no problem”indicated the former senator Nelson Cruz, Gonzalez’s ally. “Elias has been accused of a thousand things, and nothing has happened. He is a person who knows politics, he is a political strategist, the triumph of Ricardo Rossello (to the governorship) was, in part, thanks to the strategy he used, so I see no reason why he could or could not be in the commissioner’s campaign.”

Melendez alleged yesterday, Thursday, that Sanchez Sifonte is part of Gonzalez’s campaign team. The representative, who had previously expressed himself in favor of the resident commissioner, added that he will now remain “neutral” if a primary arises for the gubernatorial candidacy between her and the governor. Pedro Pierluisi.

“In political parties, the golden rule is to add, never subtract. Political parties are not like fraternities or secret societies, which give a black ball to those who want to join, so I don’t understand what this ‘if this guy is in, I’m not in’ thing is. In a political group, there are people from different formations, and everything is about adding to achieve the common good,” said the former senator. Orlando Pargawho also favors Gonzalez for the governorship.

For his part, the New Progressive representative Jose Aponte Hernandez He limited himself to saying that “everyone makes their own decisions” regarding Sanchez Sifonte’s participation in Gonzalez’s campaign. He was more concerned about the possibility of a primary, pointing out – like Melendez – that this process would not favor the PNP.

“Personally, I remain convinced that, more than the party, it is convenient for the ideal – and this is how the people have been expressing it to me – that Pierluisi’s ballot be maintained as governor, Gonzalez as commissioner,” he stated, describing Melendez’s decision as a “very personal”.

Meanwhile, the senator William Villafanewho does not rule out aspiring to be resident commissioner in Washington, expressed himself along the same lines as Aponte regarding the possibility of a primary and the resurgence of Sanchez Sifonte’s name in the PNP.

“All the people who participate in a campaign process have their positives and their not so positives. If he (Sanchez Sifonte) is in that campaign, I imagine that the commissioner will have seen the product of her previous participation in other campaigns where it was successful. “No one can question that he is a great political strategist and that he has had favorable results,” he abounded.

Sanchez Sifonte led the campaign for Rossello’s governorship in the 2016 elections and then was his representative before the Fiscal Oversight Board. Prior to Rossello’s resignation, in 2019, it emerged that the lobbyist was one of the people who participated – along with other officials – in the controversial Telegram chat which caused a series of mass protests that led to Rossello’s departure.