Profile: Del. Luis Fortuno, R-Puerto Rico

UPI ^ | 3/14/05 | Lindsey Kerr

[cll]

WASHINGTON, March 12 : Del.Luis Fortuno, R-Puerto Rico, recently visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center and met with wounded Puerto Rican soldiers. Soldiers who, while courageous enough to die for their country, Fortuno said, could not vote for president.

"It was difficult for me to look them in the eye," he said."This is morally wrong in the 21st century."

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, meaning its citizens pay no federal income tax, cannot vote for president, but can serve in the military. And while Fortuno, 45, does represent Puerto Rico in Congress, he is only able to vote in a committee and not on actual House legislation.

Despite his non-voting status, the Republican Party pushed hard for Fortuno's election. The GOP picked Fortuno to speak at the Republican National Convention, assuming he could inspire the morally conservative Latino base to go to the polls.

The conservatives turned out in Puerto Rico for the 2004 elections as well. Fortuno is the second Republican to hold the Puerto Rican seat in Congress since its creation. The first was Federico Degetau, who was elected in 1901.

"The electors in Puerto Rico are now a lot more conservative than most people think," said Fortuno."I focused on lower taxes and pro-family policies. (Those) were the winners."

Even if that's the case, his policies won by a smaller margin than he would have liked. Fortuno election was determined by less than one-half of a percent of the vote.

Despite a split in the Puerto Rico's ideology, Fortuno is hopeful for unity.

"I have to show that indeed there is more that unites us than divides us," Fortuno said. "We can focus on our differences at times, but at the end of the day we're all Americans."

Fortuno also has his eye on other political issues, namely Social Security. Puerto Ricans are full participants in the United States Social Security program and Fortuno plans to stay fully briefed on the reform process.

"Sticking your head in the sand won't solve anything," Fortuno said. "I don't want to wait around 13 years for a major problem to hit."

Ensuring the future of Social Security is not just a political issue for Fortuno, but a moral one as well.

"You have to take care of those who came before you," he said. "There is a lot to be learned from them."

Fortuno applies this value to his family life, often taking his three children to visit their extended family and grandparents on the weekends. Fortuno and his wife Luce have triplets.

"Now that I travel (from Washington to Puerto Rico), it's difficult, but we make the time when we can," Fortuno said.

According to Fortuno, taking the effort to spend time with his children is the most important thing he can do as a father. When he was living in Puerto Rico, he drove his children to school every morning, his wife picked them up after school, and they all ate dinner together. He plans on resuming this tradition when his family moves to Washington at the end of the school year.

"Even though our children are now 13, we still put them to bed and pray with them," Fortuno said. "It gives them a frame of reference."

[cll]

"the people are lazy, they brag about the money the USA sends them, they take no responsibility for their actions."

Well, ma'am, the prejudice red flag is raised by the above generalization of your authorship. I live in Puerto Rico, and have completed a 22-year military career, am a business executive, in addition to operating a small business on the side. So, I'm a Puerto Rican, who lives in Puerto Rico and lazy I am not. Most if not all the people around me are like that. Tourism is only the six largest industry on the island, but I know for a fact that it is run by very professional and capable individuals. So your observations are patently false and mean-spirited and based on a single event. Drop me a line and I'll refer you to a good tour operator the next time you venture down here. If your honeymoon was more than 20 years ago I can assure you that you'll be impressed by how far we've come along in that short period.

And since I live on the island there is no way I would have voted for Kerry, even if I wanted to, which I didn't.

So all I ask of you and people like you is to stop shooting from the hip, give us your fellow Americans in the territories some slack, and realize that this disenfranchisement and discrimination against millions of citizens of the United States of America must end. 107 years is too much.

[B.O. Plenty]

Thanks....

[TheShadowKnows2005]

Just a small correction to the article re: Fortuño. The comment is made that residents of Puerto Rico "don't pay federal taxes". that statement is not altogether correct. Residents of Puerto Rico who work for the federal government pay federal taxes. Also, residents of the island who DON'T work for the federal government, don't pay federal INCOME tax. They do pay various other federal taxes, however, such as the social security tax, unemployment tax, etc.

I'm not sure if these numbers are right,m becouse I don't have the documents in front of me now, but the relative proportions are correct (in other words, we can change the numbers, but the relationship of one to another will remain the same).

It has been estimated that residents of Puerto Rico, if the island is admitted as a state, would pay about $2.2 billion in diverse federal taxes. Of these, approximately $1.8 billion are already being paid. So the "incremental tax burden" for the new state would not be that significant.

Of course, we are not discussing here whether the federal tax structure, as it exists, and current spending policies, are fair or even appropriate. That is a separate issue. I'm sure if various federal "sink-hole" programs were to be eliminated, the tax burden on ALL american citizens would be justifiably reduced.