Caldero Sails to his Nomination!

Well, well—lots to worry about today.

There’s our poor governor, who just can’t get it right. Readers will remember that our designated police chief had a curious habit, come springtime or tax time, of forgetting that he was married. So there were, well, irregularities or perhaps omissions or maybe you might be bold enough to say errors. But these Tuller—just remembered the guy’s name, sorry—resolved like a man to fix. So he did, to the tune of $30,000, and where did that get him? Was anybody satisfied? Any pats on the back? Calls at midnight to hold an emergency meeting to approve him?

Right—so then the governor was stuck looking about for a replacement. But not a problem, because down in the central part of the island there was a guy who had worked long years in the force, and he was man enough to step up to the plate. True, José Caldero, the gentleman in question, had retired from the force in the last administration, and was working as an asesor en seguridad pública para el Municipio de Caguas, in the words of a local paper.

Is it me—the cynical son of two newspaper people—or is there something just a bit vague about this title, which in English reads something like a public security advisor for the town of Caguas? That, coupled with fact that the last administration—the one in which Caldero resigned—favored statehood, whereas Caguas favors our current muddled mess, instantly suggests that Caldero left or was squeezed out from one position and sank gratefully onto a nice, plummy position. You know, one of those positions that are created so quickly that the first order of business of the person filling the position is to write the job description.

And in fact, there were hints in the press that…well, wait. Here’s what The New Day published last Sunday:

Por entender que introducirá la política en la Policía, el presidente de la Asociación de Miembros de la Policía, José Taboada de Jesús, rechazó este domingo la designación del coronel José Caldero López como superintendente del cuerpo de seguridad pública.

(Believing that it would introduce politics into the Police Department, the president of  the Association of Police Members, José Taboada de Jesús, came out Sunday against the designation of Coronel José Caldero López as superintendent of the body of public safety)

Unfurl your brows, Concerned Readers—the designee has cleared this up:

"Yo no soy político. Yo soy policía. Trabajé en el plan y la plataforma de seguridad (para el PPD), pero los que me conocen saben que el coronel Caldero no es político, que siempre ha sido policía". 

(Loose translation: “I’m not politician. I’m a cop. I worked on the security platform for the party in power, but everybody who knows José Caldero knows that I’m not a politician, that I have always been a cop…”.)

OK—got that cleared up!

Then yesterday, a legislator came up with a charge: Caldero had had a role in rearming Pablo Casellas, the son of Salvador Casellas, a federal judge. Pablo went on to—allegedly—stage a carjacking and then use the “stolen” weapon to kill his wife. Here’s what the legislator said:

Detalló que el 6 de febrero de 2007, el entonces superintendente auxiliar en Servicios al Ciudadano, José Marrero Ruiz, envió una carta a Casellas indicándole la orden de remoción de su licencia de armas (no. 7557) y el permiso de tiro al blanco (no. 14499). En dicha carta se le presentó a Casellas, de acuerdo con la legisladora, la opción de solicitar una vista administrativa si se encontraba inconforme con la decisión.

Charbonier indicó que “extrañamente, al día siguiente, Herman J. Wirshing, jefe de alguaciles federales y amigo cercano a la familia Casellas, así como del propio Caldero, le suscribe una comunicación, a puño y letra, al ahora nominado expresándole su disponibilidad para eliminar la orden de revocación”.

(She pointed out the on 6 Feb 07, the then auxiliary superintendent of Citizen Services, José Marrero Ruiz, sent a letter to Casellas indicating the cancellation of his license to bear arms (no. 7557) and permission to shoot at targets (no. 14499). In this letter, and according to the legislator, Casellas was presented with the option to request an administrative hearing if he disagreed with the decision.

Charbonier indicated that “strangely, the next day, Herman J. Wirshing, chief of the federal marshals and a close friend of the Casellas family, as well as of Caldero, wrote a communication, in his own hand, to the current nominee expressing his willingness to eliminate the order of suspension.”)

I know—this situation is raising your blood pressure, but relax, because guess what? Caldero has an explanation for this, too.

“Lo que existe es un documento que me envió a mí Herman Wirshing y yo se lo referí... Yo no tenía potestad sobre eso”, indicó. 

(“What exists is a letter which Wirshing sent to me and I just sent it on. I didn’t have any power over that,” he indicated.)

And today? All going well for Caldero?

Absolutely. All is completely under control and proceeding normally, though the New Day has pointed out that there is an unsettled lawsuit in place against Caldero. And in the suit, brought undoubtedly out of vengeance and a thirst to smear the name of an honest man in the mud, a couple of police officers allege that Caldero, with other high-ranking officials, created a hostile environment and improperly transferred them, after they had blown the whistle on some corrupt cops.

And corrupt they were—to the point of…OK, last quote:

El exteniente fue acusado el 18 de diciembre de 2008 por la Fiscalía federal por escoltar y prestar vigilancia a cargamentos de droga mientras ejercía como jefe de la División de Arrestos Especiales y posteriormente fue condenado a 14 años de prisión.   

(The ex-lieutenant was accused 18 Dec 08 by the Federal District Attorney of escorting and guarding cargos of drugs while he worked as chief of the Division of Special Arrests and was then convicted to 14 years of prison.)

Caldero’s defense? That the officers who sued him had failed lie detector tests, and he had had to transfer them….

There is something odd about this appointment, though, however much all else is going swimmingly. Because three chiefs ago, Hector Pesquera was making $283, 100.

Then, James Tuller was making $195,000….

And our new top cop? Well, according to the governor, he’ll get $106, 000

Are we—by any chance—getting what we’ll be paying for?

An Excellent Guy

On an island where the seriously screwy tends to be treated, well, seriously, even this situation has 3.6 million people scratching their heads.

Simply put, James Tuller, who had been chief of the New York City Police Department Transportation Bureau and who for four months had been acting as the designated chief of the Puerto Rico Police Department turned out…

…to be cheating on his taxes.

Or maybe not—who knows? But Tuller has been married since 1996, and yet for four years he filed as a single person. So that presented a bit of a challenge, since those pesky senators in charge of approving his nomination were insisting on seeing the tax returns. So what did Tuller do?

Well, he had a couple of strategies—the first of which was to stall. And though it’s true that we tend to move a bit more slowly than those goose-stepping Germans, stalling is a tactic that only works so long.

So the next thing to do was to run up to New York and amend his tax returns. But it turned out—curious, this—that there was a little difference between what he had to pay as a single person versus a married person. Oh, and there were penalties, as well. Nevertheless, he forked over $30,000 to the State of New York. (according to one report, he took five days off work to go up to New York to settle these trifles and get the silly paperwork…)

Did that make the senators happy? By no means. Intent on picking every nit, the senators demanded that Tuller pay the IRS as well. Then they’d see about the nomination—no promises.

So that led to the next problem, which was that Tuller didn’t have the dough, despite making close to 200,000 bucks a year. He was willing, though, to agree to a payment plan. But the senators still balked at assuring him of his nomination. So on Monday night, after 121 days on the job, this excellent though somewhat forgetful public servant made the decision: he would retire his name for consideration.

This has left even members of the governor’s own party wondering what in the world went wrong.  Part of it, of course, was that there was a scramble to find a police superintendent in the first place, since Tuller’s predecessor had up and left one day, all but flipping the bird at the governor as he rode to the airport. And it came at a rather poor time, since the senate was not in session, and it was Christmas.

Ah, Christmas—which in Puerto Rico generally begins the day after Thanksgiving Day and continues until at least the end of January—Fiestas de la Calle de San Sebastián—after the octavitas. So really, it’s only been a couple of months since any of us have had time to trouble ourselves about inessentials like appointing a police chief.

Well, it’s all a little troubling, since we also don’t have a secretary of justice, since that guy got into a little trouble when he went to the police station with his friend. His friend, you see, had been drinking at a party—well, that’s what you do at parties, isn’t it? And look, you gotta get home, don’t you? Does everybody have to be so unreasonable?

Right, so everything would have been fine if only the friend hadn’t pulled out his cell phone while driving—a crime in Puerto Rico. And of course, there had to be that nosy cop, who pulled the friend over, and noted the strong smell of alcohol.

So the papers had a field day with the Secretary of Justice, who had done what any friend would do: gone to the aid of his friend to the police headquarters, to ensure that everything was handled correctly. What harm could there be in that?

So it’s all a bit dampening, especially for the governor, who had to come out in today’s print version of El Nuevo Día as saying, “entiendo, por la información pública que ha surgido….” Or, “I understand, from the public information that has surfaced…” The Gov, apparently, is a regular guy like you or me—getting his news by reading the paper on the bus to work. See?

And all this comes at a rather unsettling time, since the United States Department of Justice…wait, let those fire-breathing liberals from the ACLU tell you about it:

A report released by the ACLU in June 2012 concludes that the Puerto Rico Police Department is plagued by a culture of unrestrained abuse and impunity. The PRPD – which, with over 17,000 officers, is the second-largest police department in the U.S – is charged with policing the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

In July 2013, the U.S. Justice Department entered into a legally binding consent decree with the Puerto Rican government that requires sweeping reforms to end the widespread police brutality on the island.

Well, to make sure that the police department complies with the “sweeping reforms,” Tuller appointed a retired US Army colonel, Michelle Hernández de Fraley, to oversee the whole process. And good luck to her, since the US Department of Justice determined that the police practiced discrimination, especially against blacks and Dominicans, were poorly trained, and didn’t investigate cases of domestic abuse. Oh, and that they used excessive force, especially in cases of peaceful protest.

Nor is that the only challenge she might face, if nominated and approved. Because we have more police officers than any place I have ever seen—but the monthly pay for our cops? It’s $2,600, or slightly over 30,000 dollars annually. On the island, that’s not bad—but consider, the other news of this morning: the police hauled in nearly two tons of cocaine in an interception off the north coast of Puerto Rico. In fact, in March alone, the police have pulled in nearly three tons of cocaine.

And what does that mean?

Well, we’re awash in drugs, and with the drugs comes the money, and with the money? Corruption—which is a distinct possibility. How much honesty does a base salary of $30,000 buy you?

The sad news is that the previous chief of police was—by all accounts—a very effective guy who had the support of the force, even as he was changing it. And the one who just left?

By all accounts an excellent guy…

Look, he just cheated on his taxes….

A Walk Through a New Day

Right—time to take a walk through the new day. Or rather, The New Day, since that’s what the premiere and maybe at this point only newspaper on the island is called: El Nuevo Día. So what kind of day are we having?

Rotten, if the Day is to be believed. We start off grimly enough with the news that many of us, living in violence-prone communities, now have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder—the same PTSD that soldiers coming back from Iraq are experiencing. So what percentage of the population suffers from PTSD in these communities? Forty percent.

I know all of this because I saw the headline online—The Day, however, has taken to not publishing its main story online: you have to buy the paper in paper, or buy the paper in eInk (at last! A red squiggle I like—I’m totally with you, computer….) So I went to the drug store, where I bought the paper—approximately the size of the New York City telephone book, or at least the one twenty years ago, before people had smart phones….

“It’s Like Living a Civil War,” says the lead story, which goes on to point out that in the last six years, we’ve had 5,637 murders on the island versus 2,291 deaths of soldiers in Afghanistan. Granted, at its peak the US presence in Afghanistan was only 140,000 soldiers, versus a population of 3.7 million people on the island. But still—what to make of the fact that New York City, with 8 million people or so, has considerably fewer murders than Puerto Rico? 

Particularly worrisome is how are kids are doing: 40,000 have major depression and 53,000 are said to have suicidal ideation. Say what? Almost by definition, wouldn’t you assume that anyone with suicidal ideation suffers from major depression? Seems screwy to me….

We are, in short, all cocked up. So what’s the solution? Well, the Day has the answer (or perhaps The Answer), and that is integration of programs that have proven effective in Puerto Rico. And the Day lists them; curiously, all but one of the nine programs is named in English.

Well, that’s good to know, and very much needed, because on turning the page we get to the story about the school principal who got gunned down on a highly transited road while driving at 7:30 in the evening. Oh, and there are no leads, though lieutenant Elexis Torres, who’s investigating the case, said there has to be someone who saw the car, or the color of the car, or even the license plate of the car. But guess what? No one’s talking….

OK—wrap my head around that, and doesn’t it seem logical that the next page is a long interview with our new chief of police, James Tuller, who was born in New York but lived on the island for much of his childhood and has “close ties” to the island. He has, however, 40 years experience of being a cop, all of it in New York City.

And he was around for the “broken window” program, more formally known as the Bratton Plan. You’ll remember the theory—go after the small stuff and the big stuff will take care of itself. So that meant cracking down on people who were jumping over the turnstiles in the subway, fixing broken windows, fining the guys out washing car windows and shaking down the motorists who hadn’t wanted the service.

Well, Tuller is going to have his hands full. Or rather, there are many opportunities here. We could start with the people who are selling parking on public streets, and promising to offer “protection” for your car. Who knows what might happen? You wouldn’t want to come back and find your windshield broken—would you? Just a few bucks and everything will be all right. Worth it, really, for the peace of mind….

Right, skip gently over the news that DTOP—that’s the Department of Transportation and Public Works—is offering a 35% amnesty on traffic tickets. Oh, and we’re getting a new president of the University of Puerto Rico, which, it turns out, gets a third of its funds from federal money.

Lastly, we come to an opinion piece by Benjamín Torres Gotay, who uses the sorry situation of the putative super port of Ponce as a metaphor for our society.

Ponce, you see, is our second largest city, and is incidentally one of the fifteen most crime-ridden cities from page 4. And twenty years ago, the mayor of Ponce hit on the idea: expand and dredge the harbor, get the big cranes in, and make a super port. Merchandise would come in from Asia or wherever in huge ships, and then get put into smaller ships to be shipped around the Caribbean and the Americas.

Great idea, right? Nor is it just an idea—since in the twenty years since the idea was proposed, some quarter of a billion dollars has been spent. And not without something to show for it.

I’ve seen them—the two cranes—and they are massive. I saw them on a voyage into the absurd that my friend Harry drove me through last year. First we passed a wind farm with some 50 or 60 massive turbines that were supposed to be spinning. They weren’t, so what was the problem? Well, the company that made them had announced that the blade was falling on some identical models somewhere else in the world. But that wasn’t the only problem, because if seemed that the valley had insufficient wind. In fact, there is nowhere on the island where there is enough wind to make this project profitable.

We then got to the Playa de Ponce , a community so poor that a nun—the sister of a former governor—had to start a community center for the people there. And what was there? Two enormous piles of junk metal.

“It’s the only thing we export,” said Harry gloomily. “Oh sure, some specialty coffee, and some specialty fruits—but nothing else. The only thing that the world wants or needs from Puerto Rico? Our trash—that’s all we produce….”

Then we went a bit further, and came to the massive cranes—erected who knows when and never used. What’s happened? Well, they’ve been the focus of political squabbles –the most recent of which is whether the project should be in the hands of the municipality of Ponce or of the central government.

Guys?

Twenty years, and you are arguing this? And Torres Gotay says it best: in the time that we have spent arguing whether the color should be yellow or orange, the Dominican Republic—as corrupt as it is—has managed to build a super port of its own. So guess what? We may as well skip the idea, wait until the salt air takes its toll and the cranes are in imminent danger of collapse.

And then what?

Well, there’s a nice pile of junk metal nearby….