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Housing Ministry puts on PRD women's event

Balbina and anti-corruption czarina campaign with public funds
by Eric Jackson

The PRD, which is spending tens of thousands of dollars per day on advertising to promote President Torrijos's image and the party's chances to stay in power in the 2009 elections, has pushed the envelope to the point where it's now a central political issue in the nation's public discourse. The occasion was a September 23 "Voices of Women" luncheon that the Housing Ministry (MIVI) put on for 700 of the party faithful, at which they heard political speeches from "anti-corruption czarina" Alma Montenegro de Fletcher and such other PRD notables or supporters as the president's aunt Berta Torrijos, former PRD legislative candidate Maribel Coco, CONATO leader Norma Cano and Housing Minister Balbina Herrera herself.

"We all know of her aspirations as a possible candidate to run the city... I want to guarantee that this aspiration of Balbina's to occupy the mayor's office is realized," Montenegro told the women at the luncheon.

Although Balbina described the state-funded luncheon as an effort to build women's self-esteem, several of the speeches, most notably her own and Montenegro's, were about promoting Balbina's candidacy for mayor in 2009.

Campaigning during working hours by non-elected public officials (such as Herrera and Montenegro) and the use of public funds to support political candidates are clearly against the letter of Panamanian law. However, the PRD has two of the three seats on the Electoral Tribunal and the Electoral Prosecutor also comes from that party, and those factors plus last year's precedent of massive public financing of the "yes" campaign in the canal expansion referendum pretty much make that law a dead letter.

However, the offense was so flagrant that it has energized the opposition and set off internal dynamics within the Panameñista Party that are bound to affect the course of the 2009 campaign.

Herrera's one announced opponent in the Panama City mayoral race, independent Miguel Antonio Bernal, said it was not only a bad use of MIVI funds but a violation of several laws. But it was Panameñista communicating secretary Eduardo Camacho, also a lawyer, who filed the criminal charges with the Electoral Prosecutor, naming Herrera and Montenegro.

The charges were duly accepted at the Electoral Prosecutor's office and the prosecutor, Orlando Barsallo, told La Prensa that he was conducting an investigation against Montenegro. Few observers of the Panamanian political and legal systems expect much to come out of any legal procedures.

But the political fallout is another matter and rather quickly the issue split the Panameñistas, with party president Juan Carlos Varela and legislator José Blandón, both tepid critics of the use of public funds by the "yes" campaign in the 2006 referendum, picking up on Camacho's criticisms while Varela's rivals for the party's 2009 presidential nomination pointedly declined to jump on the bandwagon.

Meanwhile in the press, Herrera and Montenegro have had a harder time of it. La Estrella, for example, pointed out that in the 1984 election that General Manuel Antonio Noriega and his candidate Nicolas Ardito Barletta stole these sorts of state-financed campaign meetings were the rule and that in that election a candidate for legislator --- one Alma Montenegro de Fletcher --- used the facilities of the state-owned IDAAN water and sewer utility to train her campaign staff.

Balbina Herrera consistently registers in opinion polls as the most popular of the Torrijos administration ministers. However, she is the target of criticism by environmentalist, historic preservationist and neighborhood groups who object to her support for certain controversial developments and her tendency to overlook land use, environmental and transparency laws. While most of the opposition legislators have avoided criticizing her --- it does appear even this early that most of them figure that they'll be leaving government after the 2009 elections --- those opposition leaders who see an opportunity to beat the PRD are taking this opportunity to lash out at her.

And so it was that on December 17, at the invitation of former President Guillermo Endara, who heads the Vanguardia Moral de la Patria party, the presidents and top legal advisors of all the opposition political parties met for a power lunch of their own, at the Portogalo restaurant on 12 de Octubre, to coordinate support for the legal action that Camacho initiated and otherwise plot ways to make an issue out of public financing of the 2009 PRD campaign. It's not only a reflection of how flagrant the violation was, but also of the seriousness of the opposition parties in their attempts to negotiate some sort of united slate to run against the PRD in the next elections.