Readers React: Resolve Puerto Rico’s political status once and for all before the next storm
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To the editor: Sam Erman, an assistant law professor at USC, deserves kudos for identifying Puerto Rico’s political status as a major factor in its political impotence.
As a former aide to a governor of Puerto Rico, I saw this discriminatory treatment up close during lobbying trips to Massachusetts and New York. Both states are represented by two U.S. senators and a proportional number of House members with the power to vote. In contrast, Puerto Rico has one nonvoting delegate in Congress to represent 3.6 million American citizens.
A status referendum that permanently resolves Puerto Rico’s relationship with the U.S. should be part of the island’s financial recovery plan from bankruptcy and Hurricane Maria.
Gene Roman, New York
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