Transition team news: Buffalo Puerto Ricans other Latinos still absent

If you have not been appointed to the Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo transition team yet  have some patience. There appears to be a political and financial pecking order so Puerto Ricans and other Latinos here must wait their turn to be named to one of the two groups, the Council of Economic & Fiscal Advisors and the Committee on Economic Development and Labor.

Mario Baeza, transition team member

First in line it seems are those who opened up their wallets as The Buffalo News reported in checking the election board filings some of the supporters over the years poured over one half million to Cuomo’s political campaign chest, reading like a who’s who in corporate America.

Still, no need to lose hope yet more members to be named soon. There is one Puerto Rican co-chair of the transition committee Representative Nydia Velazquez from New York City.

In the Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisors so far numbering twenty-one are  two Latinos  Mario Baeza, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Baeza Group, a merchant bank firm with controlling interests in media, real estate development and entertainment companies.  Mr. Baeza is Chairman of New York City’s upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. The other Latina on the Council  is Rossana Rosado, Publisher and CEO  El Diario La Prensa.

And on the Committee on Economic Development and Labor with thirty-two members in charge of helping Cuomo tap the talent for his administration in various positions is Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. and Assemblyman Peter Rivera, a lawyer, one of the highest ranking Latinos in New York State government serving for eighteen years. There is a total of fifty-three members between the two groups.

Assemblyman Peter Rivera, transition team member