Roberto Arango

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Roberto Arango-Vinent is a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico since January 10, 2005.

[edit] Personal life

Senator Arango is married to the former Ana Margarita Barba and the father of one daughter. He is a 1986 graduate of Louisiana State University (LSU). Prior to throwing his hat in the ring for the 2003 New Progressive Party primaries for San Juan district senator, he was a food importer and wholesaler and made a point in his first campaign that he came from the private sector and was not a career politician.

[edit] Public life

In his first political race, he was the top vote-getter in the NPP primaries for San Juan district senator. In the general election on November 4, 2004 he was also the top vote-getter. He and running mate Carlos Díaz defeated incumbent Popular Democratic Party senators Margarita Ostolaza and José Ortiz Daliot.

Upon taking office, Senate President Kenneth McClintock appointed him chairman of the Senate Commerce, Tourism and Infrastructure Committee, a post he held until the May 2005 committee chairmanship reorganization triggered by former Governor Pedro Rosselló's unsuccessful attempt to topple and replace McClintock.

He serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of State Governments' Eastern Regional Conference (CSG/ERC). An alumni of CSG/ERC's Eastern Leadership Academy, he was elected president of the class of 2006. He was a member of CSG's Toll Fellows Program class of 2007.

Active in the Republican Party, he is the San Juan congressional district GOP committee chair and vice-chaired the Bush/Cheney Puerto Rico campaign in 2004.

Within the New Progressive Party (NPP) he was chair of its statehood ideological institute until he was removed for supporting Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño's gubernatorial bid against NPP President Pedro Rosselló.

Arango is a candidate for renomination in the 2008 NPP primary and for reelection in that year's general election.