Francisco Domenech

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Francisco J. Domenech (born April 29, 1978 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a former Director of the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico (2005–2008).

Superdelegate controversy

Domenech was a Superdelegate to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) by virtue of the position he held for more than five (5) years with the Young Democrats of America (YDA.) As such, he was one of 796 persons nationwide, seven of which live in Puerto Rico, who could have been called upon to determine who would be the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee before Senator Barack Obama clinched the nomination on June 3, 2008.[1]

Politics

In the political sphere, Domenech, a supporter of admitting Puerto Rico as the 51st state of the United States, in 2005 was elected Vice President for Development of the YDA and on July 21, 2007[2] became a member of the DNC, when YDA's national convention elected him as its Democratic National Committeeman. A Superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, in December 2007 Mr. Domenech was appointed by Senator Hillary Clinton to Co-Chair her presidential campaign's Hillblazers,[3] a national network of young professionals and students. He also served as Deputy Coordinator of Sen. Clinton's successful primary campaign in Puerto Rico, where she polled a 68-32 margin over Sen. Obama in the June 1, 2008 presidential primary. In 2004 Mr. Domenech was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where he served as one of the whips for the Puerto Rico Delegation. Prior to this, in May 2003 he became the founding President of the Puerto Rico Young Democrats (PRYD). During his tenure as President of the PRYD's, Domenech led a team of 14 young Puerto Rican professionals in Central Florida that campaigned for the Kerry/Edwards ticket. At the end of November 2004, Domenech also organized and hosted YDA's Fall National meeting in San Juan. In 2010 he was reelected for his third and last time as YDA's Democratic National Committeeman. Once his current term ends, he will be ineligible by age for reelection.

Professional background

While practicing law at the young age of 27, Domenech argued on behalf of the Puerto Rico Senate before an en banc hearing of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the case of Igartúa De La Rosa v. United States of America.[4] His participation was hailed by some commentators in the Puerto Rico media as outstanding. He has been involved in complex litigations that have reached both Puerto Rico's Supreme Court, as well as the Federal District Court. He has also appeared before Puerto Rico's Supreme Court,[5] as well as its Court of Appeals.

In 2005 he was appointed jointly by Senate of Puerto Rico President Kenneth McClintock and Puerto Rico House of Representatives Speaker José Aponte as Director of the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico, the local legislative equivalent of the United States Congress' Congressional Research Service with a staff of about 120 and a budget of $10 million. During his tenure, he streamlined the staff, expanded the Office's Tomás Bonilla Legislative Library, including access to the blind and the physically handicapped, operated a 100-intern Summer program three years in a row, and turned budget surpluses during four consecutive fiscal years.

In early 2013, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court in Domenech Fernández v. Integration Corporate Services, et al[6] ruled unanimously in his favor in a case arising from a shareholders' dispute within the firm for which he had previously worked. In the Supreme Court's Opinion, the Court for the first time interprets Puerto Rico's 2009 Corporations Law, it ruled that whenever fraud or irregularities are alleged in the keeping of a corporation's records, as Domenech alleged, evidence extraneous to the corporate records will be admitted.[7]

He currently maintains a bipartisan governmental affairs practice in Puerto Rico, Politank*,[8] which hired former Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock and Guillermo San Antonio Acha, former Legal Counsel to former Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá.

Education

A twice graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, (UPR) first in 1999 when he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, and then in 2003 when he obtained his Juris Doctor degree from UPR's School of Law. During his years at UPR, Domenech was President of the General Student Body Council during the 1999-2000 academic year, a position that had never been held by a statehooder before or since him.[citation needed]During that same year he served as an Academic Senator before the UPR Río Piedras campus Academic Senate. Prior to that, from 1998 to 1999, Domenech was UPR's College of Social Sciences Student Body President.

Academically, Domenech was a twice participant (2002 & 2003) in the international rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition [9] on behalf of UPR's School of Law. He ranked in the top 15% of oralist. Since then he has served as a judge at the international round levels of the competition held in Washington D.C. Additionally, Domenech has lectured on the right to freedom of expression both under US and international law, research prior to drafting a bill, how to draft a bill, how a bill becomes law, and the Puerto Rico legislative process.

Family history

He is the great grand nephew of Manuel V. Domenech, an engineer, who was a member of the first Puerto Rico House of Representatives after the Spanish American War of 1898, and was reelected in 1902 and 1904.[citation needed] During 1904 he served as Mayor for the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 1914 he was appointed to serve as Commissioner of the Interior, becoming one of the first Puerto Ricans to hold an officer's position in the Cabinet which was appointed by President of the United States. Also, he was later appointed as Treasurer of Puerto Rico serving in this capacity from 1930-1935. Unlike his great grand nephew, Manuel Domenech was a very active member of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico attending the 1928 Republican National Convention as an alternate delegate.[citation needed]

Mr. Domenech is also a second cousin of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Secretary of Natural Resources,[10] Douglas Domenech who served in the Bush Administration as Deputy Chief of Staff for the United States Department of the Interior.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Superdelegate
  2. ↑ YouTube - YDA DNC Man Francisco Domenech: 2007 YDA National Conventio
  3. ↑ Hillblazers
  4. ↑ USCA1 Opinion
  5. ↑ Lexjuris
  6. ↑ http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/prnt_ed/supreme-court-decides-against-lobbyists-soto-miranda-zuniga-lopez-8109.html
  7. ↑ http://www.ramajudicial.pr/ts/2013/2013tspr1.pdf
  8. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/Politank
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/MCDO07_20100106-223206/315927/
  11. ↑ "Boricua en la Casa Blanca, 18 Feb 2008, El Nuevo Día, accesible through paid subscription to www.endi.com archives

External links

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