Jenniffer González

Jenniffer González
Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
Assumed office
January 3, 2017
Governor Ricardo Rosselló
Preceded by Pedro Pierluisi
Chair of the Puerto Rico Republican Party
Assumed office
November 1, 2015
Deputy Abel Nazario
Preceded by Carlos Méndez
Minority Leader of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
In office
January 12, 2013 – January 2, 2017
Preceded by Luis Raúl Torres
Succeeded by Tatito Hernández
29th Speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
In office
January 2, 2009 – January 2, 2013
Preceded by José Aponte Hernández
Succeeded by Jaime Perelló
Member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
from the At-large district
In office
January 2, 2005 – January 2, 2017
Member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives
from the 4th district
In office
February 28, 2002 – January 2, 2005
Preceded by Edison Misla Aldarondo
Succeeded by Liza Fernández Rodríguez
Personal details
Born Jenniffer Aydin González Colón
(1976-08-05) August 5, 1976
San Juan, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Nationality Puerto Rican, American
Political party New Progressive
Other political
affiliations		 Republican
Education University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (BA)
Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, Aibonito (JD, LLM)
Website House website

Jenniffer Aydin González Colón[lower-alpha 1] (born August 5, 1976) is a Puerto Rican politician and the current and 29th Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico.[1] González' political experience is extensive, having occupied leadership positions in the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (PNP in Spanish) and in the Republican Party of the United States. These positions included being the chairwoman of the Puerto Rico Republican Party, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, minority leader of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, and vice-chair of the PNP.[2][3][4][5]

González is the youngest person to be resident commissioner and the first woman to occupy the role.[6]

Early life and education

González was born in San Juan to Jorge González and Nydia Colón, both lifelong public servants. She graduated from University Gardens High School and then studied her bachelor's degree in Political Science at the University of Puerto Rico. Subsequently, she obtained both her juris doctor and an LL.M. from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law [7]

Career

Representative

González was first elected to the House of Representatives in a special election held on February 24, 2002, to fill the vacancy left by former House Speaker Edison Misla Aldarondo, after his resignation as Representative from San Juan's 4th District. She was the first female elected representative of San Juan's Fourth District, the youngest member of the 14th Legislative Assembly, and the youngest woman ever to be elected to the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly. Before being elected as Representative, González served as Chairwoman of the San Juan New Progressive Party Youth Organization and was very active in the Pro-Statehood Students movement while attending college.

González was re-elected in the 2004 Puerto Rico general elections, this time as an At-Large Representative. She served as Chairwoman of the House Government Affairs Committee, and as ranking member of the Budget, San Juan Development, Women's Affairs, and Internal Affairs Committees, as well as the Joint Commission for the Revision of the Civil Code of Puerto Rico.

Speaker of the House

González was re-elected for another term at the 2008 Puerto Rico general elections obtaining the most votes from her party, and the second most votes overall.[8] At the age of 32, she was elected House Speaker by members of her New Party for Progress delegation during a caucus held on November 7, 2008. González defeated incumbent House Speaker José Aponte Hernández in his bid for re-election to that post, becoming the youngest person in Puerto Rican history to be elected Speaker of the House, and the third woman to hold that seat.

Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico

In November 2015 González was unanimously elected as Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Puerto Rico after being the party's Vice-Chair for eight years. She succeeded Aguadilla mayor Carlos Méndez in the position that once was held by former Governor Don Luis A. Ferré, founder of the New Progressive Party and Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa the founder of both the Republican Party and the statehood movement in Puerto Rico.[9][10]

House minority leader

In 2012, González was again re-elected this time gathering the most votes overall, despite the fact that her party lost the majority of seats.[11] The same night of the election, she was selected as Minority Leader of her party.[12]

Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico

On September 14, 2015, González announced that she was throwing her hat in the ring to succeed Pedro Pierluisi as Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. Six days later, one of Pierluisi's rivals for the gubernatorial nomination, Ricardo Rosselló, chose her as his running mate for June 5, 2016, primary and the November 8, 2016, general election. During the ten months the primary race lasted, various public opinion polls consistently showed González to have over 70% approval ratings of the electorate, making her the most popular politician of any political party on the Island.

On June 5, 2016 González won the NPP primary by a landslide margin of 70.54% of the vote[13] over her opponent Carlos Pesquera. She thus became the first woman in the history of the New Progressive Party to be nominated to the Resident Commissioner seat in Congress for the November general election.

On November 8, 2016, González was elected Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, with 48.77% of the vote, over her main opponent Hector Ferrer of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico,[14] thus becoming the first woman and youngest person to represent Puerto Rico in the U.S. Congress since the creation of the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico seat 116 years prior in 1900.

So far in her time in Congress, González has focused on sponsoring or cosponsoring bills related to veteran affairs, health relief and tax relief for Puerto Rico.[15][16][17] Congresswoman González is a member of the Republican Conference House Policy Committee. She is also a member of the House Committees on Natural Resources, Veterans’ Affairs, and Small Business, Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs, member of Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and Co-Chair of Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus [18]

Committee assignments

Political Views

In The Hill's article, The Hill's Latina Leaders to Watch, she is described as pro-statehood, small government, pro-business conservative. [19]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is González and the second or maternal family name is Colón.

References

  1. ↑ Laura N. Pérez Sánchez (2016-11-09). "Jenniffer González Makes History | El Nuevo Día". Elnuevodia.com. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  2. ↑ "Jenniffer González exige entrega de documentos fiscales". El Nuevo Día. 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  3. ↑ "ADENDI". Elnuevodia.com. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  4. ↑ "ADENDI". El Nuevo Día. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  5. ↑ "Sólida la dupla de Rosselló y González en el PNP". El Nuevo Día. 2015-09-18. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  6. ↑ http://www.pr51st.com/jenniffer-gonzalez-resident-commissioner-for-puerto-rico/
  7. ↑ "Biografía - Hon. Jenniffer A. González Colón" (in Spanish). House of Representatives of Puerto Rico. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  8. ↑ "Elecciones Generales 2008". CEEPUR. 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  9. ↑ "Republicanos escogen a Jenniffer Gónzalez como presidenta" (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día. 1 November 2015. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  10. ↑ Hon. Jenniffer A. González Colón Portavoz Minoría (2016-11-15). "Biografía - Hon. Jenniffer A. González Colón". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2016-11-15. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  11. ↑ "CEE Event". CEEPUR. 2012-12-29. Archived from the original on 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  12. ↑ "Jenniffer González será la portavoz del PNP en la Cámara". El Nuevo Día. 2012-11-08. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
  13. ↑ "CEE Event". Primarias2016.ceepur.org. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  14. ↑ "CEE Event". Elecciones2016.ceepur.org. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  15. ↑ "Representative Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon". Congress.gov. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
  16. ↑ "Representative Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon". Congress.gov. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
  17. ↑ http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/politica/nota/jenniffergonzalezrepasasusprimeros100diasenwashingtondc-2310506/
  18. ↑ "House of Congress". Retrieved 2017-04-30.
  19. ↑ "The Hill's Latina Leaders to Watch". thehill.com. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Pedro Pierluisi		 Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
2017–present 		Incumbent
Current U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Amata Coleman Radewagen		 United States Delegates by seniority
6th 		Last
Preceded by
United States Delegates by seniority		 Order of Precedence of the United States Succeeded by
Ricky Rosselló
as Governor of Puerto Rico
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.