San Juan mayor gets in Twitter fight with tiny Montana firm awarded controversial $300 million contract for Puerto Rico

Mayor
of San Juan Carmen Yulin Cruz talks with journalists outside the
government center at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum, days after
Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, September 30,
2017.
Carlos
Barria/Reuters

• San Juan mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz went back and
  forth on Twitter with Whitefish Energy, a
  firm awarded a $300 million contract to help restore
  Puerto Rico’s power grid.
• The vast majority of Puerto Rico’s citizens are still
  without power.
• Cruz has called the no-bid contract “alarming” and
  said it raised ethical concerns.

Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, engaged in
a Twitter feud with a small Montana energy firm on Wednesday,
after she and others questioned the firm’s
controversial $300 million contract to assist the
hurricane-ravaged US territory.

Whitefish Energy Holdings was awarded the contract last
month to restore Puerto Rico’s power grid, but
it raised
eyebrows recently as the island has struggled to provide
power to more than 75% of residents weeks after Hurricane Maria
hit on September 20.

Cruz called the no-bid contract “alarming” and demanded it be
voided in light of ethical discrepancies, Yahoo News reported
Wednesday.

“The contract should be voided right away, and a proper process
which is clear, transparent, legal, moral and ethical should take
place,” Cruz told Yahoo News. “What we need is somebody that
can get the job done and that has the expertise to get the job
done.”

Whitefish, which reportedly employed two full-time employees when
the contract was awarded, said it shared Cruz’s frustrations
but noted that “her
comments are misplaced.”

Cruz then criticized the company for suggesting that she was the
only person to raise concerns about the contract.

“You would think I am the only one in the world that has
commented on this,” Cruz replied with a
screenshot of Whitefish’s tweet. “What is it about women having
an opinion that irritates some?”

“If @WhitefishEnergy feels that asking for transparency is
‘misplaced,’ what are they afraid we will find,’ Cruz continued.

The spat between the two escalated Wednesday evening
after a tweet on the company’s official Twitter asked
if Cruz still wanted the firm’s assistance.

“We’ve got 44 linemen rebuilding power lines in your city
40 more men just arrived. Do you want us to send them back or
keep working,” the company tweeted from
its official account.

“@WhitefishEnergy implies that you will not treat the City of San
Juan with the diligence it deserves. Thus admitting political
motivations,” Cruz replied.

“Mayor, you called for our work to end. We do not want to leave
the island without help. We’re committed to restoring power to
Puerto Rico,” the company tweeted.

Despite the back-and-forth with Cruz, Whitefish appeared to
backtrack Wednesday evening, saying it was
apologizing for its earlier comments: “Mayor Cruz and everyone in
Puerto Rico — on behalf of our employees, we would like to
apologize for our comments earlier today, which did not represent
who we are and how important this work is to help Puerto Rico’s
recovery.”

“Our goal is to continue to do all we can to help everyone in
Puerto Rico in this time of need,” the company’s statement
continued.

Cruz, who represents the largest city in Puerto Rico, has been
consistently vocal about the situation in the US territory.
Cruz has railed against President Donald Trump’s response that
many agree was insufficient and inappropriate, and
previously said that the
island was “inching close to a genocide.”

“We are dying here,” Cruz said in an emotional press conference
last month. “And I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest
nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small
island of 100 miles by 35 miles long.”

Share and Enjoy