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Mexico to limit First Lady's public spending
Good idea, especially when you're stirring up anti-US sentiment over financial hardships as we crack down on the illegal immigrant traffic.Assuming we do ... a different peeve. Mexico's Congress is moving to limit the use of public resources by Marta Sahagún de Fox, after a federal audit revealed the first lady has a publicly funded personal staff of 38. Mrs Fox, who has repeatedly affirmed her intention to seek elected office, is also facing questions over government contracts extended to her sons, who are under congressional investigation for alleged misuse of influence. Mrs Fox has denied accusations by legislators and other critics that she is promoting her political ambitions through the use of federal resources available to her as first lady. In a report this week, the federal superior auditor did not make public the total cost of Mrs Fox's staff, some of whom sometimes accompany her on international trips. But Proceso, a Mexican magazine, reported that the First Lady's top 11 employees alone cost the federal payroll $782,000 a year, with the top five earning salaries of $91,000. "The auditor determined that the First Lady is not a public official and therefore not authorised to make official appearances," noted Marcela Guerra, a member of the congressional oversight committee of the auditors and a federal deputy for the Institutional Revolutionary Party. "Since she is not covered by the law of public servants, we agreed to examine the legal framework defining her use of public resources." Congress ordered the audit in February 2004, after the Financial Times published an investigation into Mrs Fox's Vamos Mexico Foundation, which made liberal use of presidential staff helicopters and other resources, and still spent more on overheads than it passed on to the poor. On Thursday, a spokesman for Vicente Fox, who came to office in 2000 promising honest, efficient and transparent government, said the president would support legislation to define the role of the First Lady. "The role of the wives of presidents has clearly changed," said Rubén Aguilar, "and so it is correct and necessary to legislate about issues that will contribute to strengthening institutions and our democratic life." Mr Aguilar also said the president's office would not intervene in the case of Mrs Fox's children from her first marriage, who are under congressional investigation for alleged influence-trafficking. "It is up to them to defend themselves, as they have announced they will do," he said. This week, the newspaper Reforma published a photograph of the Lear jet allegedly owned by her oldest son, Manuel Bribiesca Sahagún, who runs a contracting business. Reforma said a close associate and presumed business partner of the Bribiescas had obtained 2.5bn pesos ($230m) in construction contracts under the Fox administration. The new attention to Mrs Fox's children comes after a book by Olga Wornat, an Argentine journalist, containing the licence plate of the Lear jet and other details of the sons' sudden wealth. Mrs Fox called the allegations false and announced she was suing Ms Wornat. Posted by: too true 2005-05-14 |
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