Sen. Torres criticizes Rick Scott over ties to Puerto Rico power company
State Sen. Victor Torres railed against Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday for his financial ties to the embattled Puerto Rico electric utility, questioning Scott’s motives in visiting the island and calling for more transparency in his investments.
The Scott campaign again stressed the governor’s assets are in a blind trust over which he has no control and called Torres’s news conference “a publicity stunt.”
Torres, D-Kissimmee, cited an Orlando Sentinel story showing Scott and his wife have millions invested in a fund that is a major bondholder of PREPA, the island’s major utility.
Torres said Scott “doesn’t want to reveal his investments, or ‘blind trust’ as he puts it. … But he knew what was going on, no doubt. That’s the point we’re making here – there’s no transparency.”
The governor, running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, “was not transparent enough to tell people he had invested in Puerto Rico. … He should have told [people] before he went to Puerto Rico, ‘I just want you to know I have investments in Puerto Rico.”’
PREPA, whose $9 billion in bonds are based on collecting fees from customers, was on shaky financial ground even before hurricanes Irma and Maria hit in September 2017, leaving large sections of the island without power for months and not fully restored until August.
Billions in federal funds have flowed to PREPA and the Puerto Rico government in an effort to fix the grid.
“How many trips did Gov. Scott go to Puerto Rico?” Torres asked. “Eight times, and he took Duke Energy, he took Florida Power & Light. You’ve got to wonder, what was the purpose of his going to Puerto Rico but to help himself?”
Torres said PREPA has been a bad influence on the island’s power situation and has “discouraged innovations like renewable energy.”
“If you’re a bondholder, then you’re responsible for what happened in Puerto Rico,” Torres said.
The financial connection was the latest of Scott’s investments to come under scrutiny in the past month, including ties to a controversial SunPass contract, a company building a natural gas pipeline and highspeed rail line All Aboard Florida’s parent company.
The Scott campaign referred to its previous statement from spokeswoman Lauren Schenone, who wrote, “Gov. Scott has never made a single decision as governor with any thought or consideration of his personal finances.’’
“The governor’s blind trust is managed by an independent financial professional who decides what assets are bought, sold or changed,” Schenone said. “The rules of the blind trust prevent any specific assets or the value of those assets within the trust from being disclosed to the governor, and those requirements have always been followed.”