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In December 2007, McClintock convened a meeting in ] of Senate presidents from Alaska, Hawaii, ], the ] and ] to establish the ] to discuss issues common to the nation's outlying areas and devise common strategies to deal with such issues. One positive outcome of his efforts is ] chairman ]'s support of the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger after Sirius committed to extending service to Puerto Rico.<ref>http://siriusbuzz.com/president-of-puerto-rico-sentate-weighs-in-on-merger.php</ref> In December 2007, McClintock convened a meeting in ] of Senate presidents from Alaska, Hawaii, ], the ] and ] to establish the ] to discuss issues common to the nation's outlying areas and devise common strategies to deal with such issues. One positive outcome of his efforts is ] chairman ]'s support of the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger after Sirius committed to extending service to Puerto Rico.<ref>http://siriusbuzz.com/president-of-puerto-rico-sentate-weighs-in-on-merger.php</ref>

]]]
On April 7, 2008, McClintock and House Speaker Aponte joined former President Bill Clinton for the unveiling of a statue depicting former President ]. The statue is one of the few depictions of FDR sitting in an undisguised wheelchair. The statue will join those of ], unveiled by his grandson ], ], unveiled by his great-granddaughter ], ], unveiled by McClintock, ], ] and ], unveiled by his son Mike, the six other Presidents who have visited the American territory. On April 7, 2008, McClintock and House Speaker Aponte joined former President Bill Clinton for the unveiling of a statue depicting former President ]. The statue is one of the few depictions of FDR sitting in an undisguised wheelchair. The statue will join those of ], unveiled by his grandson ], ], unveiled by his great-granddaughter ], ], unveiled by McClintock, ], ] and ], unveiled by his son Mike, the six other Presidents who have visited the American territory.



Revision as of 18:43, 25 March 2011

Kenneth D. McClintock
22 Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 2, 2009
GovernorLuis Fortuño
Preceded byFernando J. Bonilla
13 President of the Senate of Puerto Rico
In office
January 10, 2005 – December 31, 2008
GovernorSila María Calderón
Aníbal Acevedo Vilá
Preceded byAntonio Fas Alzamora
Succeeded byThomas Rivera Schatz
1 President of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association
In office
August 18, 1979 – June 22, 1980
Succeeded byLuis Fortuño
Personal details
Political partyNew Progressive Party
Democratic Party
Height250px
SpouseMaria Elena Batista

Kenneth D. McClintock-Hernández (born January 19, 1957) is the current Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Mr. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign's National Hispanic Leadership Council in 2008, co-chaired Clinton's successful Puerto Rico primary campaign that year and served as the Thirteenth President of the Senate of Puerto Rico until his term ended on December 31, 2008. In late 2008, he served as President of then-Governor-Elect Luis Fortuño's Transition Committee. He was sworn into office as Secretary of State on January 2, 2009 by Chief Justice Federico Hernández Denton, fulfilling the role of Lieutenant Governor (first-in-line of succession) in the islands.

Early life

Kenneth Davison McClintock-Hernández was born in London, England, on January 19, 1957. His father, George D. McClintock (1925–2001), an Irish-American architect from Texas City, Texas, was working for the United States Air Force at the time. McClintock's mother, Nívea M. Hernández (1931–2000), born in Puerto Rico, was a university professor and a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico. Kenneth, along with his brother Steven George and his sister Elaine Mercedes, were raised and educated in Puerto Rico.

He graduated from University High School (UHS) in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1974, where he served as student council president, studied from 1974 to 1977 at the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras School of Business Administration, and in 1980 obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. While in college, McClintock, along with Puerto Rico's current governor Luis Fortuño, founded the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association, a student organization that contributed to the electoral victory of Carlos Romero Barceló in 1980. McClintock never took the bar, neither in Louisiana nor Puerto Rico, as his intention was not to be a practicing attorney, but a public servant. He began that public service career, before law school, as the staff director for the Puerto Rico House of Representatives Consumer Affairs Committee. He subsequently served as a legislative assistant to the NPP House delegation, under delegation leaders Jose Granados Navedo, the late Angel Viera Martinez and Edison Misla Aldarondo. He also served as an aide to then-Senator and current mayor of Guaynabo Hector O'Neill.

McClintock has spent almost all of his adult life working, first as a full-time staffer and subsequently as a legislator, in the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly. While in college, he was an Amway independent distributor, learning the ropes of running a small private business and earning enough money to support himself. His critics contend that his background has given him tunnel vision, which prohibits him from seeing the big picture when it comes to the myriad problems that affect the Island. Supporters, however, suggest that his wide participation in Puerto Rico's religious life, community activities and continued contact with students in schools and universities, as well as his weekly radio programs in Spanish and English over the years (his WOSO Radio Speakout weekly program was hosted by him for over nine years) has kept him accessible and in contact with ordinary people's concerns.

He has been married since July 16, 1994 to Maria Elena Batista, director of Sports and Recreation for the municipality of San Juan and a former Olympic swimmer. On February 18, 2011, they jointly announced their separation. The McClintock-Batista family have a son, Kevin Davison, born in 1995, and a daughter, Stephanie Marie, born in 1997. They live in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is an active member of the Puerto Rican Episcopal Church and has served as a delegate to its Diocesan Convention.

Political career

Early years

McClintock has been involved in politics since the age of 13. At the age of 14, McClintock was appointed by President Richard Nixon as delegate to the White House Conference on Youth held from April 18–21, 1971. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In 1979 McClintock served as the first Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association President.

1980s

In 1984, the Jaycees recognized his achievements by bestowing on him the Outstanding Young Man of the Year in Journalism Award for his weekly columns in the now-defunct El Mundo daily newspaper.

He was the Executive Director of the U.S. Democratic Party, chapter of Puerto Rico, from 1984 to 1988 and has attended all nine Democratic Party conventions since 1976 as a delegate, a superdelegate or as a staffer. A Democratic National Committeeman since 2000, he was recently elected to attend his tenth consecutive convention in 2012.

1990s

Kenneth McClintock

He was a Municipal Councilman for San Juan from 1990 to 1992 and during his tenure was the author of the municipal ordinance that raised the salaries of Municipal Guards beyond $1,000 a month for the first time in Puerto Rican history.

In 1992, he was elected the youngest Senator-at-Large for the 12th Legislature. In November 1996 he was the top vote getter among all New Progressive and Popular Democratic parties senatorial candidates. He was reelected to his fourth term in 2004, nominated by his New Progressive Party caucus as Senate President on November 4, 2004 and formally elected and sworn in for a four-year term as the Senate's 13th President on January 10, 2005.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton appointed McClintock as an at large member of the Democratic Platform Committee, where he was instrumental in drafting the platform plank on Puerto Rico.

In the 1990s he successfully fought for Puerto Rico's inclusion in the proposed World War Two Memorial on the National Mall after only two territories (Hawaii and Alaska) had been included in the first memorial design and all other U.S. territories (Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands, several of which were actually invaded by Japan, had been excluded. His efforts included the approval of a Concurrent Resolution by the Legislature and lobbying in Washington.

During 1999, he served as the 62nd Chairman of the Council of State Governments, the youngest and first Hispanic in that organization's 75-year history. During his terms in CSG leadership, the organization strengthened its international ties, admitting several Canadian provinces as international member jurisdictions, co-sponsoring the foundation of the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas, and co-chairing with CSG President and then Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson a mission to the People's Republic of China. As Chairman, McClintock increased the presence of Hispanics in CSG committees and task forces and helped organize CSG's best attended Annual Meeting ever, held in Quebec City, Canada. He also was part of the official delegation that attended the December 14, 1999 ceremonies commemorating the final turnover on December 31, 1999 of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian authorities.

He authored over 1,200 legislative measures during his 16 years in the Senate, of which over 200 became law.

He served as the second President of the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas from 1999 to 2000, a forum that brings together the parliamentary assemblies of the unitary, federal and federated states, regional parliaments and interparliamentary organizations of the Americas. The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico hosted the General Assembly of COPA in July 2000. He currently serves on the Governing Board of the Council of State Governments, the Executive Committee of the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas, and the Board of Directors of The Washington Center, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization.

2000s

In 2000, he was elected as Puerto Rico's Democratic National Committeeman, a position to which he was reelected in 2004.

Prior to his election as Senate President, he served as Senate Minority Leader from 2001 to 2004 and he chaired the most important committee of the Senate of Puerto Rico: the Committee on Government and Federal Affairs, as well as the Joint Committee for the Córdova-Fernós Congressional Internships Program from 1993 to 2000.

As Senate committee chairman, he produced he reports that served to make radical changes in public policy. The report on the conditions of the companies availed to the tax benefits of the now-defunct Section 936 of the Federal Internal Revenue Code earned him an interview in ABC's Prime Time Live program and Univision Network. He has testified in diverse hearings of the Congressional Committees, and has been the guest speaker in several universities throughout the United States. He has been interviewed in ABC's Good Morning America, has debated on Fox News Network and has appeared on BBC news programs, as well as on C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

His efforts to promote economic equality to Puerto Rico's consumers by stateside corporations were profiled in a Business Week article in 1998. In 1996, along with Fortuño, he was appointed by Governor Pedro Rosselló as co-chair of the New Progressive Party's Platform Committee, a position to which he was reappointed by the New Progressive Party’s 2000 gubernatorial candidate Carlos I. Pesquera.

In 2004, he chaired the New Progressive Party's Senate Campaign Committee and flipped his party's nine-member minority, of which he served as Minority Leader from 2001 to 2004, into an impressive nearly two-thirds majority in the new Senate in 2005, even though the NPP gubernatorial candidate narrowly lost the election.

In 2008, along with Roberto Prats, co-chaired Sen. Clinton's successful campaign for Puerto Rico's June 1, 2008 presidential primary, which she won 68% to 32%, the second highest vote margin (after West Virginia) in the 2008 Democratic election cycle.

In 2008, he was elected by the Puerto Rico Democratic State Convention to a third four-year term as the territory's Democratic National Committeeman. In September, 2009, he was elected to a four-year term as Chairman of the DNC's Northeast Hispanic Caucus.

Election as President of the Senate

Portrait of McClintock as President of the Senate

From January 10, 2005 to December 31, 2008, McClintock presided over the Senate of Puerto Rico. His presidency was in jeopardy during most of that year, as former Governor Pedro Rosselló was sworn in as a member of the Senate on February 13, 2005 and sought the Presidency for the remainder of the term. McClintock was elected to the Puerto Rico Senate Presidency with 23 votes, including 14 of the 17 NPP senators (McClintock abstained, one seat was vacant and Sen. Norma Burgos abstained in protest for the manner in which the NPP caucus allegedly elected the Senate leadership), and the entire nine-member minority delegation of the Popular Democratic Party, while the Puerto Rico Independence Party senator followed party tradition in abstaining from leadership votes).

Since 2001, Senate rules require a unanimous vote to change the presidency. During his Presidency, he backed many nominations and some public policy positions of Governor Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá. Some nominations failed to obtain the Senate's consent, two through rejection, others through inaction or withdrawal by the Governor following the Senate president's "advice" to do so. He was instrumental in breaking the logjam that led to the end of a two-week long government shutdown in May 2006.

For close to three years, of the seventeen senators that were elected under the New Progressive Party in the 2004 General Elections, six remained loyal to McClinctock's presidency, thus denying his opponents the unanimity required by Senate Rules II and VI to declare the presidency vacant. As McClintock stripped eight of the ten senators who supported Rosselló's claim for the Presidency of the chairmanships of Senate committees, leaving a total of ten committees under the leadership of the five NPP senators who still backed him and two, the Ethics and the Public Safety committees under the leadership of senators supporting Rosselló. Many Capitol insiders had claimed that this has had the effect of overflowing committees with work and slowing down the process of bills becoming laws. However, when that issue was raised on the floor of the Senate, McClintock ordered an investigation on legislative productivity that statistically demonstrated that committee output was higher during the third legislative session (after committee and chairmanship consolidations) than during the first.

One senator who supported him and came to the NPP expelled in the past term from the PDP, former Senate Majority Leader Jorge De Castro Font was expelled from the New Progressive Party for supposedly being the brain behind McClintock's strategies to remain Senate President. This sanction was endorsed in a Party state assembly in 2005, for allegedly insulting high officials of the NPP (including its president, Pedro Rosselló), rejecting to comply with majority decisions of the party's state assembly (including support for Rossello's Senate presidency bid), and allegedly making political alliances with the PDP delegation in the Senate. Senator McClintock and four of the other senators who supported him were relieved of party positions for the same reasons.

The party's directorate recommended expelling Sen. McClintock as well as Senate Vice President Orlando Parga on February 13, 2006. On August 20, 2006, however, the party's General Assembly failed to ratify their expulsion, approving instead a generic censure, reflecting the discomfort that the proposed expulsion created among many party members. As a result of his refusal to yield his leadership position in the Senate, he was seen without any political future by those who supported Sen. Rossello's bid, including a number of NPP voters who also supported Rossello.

On January 16, 2007 the NPP Senate Caucus imposed disciplinary sanctions on two more NPP senators, José Emilio González, Rosselló's fellow senator from the Arecibo district, and Carmelo Ríos of the Bayamón district. The two were the decisive votes to pass a Concurrent Resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that would turn Puerto Rico's bicameral legislature in a unicameral system, an issue not addressed by the party's platform. During the term, the caucus disciplined eight of the 16 members elected to the Senate in 2004.

Members of the NPP hardcore rank and file had clearly stated they would never forgive the negotiations they allege have taken place against the statehood movement by McClintock, and did not acknowledge the Senate President's extensive efforts to lobby in Congress and generate national media coverage for the enactment of legislation to provide self-determination for Puerto Rico, as proposed by a White House Task Force on Puerto Rico's Political Status. Likewise, many political observers, including a number of NPP voters who opposed Rosselló, believe that McClintock's and Parga's removal from party membership rolls will be insignificant within the NPP; since both depended upon the rank and file structure to get elected with the party, while other observers and party leaders had expressed concern that the removals imperil future party victories, by the alienation of tens of thousands of past party supporters. Many party members, however, considered McClintock and his supporters as "traitors". On February 23, 2007, McClintock announced that if the party disciplinary sanctions are not lifted "within a reasonable time" he would file suit to protect "not only the constitutional rights of the senators who have been sanctioned but the rights of party members to freely select the candidates of their choice in the March 2008 primary". That "reasonable time" ended on March 29, 2007 when he, along with four other senators, filed suit in San Juan Superior Court, claiming that NPP leaders violated the due process required by the state elections laws when parties attempt to discipline its members. After a day-long hearing, Judge Oscar Davila Suliveres ruled on April 12 against NPP Secretary Thomas Rivera Schatz and determined the lawsuit was meritorious and would be decided on the merits within several days. All sanctions against the McClintock Six were nullified by San Juan Superior Court Judge Oscar Dávila Suliveres on May 8, 2007, who determined that they had broken no programmatic or rule-based accord, and that they were free to run in the NPP's 2008 primary. On May 11, the Court reiterated, in a Nunc Pro Tunc Order, that any attempt by party officials to deny the rights of the McClintock Six would nullify the party primary. The Puerto Rico Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's ruling on June 12, 2007 , declaring all sanctions against the senators null and void.

On December 27, 2007, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico denied the New Progressive Party's attempt to deny McClintock's senatorial allies the opportunity to appear on the 2008 NPP primary ballot. In a 4–1 decision, the Court reaffirmed McClintock's right to remain as Senate President unless he voluntarily resigns, dies, or is removed as a member of the Senate.

A 2007 El Nuevo Día opinion poll reflected that, in spite of being censured by the New Progressive Party, he had become its third most popular leader, after Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño and party president Pedro Rosselló, surpassing San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini, former gubernatorial candidate Carlos Pesquera and Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera.

There were several attempts to unify the New Progressive Party delegation in the Senate, but all of them were sabotaged by some Party leaders, such as then-Secretary General, Thomas Rivera Schatz and Party Vice-President Miriam Ramírez de Ferrer.

Upon Luis Fortuño's decisive victory in the March 9, 2008 NPP primaries, McClintock and his (mostly renominated) stalwarts were welcomed back into the party, reinstated to their leadership positions and McClintock appointed five of the eleven former Senate defectors to committee chairmanships.

On December 31, 2008, after a full term as Senate President, McClintock ended his 16-year career as a legislator, as he prepared to assume the duties of Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, for which he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, including many senators who had withdrawn their political support for him in the past.

Work as President of the Senate

Kenneth McClintock greets BG. Hector E. Pagan in the presence of (L - R) House Speaker Jose F. Aponte and MG Felix Santoni (Ret.) in the State Capitol on Memorial Day 2008

As Senate President and throughout his legislative career, focused on developing external trade opportunities for Puerto Rico-made products. Innumerable ambassadors, including Sir David Manning, then-British ambassador to the United States, visited his office, and met with several world leaders, including People's Republic of China Premier Zhu Rongji in 1999, Costa Rica Presidents José María Figueres and Oscar Arias Sánchez, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Panama's President Martin Torrijos, well as several U.S. Presidents, including Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He also championed improving school-level physical and health education, the theme of his World Health Day 2006 address before the Panamerican Health Organization in Washington, DC.

One of the very few Puerto Rican leaders who is fully bicultural, McClintock is the most frequently invited statehooder asked to speak at stateside colleges and universities, such as he did in late 2006 at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) and Yale University, where he debated Puerto Rico's political status issue. On December 31 he was the only NPP leader to draw attention to the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of recently deceased President Gerald Ford's statement in support of statehood on December 31, 1976.

In September, 2007 he began a media campaign to oust Panama National Assembly president Pedro Miguel González Pinzón, who stands accused in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia of murdering Puerto Rican-born U.S. Army Sgt. Zak Hernández, bolstered by the approval by 25 of the 27 members of the Senate of Puerto Rico of a resolution he authored expressing the legislative body's "profound preoccupation with the Panamanian leader's election.

In December 2007, McClintock convened a meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii of Senate presidents from Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands and Puerto Rico to establish the Outlying Areas Senate Presidents Caucus to discuss issues common to the nation's outlying areas and devise common strategies to deal with such issues. One positive outcome of his efforts is Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin's support of the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger after Sirius committed to extending service to Puerto Rico.

On April 7, 2008, McClintock and House Speaker Aponte joined former President Bill Clinton for the unveiling of a statue depicting former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The statue is one of the few depictions of FDR sitting in an undisguised wheelchair. The statue will join those of Theodore Roosevelt, unveiled by his grandson Tweed Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, unveiled by his great-granddaughter Margaret Hoover, Harry S Truman, unveiled by McClintock, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Gerald R. Ford, unveiled by his son Mike, the six other Presidents who have visited the American territory.

On May 26, McClintock presided over the yearly Memorial Day ceremony and concert that has become one of the trademarks of his presidency. A special recognition by him and Resident Commissioner Fortuño of Misplaced Pages editor Antonio Santiago (Tony (The Marine) Santiago) was followed by a keynote address by then-Sen. Clinton in the presence of her husband and daughter. At the end of the ceremony, the names of several men and women were unveiled on Puerto Rico's Memorial Wall, which honors Puerto Ricans who gave their life in military service. Several of the names on the wall have been placed as a result of Santiago's military history research.

A life-long coin collector, McClintock sponsored a resolution, passed in June 2008, that urged the United States Mint to use an image of the Arecibo Observatory in the commemorative Puerto Rico quarter issued in March 2009 as part of the 50 state quarters program.

McClintock's presidency began to draw to a close when on June 30, 2008 he gavelled the Senate out of the seventh and last regular session of the term. He remained as president until December 31, 2008, a day after he called the Senate into a final special session, when he turned over the gavel to Senate Secretary Manuel A. Torrres, who serves as Acting President until the fourteenth Senate President is officially elected on January 12, 2009. Following the November elections, NPP senator-elect Thomas Rivera Schatz was elected by the party caucus to succeed McClintock.

On September 11, 2008, McClintock presided over the first joint meeting of the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly outside the Capitol ever, held at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to commemorate the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the United States and present the Military Medal of the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly to those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 1,000 of the 9,000 eligible were present for the ceremony, accompanied by over 1,500 family members. Puerto Rico Independence Party legislators boycotted the event.

Democratic Presidential Primary in 2008

McClintock, who did not run in the 2008 election cycle, demonstrated his long-lasting political acumen when he joined forced with former PDP senator and Democratic State Chair Roberto Prats to co-chair Hillary Clinton's campaign in Puerto Rico. In spite of running behind in the delegate count, they engineered a 68% to 32% win for Clinton over eventual Democratic nominee Barack Obama, Clinton's second largest primary margin (after West Virginia) and the widest victory margin in a candidate competition in Puerto Rico since fabled Governor Luis Muñoz Marín's last run for office in 1964. As a result, Clinton dominated Puerto Rico's 63-member delegation by a 43–20 margin.

Senate Succession

On November 7, 2008, the NPP's senators-elect chose Rivera Schatz to succeed McClintock on January 12, 2009 as the Fourteenth President of the Senate in its 91-year history. McClintock was appointed by Governor-Elect Luis Fortuño, to serve as chairman of the incoming administration's Transition Committee. During the first twelve days of the new year, outgoing Senate Secretary Manuel A. Torres served as Acting President of the legislative body.

Secretary of State of Puerto Rico

Kenneth D. McClintock and his staffers at the Puerto Rico State Department Building in San Juan.

On November 11, 2008, Governor-Elect Luis Fortuño appointed McClintock as Secretary of State f Puerto Rico. Due to the fact that the appointment entails serving the role of Lieutenant Governor, McClintock required confirmation by both the Senate of Puerto Rico as well as the House of Representatives, both of which confirmed him on January 15, 2009. McClintock is active in the National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) and the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). In 2010, he clinched the selection of Puerto Rico as the venue for NLGA's annual meeting in the summer of 2011 and NASS's annual meeting in the summer of 2012, which is expected to generate over $1.5 million in economic activity in Puerto Rico.

McClintock was sworn in, under a recess appointment, as the 22nd Secretary of State of Puerto Rico on January 2, 2009. On January 15, 2009, he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate of Puerto Rico and with only two votes in opposition in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. Having been confirmed, he was sworn in on January 17, 2009 by Bayamón Superior Court Judge Angel Manuel Candelas in a private ceremony at Sagrado Corazón Urbanization in San Juan, where McClintock was raised and lived for many years.

File:Sec.mcclintock.jpeg
Secretary McClintock as master of ceremonies on the first day of issue ceremony of the Puerto Rico Quarter. From left to right Mr. Edmund C. Moy, Director of the US Mint, Governor Fortuño and First Lady Lucé Vela de Fortuño.

On February 25, he made his first official foreign trip, when he co-chaired the first meeting of a bilateral Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico working group with the DR's Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic which led to the June 4 signing of an accord between Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández and Governor Fortuño in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

In August 2009, he was one of only seven members of the National Lieutenant Governors Association, along with North Dakota Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, Montana Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger, Arkansas Lt. Gov. William A. Halter, Mississippi Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little, invited to visit the Peoples Republic of China in a mission to promote greater trade between China and the United States. In September 2009, he led Puerto Rico's four-member component of the United States' delegation, headed by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke to the III Americas Competitiveness Forum in Santiago, Chile and participated in 2010 in the fourth Forum, held in Atlanta..

McClintock was designated by Fortuño to lead the Puerto Rico governments efforts to facilitate the islands' transition to digital television. He has also been designated as chairman of the government's efforts to assist in the 2010 census. Legislation making its way through the Legislature provides for the Secretary of State to chair the five-member Executive Branch Reorganization and Modernization Committee. He also chaired a five-member Legislative Reform Committee that made recommendations in October 2009 regarding a revamping of Puerto Rico's Legislature. On November 30, 2009, the Governor announced that McClintock would be co-chairing with former Secretary of Education Carlos Chardón the Education Advisory Committee.

External audio
audio icon You may listen to McClintock in an interview made by the "Boston Globe" in regard to Puerto Rico's political Status here

Domestically, McClintock frequently participates as a speaker at activities throughout the states, Puerto Rico and foreign countries. In 2009, he has spoken before the National Puerto Rican Coalition in Washington, DC, served as the commencement speaker at the Universidad del Este (UNE) in Puerto Rico and joined Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray at a recognition ceremony of the 65th Infantry Regiment in Worcester, Massachusetts on June 20. In August, 2010, he was the keynote speaker at the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo.

As Secretary of State, McClintock has met with several heads of state and government, including Mexico's Felipe Calderón, Dominican Republic's Leonel Fernández, Chile's Michele Bachelet, Haiti's President René Préval and Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive and the Premiers of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. On December 1, 2009, McClintock proposed, during the 33rd [[Miami Conference on the Caribbean and Central America Action, that a Caribbean Basin electric grid be developed to reduce the region's "addiction to oil", as he called it.

In January, 2010, he hosted gathering of the United States' Western Hemisphere Economic Officers in San Juan, the first time they had met outside the continental United States.

On January 12, 2010, as Acting Governor, McClintock was placed in charge of Puerto Rico's Haitian relief efforts by Governor Fortuño, which included a $4.5 million Telethon benefitting the Red Cross and collecting millions of pounds of aid, reportedly the largest shipment of non-governmental aid sent during the first two weeks of the relief effort. On January 20, McClintock made a 4-hour visit to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, where, along with Puerto Rico journalist Carmen Jovet, he met with President Préval and Prime Minister Bellerive to coordinate Puerto Rico's relief efforts. He subsequently met with Preval in San Juan and, representing Gov. Fortuño, was included as part of the United States delegation to a meeting in Martinique in March 2010 to plan the multi-nation redevelopment of Haiti. He also helped coordinate Puerto Rico's initial response to the massive February 27, 2010 earthquake in Chile.

In April, 2010, McClintock participated in the Emergy Ministerial Meeting of the Americas, at the invitation of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Secretary of State Clinton.

In September, 2010, he headed the Puerto Rico delegation to the International Book Fair (LIBER 2010), dedicated to Puerto Rico and held in Barcelona, Spain.

In November 2010, he co-authored a book on the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign in Puerto Rico with Democratic Party State Chair Roberto Prats.

By 2011, McClintock will have served in office longer than 15 of the other 21 Secretaries of State.

Publication

Te Quiero Puerto Rico - Primaria Presidencial Demócrata 2008, Co-author with Roberto Prats, published by Aguilar, a subsidiary of Editorial Santillana, First edition in Spanish (200pp), 2010, ISBN 978-1-60484-744-4

Honors and Recognitions

In 1984, the Jaycees of Puerto Rico awarded McClintock its Ten Outstanding Young Best Men of the Year award in Journalism for his work as a columnist for the now-defunct El Mundo newspaper.

On December 17, 2008, while he was hosting the Córdova Congressional Internship Program alumni for the last time as a legislator, The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC) President Mike Smith presented McClintock with the first "State Legislator of the Year Award", in recognition for founding the Córdova program in 1993, which has since been replicated by 17 other states. Smith announced that TWC's annual award to a state legislator nationwide will henceforth be known as the "McClintock Award".

For several years, McClintock has been a member of the Board of Directors of TWC, a non-profit based in Washington, DC.

See also

References

  1. http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/mcclintock_lider_de_la_transicion/487298
  2. ^ http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/mcclintock_a_la_secretaria_de_estado/488273
  3. http://www.prssa.we.bs/history.html PRSSA History
  4. http://www.vocero.com/noticias-es/kenneth-mcclintock-y-mari-batista-se-separan
  5. http://jimmycarterlibrary.org/education/Lessons_More/HSCL2_ACPC.pdf
  6. http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2006/09/21/today%27s%20stories/17226906.txt
  7. http://siriusbuzz.com/president-of-puerto-rico-sentate-weighs-in-on-merger.php
  8. http://vocero.com/noticia-1568-_homenaje_a_los_soldados.html
  9. http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/le_come_los_dulces_a_aponte/486699
  10. o
  11. http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/mcclintock_jura_como_secretario_de_estado/519457
  12. http://www.telegram.com/article/20090621/NEWS/906210404/1003/NEWS03
  13. http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/2428104/posts
  14. http://www.fortaleza.gobierno.pr/news_detalle.php?id=491&utm_source=La+Fortaleza&utm_campaign=8f8c16a9ec-Gobierno_brinda_apoyo_a_damnificados_en_Hait%C3%AD&utm_medium=email
  15. "Puerto Rico sends 'Barge of Hope' to Haiti - CNN.com". CNN. January 23, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  16. http://www.elnuevodia.com/pendientepuertoricoparaauxiliarchile-678638.html
  17. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Todavia/somos/colonia/elpepiint/20101008elpepiint_6/Tes
  18. http://www.musicaboricua.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?LNG=en-US&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AES-8474&Category_Code=Libros
  19. http://www.twc.edu/board_members.shtml
  1. Senator Kenneth D. McClintock, Biographical Notes. Parliamentary Conference of the Americas. (used with permission)
  2. Rule 6.1 regarding the election and removal of the Senate President
  3. The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars' web site
  4. for recent El Nuevo Día polling data
  5. for December 21, 2006 Caribbean Business/WOSO Radio poll results
  6. The San Juan Star, December 26, 2006, Viewpoint, for examples of speculation on 2008 ticket
  7. http://www.endi.com/noticia/portada/noticias/triunfan_los_disidentes/230159
  8. http://www.lexjuris.com/lexjuris/tspr2007/lexj2007121.htm
  9. http://www.senadopr.us/Archivo_Digital/2005-2008/Actas/2007/act0906.07f.pdf
  10. http://www.sllf.org
Template:Incumbent succession box
Senate of Puerto Rico
Preceded byVictoria Muñoz Mendoza Puerto Rican State Senate, At-Large district
1993 - 2008
Succeeded byThomas Rivera Schatz
Political offices
Preceded byAntonio Fas Alzamora Minority Leader of the Puerto Rico Senate
2001-2004
Succeeded byJosé Luis Dalmau
President of the Senate of Puerto Rico
2005-2008
Succeeded byThomas Rivera Schatz
Non-profit organization positions
New title President of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association
1979–1980
Succeeded byLuis Fortuño

Template:Current PR officials

Lieutenant governors in the United States
Vice President of the United States:Kamala Harris (D)
ALAinsworth (R) AKDahlstrom (R) AZFontes (D) ARRutledge (R) CAKounalakis (D) COPrimavera (D) CTBysiewicz (D) DEHall-Long (D) FLNuñez (R) GAJones (R) HILuke (D) IDBedke (R) ILStratton (D) INCrouch (R) IACournoyer (R) KSToland (D) KYColeman (D) LANungesser (R) MEDaughtry (D) MDA. Miller (D) MADriscoll (D) MIGilchrist (D) MNFlanagan (DFL) MSHosemann (R) MOKehoe (R) MTJuras (R) NEKelly (R) NVAnthony (R) NHCarson (R) NJWay (D) NMMorales (D) NYDelgado (D) NCRobinson (R) NDStrinden (R) OHHusted (R) OKPinnell (R) ORRead (D)* PADavis (D) RIMatos (D) SCEvette (R) SDRhoden (R) TNMcNally (R) TXPatrick (R) UTHenderson (R) VTZuckerman (P) VASears (R) WAHeck (D) WVBlair (R) WIRodriguez (D) WYGray (R) Federal districts: DCMendelson (D)Territories: ASAle (D) GUTenorio (D) MPApatang (I) PRMarrero (PNP) VIRoach (D)
An asterisk indicates an Acting Lt. Governor

Italics indicate next-in-line of succession for states and territories without a directly elected lieutenant governor or whose lieutenant governor office is vacant:

Political party affiliation

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