NewsWhore
03-22-2010, 03:20 PM
The head of the Dominican Catholic Church, Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez, has added his voice to the criticisms of the infamous "barrilito" - little barrel. This slush fund, a perk for National Congress members, has come under fire lately from a broad spectrum of civil and legal groups. The Dominican version of what is known as the "pork barrel" in the United States has a cost of over RD$19 million each month, supposedly for the legislators to help their constituents. According to the Cardinal, "the role of the legislators is to make laws, not to do social work."
Monsignor Agripinio Nunez Collado, rector of the PUCMM, the largest private university, had spoken up in favor of the extra money for legislators to distribute at their discretion among their constituents.
The creator of the mechanism, president of the Senate Reynaldo Pared Perez (who is running for re-election on the ruling PLD ticket) has said he will not comment anymore on the topic.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)
Monsignor Agripinio Nunez Collado, rector of the PUCMM, the largest private university, had spoken up in favor of the extra money for legislators to distribute at their discretion among their constituents.
The creator of the mechanism, president of the Senate Reynaldo Pared Perez (who is running for re-election on the ruling PLD ticket) has said he will not comment anymore on the topic.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)