Feast and Famine for Legislative Consultants
While the presidential race is still as close as ever, the legislature is the scene of another kind of race: that of the "advisors" to line up jobs for the next 4 years. According to Antonio Ayales, executive director of the Assembly, 355 consultants are skating on thin ICE. "Every four years this situation presents itself. Depending upon their experience, more or less half will be gone."
The most worried consultants are those linked to the PUSC party, which will go from 19 seats to 4 seats in the new Legislature. Of the 112 consultants only 23 will remain. Each legislator normally has between 5 and 6 advisors on staff. The reverse is true in the PLN offices, where the party will up its seats from 15 to 25, a total of 145 possible collaborators. Here the new representatives are looking for staff members, some experienced consultants have had visits from 2 or 3 legislators at once.
In the PAC, the code of ethics allows 2 personal consultants and 1 assistant. For this reason, on April 30th all of the current staff will be dismissed. Although some may be rehired by the new representatives.