Jorge Santini

Jorge Santini Padilla (born 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician affiliated with the New Progressive Party (PNP). He is the current Mayor of San Juan. He is also the Vice President of the New Progressive Party.

Infobox_Governor
name= Jorge Santini


caption=
order=
office= Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico
term_start= January 2, 2001
term_end= incumbent
lieutenant=
predecessor= Sila Calderón
successor=
birth_date= 1960
birth_place= San Juan, Puerto Rico
death_date=
death_place=
spouse= "Irma Garriga"
profession= Lawyer
party= New Progressive Party
footnotes=

Biography

Education and early career

Santini received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Puerto Rico and later received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, "cum laude", from the Inter American University Law School. In 1986, he became a partner at the law firm of Miranda Cárdenas & Córdova, where he specialized in medical malpractice suits. Santini then served as Legal Advisor to Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Rosselló from 1994-1996.

Political career

In 1996, Santini was elected to the Senate of Puerto Rico, representing the senatorial district of San Juan. Santini served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in this capacity.

In 1999, Santini entered the race for Mayor of San Juan and challenged Senate President Charlie Rodriguez in an NPP primary. Rodríguez had been the choice of the party leadership, but Santini proved to have more popular appeal. Buoyed by polls showing he would have a better chance of defeating a PDP candidate in the general election, Santini won the primary by a huge margin. Santini then went on to defeat Popular Democratic Party candidate Eduardo Bhatia in the 2000 elections. Santini sought reelection in 2004 and again defeated Bhatia in a close election.

In his sixth year in office as mayor, Santini has finally been able to inaugurate major projects, such as the $28 million world-class Natatorium swimming and diving complex, the San Juan Golf Academy, a sports-oriented magnet school, and a bilingual municipal magnet school. Santini also created San Juan's Ronald Reagan Autism-Specialized Day Care Center better known as "Centro Ronald Reagan para Desarrollo Integral del Niño Especializado en Autismo". He is now proposing a light-rail extension of the heavy-rail Tren Urbano into Old San Juan. He is credited with attracting a talented cabinet, including former Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Executive Director Miguel Cordero as Vice Mayor, Police Colonel Adalberto Mercado and Sports and Recreation Director Maria Elena Batista.

In 2007, Santini was rumored to be a possible candidate for Governor of Puerto Rico in the event that NPP president and former Governor Pedro Rosselló would not run in 2008. However, Rosselló announced on April 28, 2007 that he would seek the NPP nomination for Governor. Santini announced on May 13, 2007, that he would seek a third term as Mayor of San Juan in the 2008 elections. He is running unopposed within the NPP so he is nolt burdened by a primary campaign, and will face the PDP's Rep. Ferdinand Pérez in the 2008 general elections.

In the NPP primaries on March 2008, Santini's candidate for Governor, Dr. Pedro Rosselló, lost the election and one of his candidates for Senator, Edward Moreno, also lost in the party's primary. However his other candidates Kimmey Rashke, Albita Rivera, Jorge Navarro, Nuno Lopez and Liza Fernandez were elected to conform his San Juan Senators and Representative team. Santini has already met with the new NPP President and Governor candidate, Luis Fortuño in order to try and unite the party towards the 2008 general election.

Information on Jorge Santini may be found at his website, http://jorgesantini.com and his blog, http://blog.jorgesantini.com.

Personal life

Santini is married to Irma Garriga. They have three children: Odette, a college student, Jorge Andrés, a junior high school student and Amanda, an elementary school student.

ee also

* San Juan, Puerto Rico
* Politics of Puerto Rico