Manuel A. Torres

Manuel A. Torres-Nieves was the Secretary of the Senate of Puerto Rico during the tumultuous years since the 2004 general election in which the Senate has been controlled by the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (NPP) while the governorship has been controlled by the pro-status quo Popular Democratic Party and is now serving his second term as Senate Secretary after having served as Acting President of the Senate from January 1–12, 2009, between the Senate presidencies of Kenneth McClintock and Thomas Rivera Schatz.

Private life

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 9, 1965, and a long-time resident of Puerto Rico's largest public housing project, with his parents' help he was able to excel in school and obtain his B.A. degree from the University of Puerto Rico and complete part of the coursework required for a Master's degree. He is also a graduate of the Puerto Rico National Guard's Language School. A member of the Police Athletic League and the Boys and Girls Club of San Juan, he also excelled in basketball. A widower, he is the father of Jessica, a college student, and Alex Manuel, a high school student.

Public life

Torres began his legislative career in 1991 as a Minority Staff in the Youth Affairs Committee of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. He subsequently served in the highly sensitive position of Director of the Ethics Committee Office at the House, Chief of Staff of the Majority Leader's Office and Advisor to the Director of the Puerto Rico Office of Legislative Services.

For two years, he served as one of Puerto Rico's two representatives in the Council of State Governments Committee on Suggested State Legislation.

Gov. Pedro Rosselló appointed Torres to the board of directors of the Puerto Rico State Insurance Fund Corporation, which has a monopoly on workmen's compensation, and to the board of the Puerto Rico Automobile Accident Compensation Administration (ACAA). He was confirmed both times by the Senate of Puerto Rico in a unanimous vote.

From 2001 to 2004 he was Chief of Staff to the Senate Minority Leader and legislative advisor to the Deputy Mayor of the City of San Juan.

Within the NPP, Torres was active for years in its NPP Youth organization. He also was member of the party's Rules Committee, as well as its State Board.

After the 2004 election, incoming Senate President Kenneth McClintock appointed Torres to head the Senate's transition committee and on January 10, 2005, Torres was elected by the Senate as its Secretary, its top staffer.

During the past term, the Senate Secretary confronted the particular challenges created by the split within the majority party caucus over whether former governor Pedro Rosselló should topple McClintock and replace him as Senate President, a split which ended in March 2008 after party primaries, and by the fact that there is a partisan split between the Governor and the Legislative Assembly.

Torres has probably been the most high-profile Senate Secretary since 1949, when the Senate Presidency ceased to be the most powerful elective position held by a Puerto Rican, upon the election of Senate President Luis Muñoz Marín as Puerto Rico's first elective governor.

On January 1, 2009, after McClintock's term ended, Torres became Acting President of the Senate, gavelling in the new Senate on January 12, when the legislative body elected Thomas Rivera Schatz as the fourteenth President of the Senate.^[1]

Rivera Schatz announced on November 26, 2008 that Torres would be reelected as Secretary of the Senate on January 12, 2009, potentially making him the longest-serving Senate Secretary in recent memory^[2] and the first to serve two consecutive terms under different Senate presidents.

Notes

1. ^ http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/le_come_los_dulces_a_aponte/486699
2. ^ http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/politica/noticias/confirmara_a_los_jueces/251740

Sources

• http://senadopr.us

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Name	Torres, Manuel A.
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