Eduardo Bhatia

Eduardo Bhatia Gautier is a former Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, the Washington DC office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and officially represents the Governor in the United States on issues important to Puerto Rico. Mr. Bhatia was appointed to this position in January 2005 by Governor Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá and resigned effective February 15, 2008. Bhatia was elected as an official Senate candidate in the PDP primary on March 9, 2008 and was the second most voted person of all the pre-candidates for Senate.

Early life and education

Eduardo Bhatia Gautier was born in San Salvador, Republic of El Savador, on May 16, 1964. Bhatia’s father, the economist and retired professor Mohinder Bhatia, came to Puerto Rico in 1957 as an assistant to a Syracuse University professor who had been in India on a one-year sabbatical. He remained in Puerto Rico and married Carmen Gautier in 1960, a political science professor at the University of Puerto Rico who died 13 years ago. Eduardo Bhatia is one of three siblings, his brother Andres Bhatia is a practicing oncologist in Gainesville, Florida, and his sister Lisa Bhatia is an assistant U.S. attorney at the San Juan District office of the U.S. Attorney. [http://www.newsindia-times.com/nit/2004/04/02/election6-top.html]

Mr. Bhatia graduated from Stanford Law School in June 1990 where he founded and edited the "Stanford Journal of Law and Policy", an academic publication with an emphasis on the development of new laws and public policy. As part of his community work as a law student in Stanford, Mr. Bhatia also successfully directed a campaign to prevent the approval of a rent increase in the low-income East Palo Alto community. He is admitted to practice law in Florida, Washington D.C. and The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. [http://www.prfaa.com/aboutprfaa.asp?id=31]

He attended Princeton University and the London School of Economics, obtaining his Bachelors Degree in Government and Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1986. During Bhatia's university years, he was a member of the Princeton Democratic Students Association and the Student Council, actively participating in the student movement against the Apartheid regime in South Africa. In May 1986, Mr. Bhatia was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study law, economics and politics in Santiago, Chile for one year. [http://www.prfaa.com/aboutprfaa.asp?id=31]

Eduardo Bhatia is married to Panamanian attorney Isabel Cristina Fernández. [http://www.newsindia-times.com/nit/2004/04/02/election6-top.html]

Professional career

From 1993 to 1995, he worked as a lawyer for the San Juan-based law firm McConnell Valdés. Prior to that, Mr. Bhatia was the Legal Advisor and Office Director for Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner Jaime Fuster (Member of Congress) in Washington, D.C. From 1990-1991 he served as law clerk for Judge Levin Campbell in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. [http://www.prfaa.com/aboutprfaa.asp?id=31]

Senator at-large in the Senate of Puerto Rico

In 1996, at the age of 32, Mr. Bhatia was elected Senator at Large by the Popular Democratic Party, becoming the youngest Puerto Rican senator in that four year term and one of the youngest in the history of the Senate of Puerto Rico. As member of numerous Senatorial committees and spokesperson for his party, his efforts were focused toward increasing employment and educational opportunities for Puerto Rico's youth. He also sought consensus, joining NPP senators in co-sponsoring legislation. An example was the introduction of a bill with Sen. Kenneth McClintock to improve financial education in public schools, which was vetoed by Gov. Pedro Rosselló. A renowned political analyst acknowledged his hard work by calling Mr. Bhatia "Puerto Rico's top senator." [http://www.prfaa.com/aboutprfaa.asp?id=31]

2001-2003

Prior to joining the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, Mr. Bhatia was a candidate for Mayor of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, for the Popular Democratic Party in 2000 and 2004, but failed to achieve election to that post. Between 2001 and 2003, he worked as a lawyer in private practice and as a professor at the University of Puerto Rico, School of Law in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. During this time Mr. Bhatia was also involved in community work. [http://www.prfaa.com/aboutprfaa.asp?id=31]

Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration

As the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration's Executive Director, Mr. Bhatia represented the Governor on matters before state and federal agencies as well as before Congress and the Executive branch. He managed PRFAA's staff in the areas of Government Affairs, Federal Grants, Communications, Outreach and Public Affairs and Community Affairs, to carry out the agency's mission of advancing the well-being of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and of Puerto Ricans in the United States. As the Governor's Official Representative in the United States, he worked in education, health and environmental issues. He had also been working in special projects that will help increase economic growth in Puerto Rico's rural areas. [http://www.prfaa.com/aboutprfaa.asp?id=31]

He was succeeded by attorney Flavio Cumpiano.

Sources

The San Juan Star, Nov. 5, 2007, Column by Dr. M. Bhatia on Sens. Bhatia and McClintock's financial education bill (The San Juan Star is not published online)

External links

* [http://www.bhatia2008.com/beta/ Bhatia2008] portal oficial.