Commonwealth Port Authority board nominee Bruce L. Jorgensen, right, listens during a Senate Executive Appointment and Government Investigations Committee confirmation hearing last month in the Senate chamber.
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios on Monday withdrew his nomination of Bruce L. Jorgensen to the Commonwealth Ports Authority board of directors.
In his letter to Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, the governor noted that he nominated Jorgensen on June 1, 2023, to represent Rota on the CPA board.
“This appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate. However, I am officially withdrawing his nomination,” the governor said, adding that “I will be submitting a nomination in the future for the First Senatorial District CPA board member.”
The Senate Executive Appointments and Governmental Investigations Committee has yet to act on Jorgensen’s nomination, which is opposed by Rota Sen. Dennis James Mendiola and former Sen. Pete P. Reyes, a CPA board member.
Mendiola said although Jorgensen is qualified, he does not represent the people of Rota, while Reyes questioned the nominee’s residency on Rota.
In response, Jorgensen said Mendiola and Reyes “are serving as lapdogs doing the bidding for their longstanding Rota cronies, who are principally if not entirely responsible for Rota’s fiscal demise and absurdly exorbitant commodities prices, have derived millions in profits from the predatory pricing they inflict on Rota residents, and therefore will do whatever they can get away with to prevent any shift in the status quo.”
