Medina bows to pressure, ‘bans’ use of taxpayers money for politicking

Santo Domingo.-Presidency chief of staff Gustavo Montalvo on Tuesday notified the CentralElectoral Board that all government officials have strict instructions to ban theuse of vehicles, equipment or other state resources for campaign activities.

The announcement comesjust one day after mounting pressure from the opposition parties to halt theuse of taxpayers money for politicking, even using flow charts to show an allegedjump in government spending.

In a letter to ElectoralBoard president Roberto Rosario, the official said president Danilo Medina’s instructionsreiterated the measure to stop the use of such resources in campaignactivities.

He said Medina remindedthe heads of the National Police and the Metropolitan Transit Authority that novehicle official, public or private can circulate without proper registry andidentification.

Montalvo said the Policeand the AMET should impound any official vehicle caught taking part in campaignactivities, regardless of the person or institution to which they belong.

Montalvo said in the missivesent to the Central Electoral Board, Medina was clear that he doesn’t wantabsolutely any use State resources to promote his re-election.