What to do when it seems nobody wants to lead Puerto Rico?The island territory faces myriad problems - poverty, unemployment, corruption, stagnation, infrastructure woes, and now - a leadership vacuum.After days of mass protests, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello agreed to resign - but his replacement, the Secretary of State, has already resigned while under investigation. Secretary of Justice Wanda Vasquez, faces questions of ethical lapses as well - she doesn't want the job. The Treasury Secretary is next in line, but he's too young - at 31, he is a few years short of the minimum age required by the Puerto Rican constitution. The Education Secretary has also already resigned under a cloud of corruption. And over the weekend, the Public Affairs Secretary resigned as well."I can't remember in my adult life, ever seeing a mess as complicated as the one being presented and revealed in Puerto Rico today," Newell said. Jim Carafano from the Heritage Foundation came on to the show to speak about the uncertain but hopeful future Puerto Rico faces, and he began by reminding listeners that the morass the territory finds itself in is the result of a very good outcome of those protests, and the removal of a corrupt head of state."Democracy works," Carafano said. "Democracy is about people holding their governments accountable, and for the people of Puerto Rico to stand up, finally, after decades, and saying 'we are fed up with this,' it makes me optimistic for the future of Puerto Rico." The conversation moved then to the role of the Trump administration's response to Hurricane Maria, and how the President correctly forecasted some of the problems that would be brought to bear in the recovery process."It's amazing, he actually predicted this," Newell said of the President. "He said this would happen, he said many of the folks he interacted with originally were totally corrupt, this money was not going to go where it was intended. Early on they saw some operational challenges that were made worse once local officials got involved.""Absolutely," Carafano agreed. "There was example after example of that, and it was all smothered under this yelling at the President that he hates Puerto Ricans and he's a racist and he doesn't care about people... all the President was doing was speaking plain truth." So as we watch the political drama unfold and get ready to open our wallets to help alleviate some of the pressures faced by the people of Puerto Rico, we have to wonder - who are we sending our money to?
"If you were going to invest your private dollars in a company," Newell said," Would it be a company without a leader? Would it be a company without anybody in it that wants to lead? Would it be a company where people in the company say, loud, from every street corner that every leader in my company is corrupt and we have no confidence in their leadership? Is that a company you would invest in?"Concluding, Newell said "We need to find a solution, but asking 'who do you hand the money off to' - that's a legitimate question!"