Tarcísio appoints bolsonaristas to the second echelon – 01/21/2023 – Politics

Bolsonaristas, conservatives, political nominees and names imported from the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government who were passed over by the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), in the assembly of his secretariat found space in second-tier posts.

Among the 24 secretaries, only two are considered root Bolsonarists, Sonaira Fernandes (Women) and Guilherme Derrite (Public Security), although there are other right-wing names.

The list of faithful to the former president has expanded with the nominations of Diego Torres Dourado, the former president’s brother-in-law; former secretary Filipe Sabará (Republicans) and José Vicente Santini.

Diego, who is Michelle Bolsonaro’s brother, was chosen by Tarcísio to be his special advisor, with a starting salary of R$ 19,204.22. He went to the camp of coup supporters of Bolsonaro in front of the army headquarters in Brasília, as reported by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

Wrapped in a Brazilian flag, Michelle’s brother appears in a photo at the scene shared by friends last November.

The governor had also nominated his own brother-in-law, Mauricio Pozzobon, but withdrew, as the Federal Supreme Court prohibits the use of relatives in the management, including in-laws.

Sabará was João Doria’s secretary in the São Paulo City Hall and president of the state’s Social Fund also during the former toucan’s management, but broke with him and aligned himself with Bolsonarism. He was appointed executive secretary of the Secretariat for Social Development.

Accused of lying about his resume, Sabará was expelled from Novo when he was a candidate for mayor of São Paulo, in 2020.

Tarcísio also appointed Santini, a friend of the Bolsonaro family, to head São Paulo’s representative office in Brasília. In January 2020, Santini, who was executive secretary of the Civil House, was fired by Bolsonaro for having used a FAB (Brazilian Air Force) jet on a trip from Switzerland to India.

At the time, Bolsonaro claimed that Santini’s conduct had been “completely immoral”. He later held other positions in the federal government, including that of national secretary of justice.

Sonaira, whose conservative profile is compared to that of former minister Damares Alves (Women, Family and Human Rights), will have Teresinha de Almeida Ramos Neves as executive secretary.

Appointed this Friday (20), Teresinha, who worked in the Ministry of Damares, wrote in a personal blog, in 2012, to be against abortion even in the case of rape, which is allowed by law. Sonaira is also an anti-abortion activist.

Tarcísio’s management informed that Teresinha’s appointment is technical and that “the legislation regarding abortion will be complied with”.

Another former member of the Bolsonaro administration is doctor Sergio Okane, who will be executive secretary of Eleuses Paiva (PSD) in Health. Okane was former Minister Marcelo Queiroga’s right-hand man.

According to the Panel column, Okane was part of a team made up of peers that encouraged the use of ineffective drugs against Covid-19.

Also among the members of the Bolsonaro government brought to São Paulo by Tarcísio are Marcos Heleno Guerson de Oliveira Júnior and Eduardo Aggio de Sá.

The first is a colonel in the Army and participated in the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, as well as the governor of São Paulo. He presided over Inmetro (National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology) and will now be superintendent of the state’s Institute of Weights and Measures (Ipem).

Sá, who headed the Federal Highway Police, was chosen president of the Detran by Tarcísio. Close to the former president, he also held a position in the Civil House in the federal government.

A colonel from the Military Police reserve who is among the 120 police officers denounced in the Carandiru process was appointed by Tarcísio to a position of advisor in the Secretariat of Penitentiary Administration. Sérgio de Souza Merlo was accused of bodily harm, but the statute of limitations expired. The government says the nomination follows technical criteria.

After choosing the secretariat, Bolsonaro’s allies complained about the lack of representatives on Tarcísio’s team, which maintains an ambiguous relationship with Bolsonarism, making nods to the base, but seeking to distance itself from ideological controversies.

Tarcísio has been under criticism from his electoral base in recent days, after condemning the coup acts in Brasília and following the order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, to undo the Bolsonarist camps. He even met with Lula on two occasions.

Despite making room for names aligned with the former president in the second echelon, Tarcísio did not choose a Bolsonarist deputy as his government leader. The nomination of Jorge Wilson Consumer Sheriff (Republicans), linked to federal deputy Celso Russomanno (Republicans-SP), was published on Thursday (19).

Neither is Bolsonarista supported by Tarcísio to assume the presidency of Alesp (Legislative Assembly of São Paulo), André do Prado (PL). The deputy, appointed by Valdemar da Costa Neto, was already part of the PL before the acronym became Bolsonar.

The ancestry of Gilberto Kassab, president of the PSD and government secretary, seen in the choice of secretaries, remained in the second echelon. Fundação Casa, for example, will be chaired by an ally of Kassab, former judge João Veríssimo Fernandes.

The space given by Tarcísio to the allied parties and Bolsonaristas is a reason for wear and tear, including in the Republicans. There is dissatisfaction on the benches of state deputies, who want to promote their nominees in exchange for forming a solid base at Alesp.

The PSDB, which lost control of the São Paulo government after 28 years, was left out of Tarcísio’s first echelon, despite supporting him in the second round, but names from the administration of Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB) were preserved by his successor.

This is the case of Marcos Penido, who will be Kassab’s right-hand man in the Government Secretariat. He was Rodrigo’s Government Secretary and Doria’s Environment Secretary. Penido also worked with Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) in government and with Kassab in São Paulo City Hall.

Rubens Emil Cury, who was Rodrigo’s Secretary of Regional Development, is now responsible for the Undersecretary for Relations with Municipalities.

For the second level of his management, Tarcísio also chose people that he fits into the category of technicians, who already occupy the majority of the secretariat. These are names that have a career in public management and that, in general, were linked to the Ministry of Infrastructure or Economy, of Paulo Guedes, in the Bolsonaro government.

The president of InvestSP (investment promotion agency), Rui Gomes Junior, was director at the Ministry of Infrastructure, headed by Tarcísio. Develop SP (development agency) will be chaired by Ricardo Dias Brito, who is a professor of economics at USP.

ITA (Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica) engineer Wilton Ruas da Silva was appointed executive director of Procon. As the Panel SA column showed, the choice breaks a recent sequence in which only law graduates held the position.