Monday, 17 January, DR1 Daily News:
Old-style politics
The political committee of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party ordered that its members employed in the government and earning up to RD$20,000 a month pay a 3% contribution to the party. Those making more than RD$20,000 would pay a 5% contribution. Secretary General of the PLD, Reinaldo Pared Perez made the announcement after a five-hour committee meeting, headed by President Leonel Fernandez, who is also president of the PLD. Pared Perez said that the contribution would be made in accordance with the PLD statute that all members should contribute to party funds.
In a page two editorial today, executive editor of Diario Libre, Adriano Miguel Tejada, Executive Branch spokesman for President Leonel Fernandez during his past term, called the measure illegal. He said that Electoral Law No. 275-97, in its Art. 45, specifically prohibits political parties to impose or accept deductions in wages for government employees or private business, even when alleging that these are quotas or voluntary contributions. The law also prohibits that any government officer or employee, or of the municipalities, place these funds at the service of any political party or group.
He explains that the reasons are simple and there is a moral issue: "It does not reflect well either on the party or the administration; it is no more than a way of getting the state to fund the government party indirectly".
He says that it could be argued that it is a common practice in politics for such requests to be made, but then goes on to say that the PLD seems to be forgetting that the people voted the PRD out of government precisely to change these sort of practices.
Javier Cabreja, director of the civic group Participacion Ciudadana, warned that the imposition of the fee on government workers who are also PLD members violates workers' rights and could mask indirect government financing of a particular party. This, claimed Cabreja, goes against democracy and principles of equity amongst political parties, as reported in Hoy newspaper.