Carlos Verna Explained

Carlos Verna
Office:Governor of La Pampa
Term Start:10 December 2015
Term End:10 December 2019
Vicegovernor:Mariano Fernández
Predecessor:Oscar Mario Jorge
Successor:Sergio Ziliotto
Term Start1:10 December 2003
Term End1:10 December 2007
Vicegovernor1:Norma Durango
Predecessor1:Rubén Marín
Successor1:Oscar Mario Jorge
Office2:National Senator
Term Start2:10 December 2009
Term End2:10 December 2015
Constituency2:La Pampa
Term Start3:21 April 1993
Term End3:10 December 2003
Constituency3:La Pampa
Office4:Mayor of General Pico
Term Start4:10 December 1987
Term End4:10 December 1993
Birth Date:1946 5, df=yes
Birth Place:América, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Profession:Engineer
Party:Justicialist Party

Carlos Alberto Verna (born 8 May 1946) is an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ) politician who was governor of La Pampa Province twice, from 2003 to 2007 and from 2015 to 2019. He was also a National Senator for La Pampa for two terms, and served as intendente (mayor) of General Pico.

Career

Verna entered public service as Mayor of General Pico, and was elected to the Argentine Senate for La Pampa in 1993, and later became Chairman of the Budget Committee. He won the 2003 gubernatorial election with the support of President Carlos Menem, against the candidate of the Front for Victory faction of the Justicialist Party, Néstor Ahuad. Verna was not close to fellow Peronist President Néstor Kirchner, and was likely to be challenged by his own party if he attempted to be re-elected in 2007.[1] He was, moreover, implicated in the scandal concerning public SIDE funds diverted to senators by the government of Fernando de la Rúa for their support of a labor law flexibilization bill in 2000. Consequently, Verna declared he would not seek political office following the end of his term in 2007,[2] and he left office in December 2007.

Verna was returned to his former seat in the Senate in 2009; he campaigned with markedly anti-Kirchnerist rhetoric in the heavily agrarian province (then still reeling from the effects of the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector, as well as a severe drought). Maintaining long-standing differences with President Cristina Kirchner from her days in the Senate, Verna voted against the use of Central Bank reserves for foreign debt retirement.[3]

He ran for a new term as governor of La Pampa in 2015. He first defeated the Kirchnerite Fabián Bruna, proposed by the governor Óscar Jorge for the primary elections.[4]

He announced in September 2018 that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He said that he would not run for reelection in 2019 and leave politics. He also said that he had no intention to stay until the end of his term of office, but that he may resign if his condition gets worse.[5]

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: La Política Online: Marín podría volver a la gobernación . 2006-07-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928201555/http://www.lapoliticaonline.com.ar/index.php?pagetype=detail&newid=938&seccion=8 . 2007-09-28 . dead .
  2. http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/09/12/um/m-01270051.htm Clarín (12 Sep 2006)
  3. http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2010/02/24/elpais/p-02146572.htm Clarín (24 Feb 2010)
  4. Web site: La Pampa: Verna intenta desplazar al kirchnerismo. La Pampa: Verna attempts to remove Kirchnerism. Spanish. October 25, 2015. La Nación. March 21, 2017.
  5. Web site: Carlos Verna reveló que padece cáncer y anunció que no irá por la reelección en La Pampa. Carlos Verna revealed that he has cancer and announced that he will not run for reelection in La Pampa. Spanish. September 6, 2018. La Nación. September 6, 2018.