BOSTON — A well-known heart surgeon in Puerto Rico asked a U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday to overturn a decision by his political party to reject his bid to run against the island's incumbent governor.
Ivan Gonzalez Cancel sought to challenge Gov. Luis Fortuno in a primary earlier this year, but a committee within the New Progressive Party rejected his candidacy. Both Gonzalez Cancel and Fortuno are members of the NPP, which wants the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico to become the 51st state.
Gonzalez Cancel, a prominent cardiologist who is credited with performing the first heart transplant surgery in Puerto Rico, lost his appeal in federal court in Puerto Rico.
In arguments before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Wednesday, Gonzalez Cancel's lawyer, Ruben Nigaglioni, argued that the party didn't have a legitimate reason for rejecting his client's candidacy.
"That is the problem. The party arbitrarily decides who is qualified and who is not ... that's the unfairness of it all," Nigaglioni said.
After the hearing, Gonzalez Cancel said the Committee for the Evaluation of Candidates for Public Office, which disqualified him, is made up of five people appointed by Fortuno, president of the party. The committee cited irregularities on his tax returns, but Gonzalez Cancel denied any problems with his returns and said he believes the party excluded him so Fortuno would avoid a primary challenge.
"Certainly, the governor has a vested interest in not having a primary ... he is very afraid that he will lose to me," he said.
David Indiano, a lawyer for the NPP, said the lower federal court was correct to dismiss Gonzalez Cancel's complaint. Indiano said federal courts rarely intervene in state or local electoral disputes and argued that Gonzalez Cancel hasn't shown that his constitutional rights were violated.
Indiano said Gonzalez Cancel could have appealed to state courts in Puerto Rico but chose not to pursue that.
"There was an adequate state procedure; they just abandoned it," Indiano said.
Nigaglioni said Gonzalez Cancel withdrew his complaint from local courts because at the time, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court hadn't designed a particular court to hear electoral disputes.
The three-judge appeals court panel didn't indicate when it would issue its ruling.
Nigaglioni said the appeals court could uphold the lower court ruling, meaning Gonzalez Cancel would remain disqualified from running, or it could reverse and send the case back to the lower court with instructions to certify him as a candidate and to hold a primary election.