Pandora’s Box: Legislature pleads against intervention

Yesterday the Federal District Legislative Assembly (CLDF) sent the Supreme Court a 37-page brief outlining its position against federal intervention. The document, signed by the acting president of the CLDF, Cabo Patricio (PT), attempts to countervail the arguments presented by the federal government’s chief prosecutor (procurador-geral da Republica), Roberto Gurgel, who has said that “institutional bankruptcy has contaminated the executive and legislative branches of the government of the DF.”

Interestingly, the strongest argument made to show that the legislature is functioning is the fact that various impeachment motions against the governor and some of its own members are moving through the CLDF in a normal, timely manner. Another positive factor cited is the way the CLDF has obeyed court orders and removed all the deputies under investigation (eight of them and two substitutes) from the impeachment processes. Finally the document claims that all the bad things being said about the CLDF are based on media reports, not the facts.