Another lawmaker flouts the law

PANAMENISTA  deputy Katleen Levy is back in the public spotlight for breaking the rules that forbid the use of names of lawmakers on items purchased with public funds.

The National Assembly’s youngest and often controversial  lawmaker, who quickly learned the tricks of the trade, and the path to the cookie jar  from her older colleagues,  last hit the headlines for her political proselytizing at the 2016   Christmas fairs when she tried to convince constituents that she was the hidden hand behind $8 hams.

Morocco junket
She reappeared as a cause celebre early in the new year during a tax payer funded $7,000 Morocco junket, during which she used social media to tantalize constituents with photos of herself enjoying the high life while they toiled at home on minimum wage.

In a La Prensa investigative tour of the eastern sector of the capital, on Tuesday of this week, two official buses carrying her name were spotted. One in e Pedregal and the other near the Tocumen health center.

Deputy Levy acknowledged that she managed buses for Pedregal, but said that she understood that the local Representative removed her name after the Ministry of Finance (MEF) alerted her to the prohibition of doing politics with Public goods. Too busy to check?

la Prensa points out that  the rules prohibiting the use of names on public property dates back to the 1998, Fiscal Code, and more recently  The 2015  Electoral regulations.

Referring to  the bus carrying  her name in Tocumen, Levy said that “it is false because I have never managed a bus for the Tocumen Community Board.”

Carlos Lee, of Citizen Alliance Pro Justicia, said that in open violation of the laws, deputies and councilors have placed their names on goods purchased with public funds.