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On Wednesday, an adviser for one of Puerto Rico’s most influential female lawmakers was receiving resignation calls for tweeting to President Barack Obama that he should purchase a double-banana sundae for Michelle Obama and take her on a trip to Kenya. The tweet was sent to Obama by Heidi Wys not long after the president tweeted that his wife’s birthday was around the corner.
“Who cares?” Wys wrote. “Take her to Burger King, buy her a sundae with double banana, take her to your homeland, Kenya!”
Wys works as the top adviser to House of Representatives President Jenniffer Gonzalez. Wys has been earning $630,000 since 2008 for her work as an administrative consultant. That data was released by the Comptroller’s Office. Legislators have been asking for Wys to step down or for Gonzalez to demand her resignation.
“How is it that Puerto Rico `does it better’ if the government pays an employee who is discriminating against the president of the United States?” said Sen. Juan Eugenio Hernandez. “It is a racist comment from a person who must have great hatred within. This is placing the name of Puerto Ricans across the world in a very precarious situation.”
Marieli Padro, the spokeswoman for Gonzalez, said that Gonzalez and Wys were not able to comment about the issue. Padro also would not discuss whether or not Wys would retain her job. Gonzalez did release a statement that said she could not monitor the social accounts of her employees.
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“The expressions disseminated are not acceptable, do not represent my sentiments and are the exclusive responsibility of those who wrote them,” Gonzalez said. In her statement, Gonzalez also asked her employees to be cognizant of what they write and that they should respect rights of others. Wys has tweeted about Obama in the past.
Wys tweeted to reporters of a Puerto Rican newspaper that they should investigate the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate. Wys made it known in another tweet that she is not racist and that her favorite nieces are black. Wys is white. She also tweeted that she is not in support of Obama.
“I fight Obama with all the strength in my heart and passion as a descendant of germans!!” she tweeted on July 30.
Wys decided to respond to an Obama tweet on June 18. Her tweet was in response to the president offering an invitation to have dinner with him.
“Wah! Wah! I feel like vomiting! Dinner with a guy borned in Kenya and claims he was borned in Hawaii!” Wys tweeted.
Rafael Cox Alomar wrote a letter to Obama about the actions of Wys. Alomar is attempting to become the next resident commissioner of Puerto Rico. “Her conduct is unacceptable. No one should underestimate the grave affront that a racial attack represents, using political differences as an excuse.”
