Alckmin avoids the subject, but compares Covas to his grandfather.
The Governor of São Paulo tries to avoid the subject, but says that Bruno Covas, his candidate for the 2012 municipal elections, "inherited all of his grandfather Mário Covas's qualities."
Governor Geraldo Alckmin tried to downplay the issue, but couldn't help but highlight what he calls the "vocation to serve" as one of the praiseworthy attributes of his Secretary of the Environment, Bruno Covas, who is on the PSDB's list of pre-candidates for Mayor of São Paulo.
Today, during a brief interview he gave at the Tietê Ecological Park in the eastern part of São Paulo, the governor was asked whether the fact that his secretary was transferring his voter registration from Santos (on the coast of São Paulo) to the capital was proof that he could head the PSDB ticket to run for mayor next year.
"Look, that's a topic for next year," Alckmin deflected. He then added: "He's transferring his voter registration because the deadline is next week. But it's a matter to be decided next year, and it's a party decision. It's a collective decision," the governor emphasized. Alckmin's attempt to deflect attention from Bruno Covas's pre-candidacy for the municipal election is justified because, as journalist João Bosco Rabello reports in a column published today in AE Broadcast and tomorrow in Estado, "it increases resistance within the PSDB to Governor Geraldo Alckmin's attempt to impose Bruno Covas's candidacy for mayor without holding primaries."
However, Alckmin couldn't resist the temptation to publicly lavish praise on the secretary. "I see a vocation for service. Bruno inherited all his grandfather Mário Covas's qualities: honor, honesty, and dedication to serving the people," he said.
At no point did the governor mention the names of other PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) pre-candidates, such as Andrea Matarazzo, José Aníbal, and Ricardo Trípoli, a federal deputy for the PSDB in São Paulo who was by his side on the stage where they both spoke at the closing of the activities commemorating Tietê River Day. Trípoli, in fact, signed the manifesto "Tietê Vivo - Compromisso de todos nós" (Tietê Alive - A Commitment from All of Us), which has gathered over a million signatures in defense of the depollution of the Tietê River, which runs through São Paulo from its source in the municipality of Salesópolis to Paraná.