"Podemos takes 4,262.75 euros from public coffers every month. Is that also a superfluous expense?". This is how the Councilor for Tourism and Commerce of Arrecife, Armando Santana, responded to Lanzarote en Pie-Sí Podemos, who in a press release denounced "superfluous" and "exaggerated" expenses of the City Council.
"What really surprises me is what Podemos calls superfluous expenses. I can also tell you what superfluous expenses they make from the 2,902.75 euros in salaries they take every month, the 335 euros they take in informative commissions, the 900 euros they charge from the group, or the 125 euros that their colleague charges, who is not released, but who goes to the plenary sessions", Armando Santana pointed out.
Specifically, the councilor has addressed his words to the councilors Leticia Padilla and Leando Delgado. "The reflection we have to make about this is whether it is a superfluous expense, because it possibly is", he added.
A way of doing politics based "on lying" and criticizing "the absurd"
The Councilor for Tourism and Commerce of the Arrecife City Council has criticized the "way of doing politics that the councilors of Lanzarote en Pie-Si Podemos currently have", which he believes is based "on lying" and criticizing "the absurd".
"Releasing press releases talking about superfluous expenses, for example an app that the Hospitality department makes, I see sense in a gastronomic app. What is not common sense is that two legislatures ago CC spent twice as much on an app and let it die after two months. That is a superfluous expense, they are throwing money away, but it is true that we have seen Mrs. Padilla less critical of CC lately, in fact they get along very well, and critical in the absurd with this government group", Armando Santana pointed out.
"Doesn't it seem logical to you that being in Christmas the City Council spends a certain amount of money on buying a tree? I think it's common sense", Santana defended, who also criticized that Lanzarote en Pie-Sí Podemos reproaches them for the money spent on carrying out children's workshops "to revitalize the area of Parque Ramírez Cerdá". "It's my obligation, I have two important economic areas, Tourism and Commerce, and the main objective of those two councilorships is precisely that", he added.
Likewise, he has also responded to the criticisms for the expense of 5,000 euros on poinsettias. "If you leave Arrecife, you will see that the rest of the world does exactly the same at this time", the councilor stated.
"One cannot justify their salary behind a computer and lying"
In addition, the Councilor for Tourism and Commerce of the Arrecife City Council has stated that it is "totally a lie" that his Councilorship has spent money on a Tourism website as Leandro Delgado stated in an interview on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
"And I am afraid of this way of doing politics", said Armando Santana, who recalled the "bad experience" that the councilor of the government group, Saro González, also had, who had a discussion in plenary with Leticia Padilla about the expenses of the Consistory in the commemoration of All Saints' Day that took place in the municipal cemetery.
"They invent a lie, launch it on social networks so that people, who in this case was Saro, are devoured on a social network, and then they are so calm. They started with the story of whether the violinist had cost 7,000 euros, then 5,000, and in the end it was shown that it was 400 euros and absolutely nothing happens, but the damage that is done to that person is quite important", Santana pointed out in this regard.
"No one is going to give me lessons on saving and not wasting public money"
"One cannot justify their public salary as they receive it, behind a computer and lying", added the Councilor for Tourism and Commerce of Arrecife, who has defended that, in fact, with the Tourism website that Leandro Delgado spoke about, what he has done is "save the City Council money". "I sat down with the Councilor for New Technologies and told him that it was absurd to launch a new Tourism website, that we were going to use the one we have, the corporate one, the one of arrecife.es", he explained.
Similarly, Armando Santana has also stated that he intends to save the Consistory "a higher amount" in relation to the gastronomic app. "Because I have committed myself, which I think I have to be the only councilor in all of Spain, to enter all the data, the information, and take the photos of the hotel establishments that are going to be present in this application myself", he assured.
"And I have gone on official trips representing the City Council to Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife and I have paid for them out of my own pocket. I was at the World Travel Market and, to save the administration money, I stayed in a hotel that was an hour and a half from the Congress Palace. In other words, no one is going to give me lessons on saving and not throwing public money away", the councilor concluded.
