As you may have seen me point out on Twitter, control board advisory candidate and Treasury consultant (see her testimony in the Wal-Mart case) Martha Kopacz voiced the opinion that Puerto Ricans should abandon the statehood discussion while the Commonwealth mounts its financial recovery under the oversight of the board, during a panel discussion in San Juan.

As I noted in her preview, Kopacz has long been a mouthpiece of the US Treasury Department, and the fact that she testified to being a Treasury consultant confirms her prejudice.  Her comments yesterday on status should give each of us pause.  No matter how you feel about the status debate (it’s fair to say that everyone knows how I feel), the Treasury Department and the “restructuring experts” that work for it should not be in the business of weighing in on local matters, which are deeply personal to many of us.

There should be no remaining doubt that Kopacz is not independent and should not be considered for a board or an advisory/staff position, if the control board is truly to be independent of political forces.