Puerto Rico Web war resumes this week
The Commonwealth Electoral Commission is expected to hear a complaint that asserts that the government Web site violates electoral law
The tug of war for control of Puerto Rico's World Wide Web site continues this week.
The Commonwealth Electoral Commission is expected to hear a complaint on Friday by the Puerto Rico Independence Party, which asserts that the government Web site, www.prstar.net, violates electoral law.
The law in question, Article 8.001, requires the commission, during election year, to review any government-paid publicity and advertising before it's disseminated via public broadcasting media.
Essentially, the commission wants to ensure that the Office of Management and Budget, which manages the Web site, does not commandeer official government channels — media that is paid for with public funds — for partisan politics.
In its request for an investigation, the Independence Party asserts that OMB has violated the law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, by not submitting its Web pages for review and for publishing political material on its site.
However, the question could be moot. The commonwealth's Justice Department ruled last month that the government's Web site is not subject to review as a "broadcasting media" under the new law.
Stay tuned.