The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) rejected an appeal by former governor Rosinha Garotinho against a TRE conviction for abuse of political power for having public facilities in Campos dos Goytacazes, such as traffic signs and walls, painted pink. The incident occurred in 2012, when the former governor was running for reelection as mayor of Campos. For exactly three days, Rosinha was ineligible in the next municipal election, scheduled for October 4th. The decision bars the former governor from electoral participation for eight years, counting from the date of the election in which the incident occurred: October 7, 2012.
Read the note from the Electoral Public Ministry:
The Electoral Public Prosecutor's Office (MPE) obtained, from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), a favorable ruling in an electoral judicial investigation action (AIJE), filed in 2012, for abuse of political power, against the then re-elected mayor of the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rosinha Garotinho; the vice-mayor Francisco Arthur de Souza Oliveira, better known as Doctor Chicão, and re-elected on the same ticket; Anthony Garotinho, Rosinha's husband and at the time a federal deputy; and the councilor of the same city in the North of Rio de Janeiro, Mauro José da Silva.
In its decision, published on Friday (February 14), the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) denied the special appeals filed by Rosinha and Chicão, granting the MPE's special appeal to revoke their diplomas and declare them ineligible. As provided for in Article 1, I, d, of Complementary Law 64/90, ineligibility begins on the day of the election in which it occurred and ends on the same day in the eighth year following. As the first round of the 2012 municipal election took place on October 7, both are barred from participating in this year's election, with the first vote scheduled for the 4th of the same month.
The impeachment of both had already been ordered by the Regional Electoral Court of Rio de Janeiro (TRE-RJ) in 2016, but after the convicted men filed appeals, the case was moved to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). In the AIJE, the Public Prosecutor's Office detailed the practices of Rosinha and Chicão's administration that led to the ministerial oversight, including abuse of political power through the temporary hiring of employees on the eve of the election period, institutional advertising, misuse of the media, publication of biased material, personal promotion on the city's website, and misuse of public funds.
The Public Prosecutor's Office (MPE) points out that, in the midst of the 2012 municipal election campaign, the then-mayor and her deputy promoted the painting of the city's traffic lights pink, just days before the election date, in a clear allusion to their campaign materials. This led the TRE-RJ (Rio de Janeiro Regional Electoral Court) to convict them of conduct prohibited by Article 73, I, of the Electoral Law. During the same period, Rosinha and Doutor Chicão also included photos of model daycare centers and schools, as well as affordable housing provided under housing programs, in Campos dos Goytacazes public servants' paychecks, along with photographs of the reelection candidate herself in the reception rooms of local health clinics.
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