Tarcísio surrounds himself with military personnel in the Government of SP – 04/14/2024 – Power

The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), left the Army in 2008 with the rank of captain to undertake a series of technical positions until he became head of the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The 17-year period as a soldier and the friendships forged during that period, however, still shape the governor’s way of managing. The main sign of this is the presence of people with similar training in key administration positions, after a administration in which former governor João Doria (ex-PSDB) brought several professionals from the private sector to the government.

Colleagues of the governor from the time of Aman (Military Academy of Agulhas Negras) occupy everything from the most powerful department in the government, the Civil House, to organizing day-to-day details at the Palácio dos Bandeirantes.

Those who live with Armed Forces graduates in the government say that no one demands to be called by rank or wears a uniform, but that there is greater formality and different protocols than what one is used to in politics, a language that Tarcísio also speaks.

A retired Army colonel, a friend of the governor since his time at the military academy, will take over as Tarcísio’s chief of staff, a position that currently does not exist.

The name chosen for the position is André Porto, who went to the reserve last year to assume the status of secretary as head of support management for the north coast, a region devastated by landslides.

The new position has not yet been created, but the military officer works in a room next to Tarcísio’s at Palácio dos Bandeirantes. Among the post’s responsibilities is control of who has access to the governor, with sectors that take care of agendas and ceremonies, for example, reporting directly to him.

The retired colonel is part of a generation of military personnel who studied in the same period at Aman, between 1993 and 1996, which includes the governor’s right-hand man, Arthur Lima, head of the Civil House, and Tarcísio himself.

The secretary has resisted in office despite pressure from the political world since the beginning of his administration, with allies criticizing a lack of coordination, funds and space in the government. The latest move came from former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to place senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI), who headed the federal Civil House during his administration, in Lima’s place, as shown by the newspaper O Globo.

The government denied the departure of the secretary, a friend of the governor who also worked with him in the federal government, heading the EPL (Planning and Logistics Company), linked to the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Lima —who is affiliated with the PP— currently has his entire chain of command made up of people coming from the Army. Number two is Fraide Sales, another who studied in the same class as the governor at the military academy. He was appointed this year in place of Edilson José Costa, also with a military background.

The secretariat’s chief of staff is another who joined the São Paulo troops this year. Francisco Ronald Rocha Fernandes, a military officer who served in recent years as deputy head of Itaipu Binacional’s information advisory, replaced an employee who had been working at the Palace for 36 years in February.

João Germano Böttcher Filho, who retired, was known as “janitor” or “mayor”. The role assumed by Fernandes includes several administrative tasks at the palace, with command of teams ranging from governance to kitchen staff.

Behind the scenes in the government, reports are that the presence of officers goes beyond the staff. Some, for example, seek meetings with authorities to lobby on a wide range of issues.

Tarcísio’s government, however, is far from the concentration of military personnel recorded in Bolsonaro’s government, which even had active officers such as Eduardo Pazuello, at the time in Health.

At the first level, Tarcísio’s other secretary with experience in the Armed Forces is Wagner Rosário, state controller general, who is tipped to gain superpowers in the position just like Arthur Lima.

Rosário, who was minister of the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) during the Bolsonaro administration, gained prominence for being one of the participants who spoke at the July 2022 meeting in which scenarios were discussed to challenge the fairness of the elections.

The governor sent projects to the Legislative Assembly with the aim of empowering the Comptroller’s Office, which would now handle administrative disciplinary procedures and corruption investigations against state employees, currently the responsibility of the State Attorney General’s Office.

The presence of the military also extends to state-owned companies and local authorities, whether in councils or leadership positions. Ipem (Institute of Weights and Measures), for example, is headed by Marcos Guerson, Army reserve colonel and former president of Inmetro.

Edilson José da Costa, former number two of the Civil House, remains on two boards of directors of state-owned companies, which earn him almost R$20,000.

In addition to former Armed Forces officers, Tarcísio’s government is the one with the most reserve military police officers in the secretariat. They are Guilherme Derrite (Security), Colonel Helena (Sports) and Marcello Streifinger (Penitentiary Administration).