Since taking his oath of office on December 6, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro has put the state government’s private jet up for sale, requested judges to reduce their salaries while lowering his own, and announced plans to restructure the state police force.
If these schemes sound familiar, it’s because they mirror those of Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Perhaps inspired by Lopez Obrador selling the presidential aircraft, Alfaro said he will auction off the executive plane that gobbles up some 300,000 pesos a month in fuel. The governor has also donated a helicopter to Jalisco’s State Health Department, to be used for medical emergencies in remote corners of the state.
Additionally, Alfaro has channeled Lopez Obrador by sacrificing part of his salary, although by a mere 8,000 pesos, much less than the 40 percent cut in the presidential wage. But like the president, Alfaro has asked the state’s senior judges to voluntarily lower their own in order to pay smaller-ranking magistrates more. Lopez Obrador, meanwhile, is trying to force Supreme Court judges to take a wage cut through legislative action.