For sponsorship opportunities, contact palcus@palcus.org

PALCUS is planning a “Portuguese Week” in Washington, DC leading up to the Leadership Awards Gala on November 12th in celebration of its 20 years of service to the Portuguese-American community of the United States.

Click here for more information regarding the Gala!

FALL RIVER — The Espírito Santo School has gained a whole new “family.”
The Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States (PALCUS) has decided to adopt the first Portuguese parochial school in the United States. The announcement was made at a ceremony held at the school on Wednesday attended by a number of officials who joined in to celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary and its commitment to teaching the Portuguese language and culture.
“I guess I am going to be the godmother for all of you because we’re going to adopt you,” said Dr. Odete Amarelo, a PALCUS Board director who also served as master of ceremonies for the event.
Addressing the school’s entire student body, teachers and administrators, Dr. Amarelo said, “how magnificent to be here to celebrate all of you — you are the focus of this celebration.”
PALCUS Board of Directors Chairman Fernando Rosa also expressed his pride and praise in the school’s commitment to teach Portuguese since its foundation and in reaching the centennial anniversary milestone.
“I extend to you our congratulations for your success and we recognize your efforts to promote the Portuguese language and culture. We applaud your commitment to go forward without forgetting your roots. We’re here to help you advance to your next level,” said Rosa.
He reminded the students about the importance of learning more than one language and about one’s roots.
“You have two languages, you understand two cultures. This helps you to be prepared, and to be prepared is to win,” he said. “Don’t be ashamed of your roots; you can’t celebrate your future if don’t understand where you came from. We’re going to adopt you, so we can help you just a little bit. So, go forward, reach for the stars.”
Rosa then presented several gifts to the school, including a plaque marking the school’s anniversary, children’s literature books in Portuguese, shirts, pencils, medals, small Portuguese flags and a check.
“This is the first donation from Brown University to buy books,” said Rosa, whose words were received with great applause.
Espirito Santo School opened its doors on September 19, 1910. Today, 260 students as young as three years old are learning Portuguese at the school.
Principal Louise Kane said students learn numbers, colors and basic expressions as part of daily routines in Pre-Kindergarten. Portuguese is taught once a week to students in kindergarten to second grade. In upper grades, students are exposed to the language more frequently, and by the time they graduate most of them can read and write Portuguese with a high degree of proficiency, she said.
“I am so proud of the children and I feel blessed to have visitors be part of our community,” said the principal. “It’s a very special feeling. I say we caught the spirit.”
Kane estimated that 75 percent of the students come from Portuguese families, although some are already fourth generation.
“I tell the kids how fortunate they are to be bilingual,” said the principal, who is Irish and is one of the few staff members who do not speak Portuguese. “I’m trying to learn. I make a point of learning one or two words a day. As PALCUS is adopting us, I am going to adopt this as my second language.”
Kane described the new relationship with PALCUS as “wonderful.”
“It’s a blessing to be able to have someone so supportive, an organization that we can call on that understands the importance of the language and culture,” she said.
Portuguese Consul in New Bedford Graça Araújo Fonseca praised the school for its great contribution to enhance Portuguese culture and language in the Fall River area and thanked the parents for encouraging their children to undertake the task of learning a foreign language.
Dr. Fonseca then told students that Portuguese is spoken by 240 million people in eight countries spread across four continents.
“It is a value-added to speak a second language,” said the consul. “It will help you in the future when you reach the job market.”
Fall River Diocese Superintendent of Schools George Milot also praised the school for exposing students to the Portuguese language and culture.
“I’m so proud the Portuguese language is being taught in the diocese,” he said. “It’s part of my heritage and part of the heritage in Fall River.”
Citations were then presented to Kane and to Espirito Santo Church Pastor James Ferry from the Massachusetts House of Representatives, U.S. Congress and City of Fall River.
Mayor William Flanagan, who presented the municipal citation, commended the school for exposing students to the Portuguese language and heritage.
“It’s so great the Portuguese language and culture has been taught to these school children for the last 100 years,” said the mayor. “It’s a disappointment to lose your roots, but that does not happen here at Espírito Santo. The teachers have made a concerted effort to make sure you don’t lose your heritage and culture.”
During the celebration, students read and sang in Portuguese and sealed the occasion with a taste of massa sovada donated by area bakeries.
“This is where it needs to start… at an early age,” said PALCUS Board Member Marie Fraley, a former speech-language pathologist, about learning a foreign language, as the ceremony was coming to an end.
A larger celebration is planned for September when the school celebrates its 100th anniversary, Kane said.

Source: http://my.ojornal.com/news/palcus-adopts-esp%C3%ADrito-santo-school

The next U.S. ambassador to Portugal will not have a Portuguese last name after all.

Significant lobbying efforts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean urging President Barack Obama to pick someone with Portuguese roots have been unsuccessful.

Numerous Portuguese organizations and U.S. legislators sent letters to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supporting Massachusetts State Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) for the post.

The efforts of the movement — the first of its kind in the history of the Portuguese community in the United States — were covered by a number of media outlets in Portugal and the United States.

But on Monday, Obama nominated former Tallahassee City Commissioner Allan Katz to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to the Portuguese Republic.

Katz, a lawyer for Akerman Senterfitt in Tallahassee, Fla., was an early supporter and key fundraiser for Obama. As a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Katz argued for the Obama campaign’s position during the Michigan and Florida presidential primaries controversy.

On Tuesday, Katz would not comment on his nomination. His law office redirected all O Jornal questions to the White House communications office.

A statement from Obama referring to a number of appointments was included in a White House release.

“As we work to strengthen our relationships in the global community and put our nation back on a path to prosperity, I am confident that these individuals will serve our nation well,” read the statement.

Reached Tuesday, Sen. Pacheco said he was disappointed, but he has the “utmost respect” for Obama’s nomination.

“I totally support his recommendation,” said the senator. “I hope he [Katz] does a great job with Portugal and I will do everything in my power to be helpful.”

Katz was a member of the National Finance Committee of Obama for America, where he served on the DNC Platform Drafting Committee for the 2008 Convention. He was recently appointed by Florida’s CFO to serve on the Board of Directors of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the largest property insurer in Florida.

The Portuguese American Leadership Council of the United States, a national advocacy organization for the Portuguese American community headquartered in Washington, D.C., was pushing for an ambassador of Portuguese descent. PALCUS maintained that having an ambassador who understands the Portuguese community would facilitate cooperation between both countries.

Fernando G. Rosa, PALCUS vice chairman, told O Jornal he was disappointed with President Obama’s nomination.

“But I am not surprised. People who support the Administration are usually appointed,” he said. “Obama could have used this opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Portugal. I think the Portuguese deserve an individual who shares their roots in this time of great change in U.S. politics.”

Rosa said that despite many contributions by the Portuguese to this country, unfortunately, they might still be regarded as a group that “does not have the impact to receive a prize such as an ambassadorship.”

Prof. Michael Baum, an associate professor and chair of the Political Science Department at UMass Darmouth and executive board member of the university’s Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, was asked by the U.S. State Department to travel to Washington, D.C. to brief Katz on the political life in Portugal on Nov. 13. Dr. Baum said the ambassador-designate seemed “very curious” about Portugal.

“He is diving in learning as much as possible. My job was to update him on key issues and provide insight,” he said.

Dr. Baum, a specialist in comparative politics, was one of three experts who briefed Katz and a number of other officials on Portugal. He was asked to talk about the Portuguese political system, ideological perspectives and the likely scenario resulting from the recent Legislative Elections in Portugal, where the Socialist Party (PS) won but lost the absolute majority in Parliament.

“He does not speak the language, but he is trying to learn it,” said Prof. Baum about Atty. Katz.

The professor, who also briefed the State Department when Alfred Hoffman, Jr. was nominated as ambassador to Portugal, said that he was surprised when Katz’s name came up when he received the invitation for the briefing.

“I had to Google him,” he said, adding that he had seen reports about Sen. Pacheco’s name being tossed around for the ambassadorship.

“It speaks about the power of the Portuguese-American lobby. They don’t have the power to push,” said Prof. Baum.

In the end, Obama chose to do the same as his predecessors have done, following the long-time presidential prerogative of assigning ambassadorships to supporters, he said.

“A lot of people believed Obama would make dramatic changes, but we have to be realistic,” said Dr. Baum. “He is a politician, and politicians reward the faithful. This is the way the game is played.”

The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington that tracks money in politics and lobbying activity, has found Obama has nominated about two-dozen key fundraisers and other supporters to diplomatic posts. These were people who raised a minimum of $10.9 million for Obama’s committees. On top of the list are: Nicole Avant, assigned to the Bahamas, with a minimum bundled of $800,000; Charles H. Rivkin, France and Monaco, $800,000 and Cynthia Stroum, Luxembourg, $800,000.

Several Web sites cite that Katz was able to fund-raise at least $500,000 for the Obama campaign.

Katz’s nomination now requires Senate approval.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was among the legislators who signed a letter expressing support for State Sen. Pacheco.

On Tuesday, O Jornal contacted his Washington office to find out if he would support Katz’s nomination. A spokesperson said he would not make a comment until his office had received the nomination papers.

Meanwhile, Cong. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), who expressed his support for Sen. Pacheco by co-signing a letter sent to Obama, said he respects the president’s choice.

“The Congressman believes Sen. Pacheco would have made an excellent ambassador to Portugal, but at the same time he respects the decision made and will do everything possible to support the relationship between the United States and Portugal,” said his spokesperson Mike Jensen.

Cong. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who also supported Sen. Pacheco for ambassador, said he was disappointed with the nomination.

“Sen. Pacheco was a strong candidate for ambassador who had the support of both Republicans and Democrats. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it was President Obama’s choice,” said Rep. Nunes, adding that Sen. Pacheco should still be considered for other lusophone countries.

“He is very qualified and well suited for any Portuguese-speaking country,” he added.

O Jornal

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

December 16, 2009 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON — People who emigrate to the United States face social, cultural and, often, language barriers. Unaware of their rights, the new arrivals frequently need help in getting their children incorporated into the school system and may find it difficult to become involved in the local community.

For immigrants from Portugal and Brazil, national and local organizations aim to decrease the obstacles they face when newly arrived in the United States.

In Washington, PALCUS, the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States, takes positions on laws that directly affect the Portuguese community and acts as a voice for people of Portuguese descent and those whose backgrounds are in Portuguese-speaking countries. Laws relating to visa waivers and deportation are often their focus.

In New Bedford, the Immigrants’ Assistance Center works directly with immigrants to help them apply for citizenship and find adequate housing, food and clothing. It also assists with their medical needs, advises them on their rights and generally helps them integrate into the American way of life.

Though founded almost four decades ago by members of the local Portuguese community, the center today offers assistance to all immigrant communities. Still, given the high percentage of Portuguese-Americans in the city and region, working with that community is an important part of its activities.

The organization’s purpose is to act as the voice of the immigrant population in New Bedford, said Helena Marques, the center’s executive director.

“We do a lot of one-on-one work with people,” she said. “We are aware of PALCUS, and PALCUS being in Washington is a good thing. We are more of a direct service, we’re right on the front lines of issues, where I think PALCUS is more like an advocacy.”

Her nonprofit, multiservice agency helps serve about 5,000 immigrants per year and also reflects the immigrant population it is helping, she said.

“We’re all bilingual and bicultural,” she said. “There are about five languages spoken here.”

The organization holds fundraisers and speaks about the issues of the immigrant population. It also works directly with the community and offers food from the Boston Food Bank, works with local schools such as Roosevelt Middle School, holds English-language classes and provides help with citizenship.

“We also work with deportation, unfortunately,” Marques said. “We do a lot of exchanging information between the United States and Portugal.”

The 2000 U.S. census showed there were 1.15 million people of Portuguese descent and 65,875 of Brazilian descent living in the country. Of the 203,120 who emigrated from Portugal, 66,625 live in Massachusetts, according to the census. Of the 212,430 Brazilians living in the United States, 36,670 are in Massachusetts, with a large proportion of them living in the New Bedford area.

PALCUS unites the Portuguese community throughout the nation by inviting its members and prominent people of Portuguese heritage to its annual event, said Fernando G. Rosa, the organization’s vice chairman.

“Our next gala will be in Massachusetts,” he said. “There is a committee planning the event; it might be in Fall River, New Bedford or even Cambridge. We’re not sure.”

PALCUS focuses on policies and legislation relating to the Portuguese community.

“We’re not trying to solve any problems for any individual on an individual basis; that is not what we do,” Rosa said.

It may sometimes refer a case to another organization, he said, but “we do not have a staff that solves individual problems.”

PALCUS works with members of Congress to hear about what their Portuguese constituents want and to discuss the issues the group is advocating.

One of the biggest issues PALCUS deals with is deportation and its affect on families.

“Some of the conversations we’ve had have changed some laws” Rosa said.

PALCUS meets with community leaders from California to New England who advise them on issues they should support in Washington.

“We deal with issues more on a national level, issues that could affect all of the community, all at once,” he said.

Becoming an active member of PALCUS, or even helping at a local immigration center, allows one to become “involved in an organization,” Rosa said. “It not so much is a benefit for you, but for the community. Individuals continue coming together and bring different issues to the table and to the conversation.”

[04-06-2008] [ Lusa/Açoriano Oriental (on-line) ]

“Tenho muito orgulho em ser português e digo-o sempre que posso. Já o manifestei nos dois discursos que fiz na Casa Branca, com o presidente [Bill] Clinton e todos os dias falo de Portugal”, disse hoje por telefone à Agência Lusa Carlos de Mattos, residente em Los Angeles, Estados Unidos.

“A minha mulher até diz que me oferece mil dólares (cerca de 650 euros) se eu estiver um dia sem falar de Portugal”, afirmou.

No estado da Califórnia, Carlos de Mattos é conhecido como o “Embaixador de Portugal” pelo seu envolvimento na promoção do país.

A residir nos Estados Unidos há 38 anos, Carlos de Mattos é o fundador da CDM Interactive, empresa fornecedora de equipamentos para filmagens e espectáculos, e esteve envolvido em grandes produções como “Titanic”, as duas primeiras sequências de “O Exterminador Implacável” e “A Verdade da Mentira”.

“Quase todos os filmes de James Cameron utilizaram o meu equipamento”, indicou.

De acordo com Carlos de Mattos, os Óscares foram-lhes atribuídos em 1989, pela invenção de uma “grua em tulipa que foi utilizada pela primeira vez por Steven Spielberg no filme ‘ET’” e em 1991, pelo “desenvolvimento de uma câmara controlada por comando remoto no filme ‘Cotton Club’, de Francis Ford Coppola”.

Além da área do cinema, televisão e entretenimento, Carlos de Mattos também tem investimentos imobiliários, alguns dos quais em Portugal.

Carlos de Mattos disse ainda que está a preparar “um investimento muito grande em Portugal”, mas escusou-se a dar pormenores, esclarecendo apenas que é na área do cinema.

Actualmente, está também a co-produzir filmes, através da produtora Generation Entertainment.

Relativamente ao Prémio Empreendedorismo Inovador na Diáspora, Carlos de Mattos considerou ser “uma boa ideia” os portugueses no estrangeiro serem promovidos em Portugal.

“Portugal tem muita história e há muitos portugueses no mundo e esta é uma maneira de distinguir as comunidades portuguesas”, afirmou o empresário que também foi agraciado comendador pelo ex-presidente Mário Soares.

Incansável promotor do seu país de origem, Carlos de Mattos desloca-se quase todos os anos a Portugal para “matar saudades” e conseguiu “converter” a mulher, que é norte-americana, à gastronomia portuguesa.

“Cozinho para ela”, disse à Lusa, acrescentando que os pratos mais apreciados são Bacalhau Dourado, Carne de Porco à Alentejana, Amêijoas à Bolhão Pato e Caldo Verde.

Além de Carlos de Mattos, a COTEC atribuiu também o Prémio Empreendedorismo Inovador na Diáspora a Fernando Ferreira, um empresário residente na Austrália.

O prémio da COTEC Portugal – Associação Empresarial para a Inovação, entregue este ano pela primeira vez, teve 65 candidaturas e tem o alto patrocínio do Presidente da República.

Português galardoado pela COTEC…

Copyright aicep Portugal Global

05/16/2008

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island College’s Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies is a bit richer now.

Several months after President George W. Bush called learning Portuguese “wasteful,” in his explanation for cutting funds for the Rhode Island College Portuguese program as part of a congressional earmark, he was overruled.

Thanks to the efforts of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy in Washington, $97,000 has been secured in federal funds to assist in furthering the mission of the Institute.

The Institute provides those of Portuguese speaking cultures (and those who wish to explore them) with the courses, workshops, and community outreach programs to open new career paths and enhance personal development within the state and the Portuguese community. “I was just part of the team to make this come about. What an appropriate celebration that we can have… it’s a very important institute here in Rhode Island, which celebrates its Portuguese-American heritage with such great fanfare, as anyone of us can testify to, especially as springtime approaches and all the festas begin,” said Cong. Kennedy.

A reception was held last Friday in Kennedy’s honor at the residence of RIC resident, Dr. John Nazarian, and attended by distinguished members of the Portuguese community. On hand were former State Treasurer Paul Tavares, State Senator Daniel DaPonte, Portuguese Consulate Chancellor Leonel Teixeira and his wife, Dr. Luz Teixeira, former Vice-Consul Rogerio Medina, and PALCUS representative Alda Petitte, among others.

Shortly after 6 p.m. RIC’s president welcomed Kennedy by saying: “I’ve known him for many years… he was a student at Providence College at the time, and I told him that he made a mistake by not coming to Rhode Island College, but you know, he went on and became a congressman, so what am I going to do about it? So, on behalf of the Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies, we wish to express sincere appreciation to Congressman Patrick Kennedy for is assistance in supporting the work of the Institute and its service to the citizens of Rhode Island…”
“You’ve really been the ones who have been at work bringing this about, responded Kennedy. “It really would not have come about, had you not done all the homework and all the footwork to make it possible to get this started.”Kennedy said that it was important to take advantage of the skills Portuguese-Americans bring to the university – understanding of language and culture and build upon them. “We need to provide the students with all the new ammunition that they need in this new battlefield, the global battlefield of this new economy,” he said. “And just as we wouldn’t want any of our soldiers in the battlefield to be left behind, we don’t want any of our new future employees – the ones that we are sending to the universities- to be left behind because of inadequate tools, inadequate preparation, inadequate abilities to fight the weapons of economic war that we are going to have to fight to remain predominant in the world as an economic super power. We have our work cut out for us in other initiatives and we’ll keep working on those.” But Kennedy was not the only one delivering good news. Margaret Brown, vice-president of college relations and executive director of the RIC Foundation, told the group, John Lima, a Portuguese-American had also recently handed the university another large check in memory of his parents..” Today he transferred $50,000 to the Institute to establish a scholarship in his parents’ name and he has promised a similar gift in January of ’09,” she said. Kennedy told O Jornal that his work will continue for the Portuguese community. “I know who my friends are, who I represent, who elected me to office,” he said. “I remember when I first ran for office, I was embraced by my colleagues in the state legislature like Bill SanBento was my treasurer, Joe Faria was my coordinator, from Central Falls, Henry Rose and Ray Coelho in East Providence, coordinated things for me. I had support all up and down the East Bay. Paul Tavares was a great supporter. And I know that when they took me with them over to the Azores where so many Rhode Islanders came from originally, I really got to feel more connection with so many of the neighbors that live here in Rhode Island. As a result, when I campaigned here for congress, I made a special emphasis to always be respectful and attentive to the traditions and the culture of the Portuguese-American community in the state. I think that I went out of my way to acknowledge their influence as a community because they hold a lot of political power. They are very united, and very much a part of the strength of our state in terms of the neighborhoods. They are very tightly knit, well established, family-orientated and very traditional with good family values and strong neighborhoods, and good neighborhoods.

When everything else about American society pulls people apart, I admire the fact that, in large part, (the Portuguese family values) has kept a lot of neighborhoods together.

We can get better policies economically. We can get better job protections. We can have better monetary policies, better trade policies, all those will help people. We can fight for secure pensions so they don’t lose their pension after they work a lifetime. We can fight for better health care opportunities, we can get better access to descent health care, but at the end of the day, we can’t fight against the disintegration of the family. Only tradition, family values, can help us do that and the Portuguese community has been a very powerful embodiment of those values and has helped fight that. Whereas many other parts of our American society have fallen apart because they have not had that infrastructure.”

For the original article please click the link below:

O Journal “RIC says thank you…”

O Jornal 2008

The 39-year-old American neuroscientist in April swapped Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York for Portugal’s Champalimaud Foundation.

“At first people were surprised I’d do that,” Mainen said. “But after they heard what’s going on, they were less surprised …They were offering conditions comparable to what I might have in the U.S.”

Little Portugal is looking to make a big name for itself. While a crunch on biomedical research budgets in the United States has tightened competition for grants there, the fledgling Champalimaud Foundation has €500 million (US$784 million) to spend and is courting top scientists with the lavish facilities of a planned world-class research center.

The private foundation was created on an endowment from Antonio Champalimaud, one of Portugal’s wealthiest businessmen, who bequeathed it a quarter of his €2 billion (US$3.1 billion) estate when he died in 2004.

Portugal, a European Union member with a population of 10.6 million people, has no tradition of scientific eminence. National spending on research and development is feeble, at less than 1 percent of gross domestic product, according to 2005 figures. That’s below the European Union average of 1.8 percent and far off the U.S. average of 2.8 percent. The lack of funds and technology has long pushed Portugal’s best scientists abroad.

Private gifts for scientific advancement are common in the United States but rare in Europe, where public funds and pharmaceutical companies foot the bill for most biomedical research. British charity Wellcome Trust is among the few that buck the trend.

The Champalimaud Foundation’s president, former Portuguese health minister Leonor Beleza, toured leading U.S. schools such as Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to see how she might turn her institution into a similar beacon for the world’s scientific elite.

At MIT she met Susumu Tonegawa, winner of a Nobel Prize in 1987 for his work in immunology. “He said to us, ‘Don’t think you can’t achieve the best, because if you’re ambitious, and the people you choose are rigorous and do good science, you can achieve good results,’” Beleza said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Beleza opted to focus on two fields where breakthroughs capture public attention: clinical cancer research and basic neuroscience.

Cancer diagnosis and treatment are weak in Portugal, largely due to inadequate screening and the state welfare system’s limited funds, experts say. The Champalimaud Foundation’s planned high-tech research center, due to open in 2010 at the mouth of the River Tagus in Lisbon, features sophisticated diagnostic and treatment units for cancer patients in the lower levels. The research labs are on the floor above.

That tailor-made layout plugs into the modern health care trend for research — closely linking laboratory developments to onsite doctors and patients in what is termed a “bench-to-bedside” approach. The idea is for the paths of researchers and doctors involved in treating outpatients to cross not just at the bedside but also at the water-cooler.

The neuroscience program aims to unlock the secrets of human behavior by understanding how the brain arrives at decisions. The findings may help decipher mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The foundation also awards a €1 million (US$1.6 million) annual prize for advances in eyesight research.

Another lure is that when its scientists eventually move on, the foundation will allow them to carry away some of the research funds they raised during their time in Lisbon. It’s an initiative known as a “golden parachute.” Beleza says she doesn’t want her foundation to fall into the common European trap of providing jobs for life, which can stifle progress.

She concedes, however, that this southwestern European country’s distance from mainstream capitals is a drawback. That’s why researchers moving to this Atlantic city are encouraged to travel.

The foundation has already snared some illustrious support.

Tonegawa, of MIT, agreed to be on the jury for the annual vision prize. James D. Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who helped discover the molecular structure of DNA, is on the foundation’s scientific committee.

Antonio Damasio, author of the 1994 book “Descartes’ Error” and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, sits on the foundation’s general council.

Damasio, who left Portugal after obtaining his Ph.D. at Lisbon University in 1974, reckons the foundation’s lack of a track record will work in its favor.

“Beginning from the ground up without past errors to correct is an enormous advantage,” he said in comments e-mailed to the AP.

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