Cristino Bernazard is the only person to have served beyond the inaugural session as an unelected Speaker of the

Puerto Rico House of Representatives The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Sen ...

. After having served as Secretary of the House under Speaker

Angel Viera Martínez Attorney Ángel Viera Martínez (1915 – December 6, 2005) was a prominent pro-statehood public servant in Puerto Rico during the second half of the 20th century. Biography Earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico School of ...

, after the 1980 elections, his last duty as outgoing Secretary in January 1981 was to preside over the inaugural session of the new House until the new Speaker was elected and swear him in. Because neither the New Progressive Party nor the

Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico The Popular Democratic Party ( es, Partido Popular Democrático, PPD) is a political party in Puerto Rico that advocates to continue as a Commonwealth of the United States with self-governance. The party was founded in 1938 by dissidents from the ...

had yet obtained an absolute majority of the seats in the House, the body remained deadlocked until former Speaker

and PDP Rep. Severo Colberg reached a power-sharing agreement that allowed Viera Martínez to be elected Speaker in April. In the meantime, Bernazard remained acting Speaker, appointed a bipartisan pair of co-chairs to every committee and kept the House working under unusual circumstances until a political agreement could relieve him of the unwanted and unsought prolongation of his duties as acting presiding officer and administrator of the House. He has been recognized by leaders of all political persuasions as someone who rose to the occasion and led with a steady hand until a political solution could be found to an unprecedented historical deadlock. Bernazard was subsequently appointed by Governor

Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...

as a member of the Puerto Rico Industrial Commission, a nomination that breezed through the confirmation process in an opposition-controlled Senate, in recognition of the historic role he had played in maintaining democratic stability in a time of crisis. From 1993 to 2000 completed his legislative staff career as Staff Director of the Senate Government Affairs Committee under two chairmen, Sen. Rolando Silva and Sen. Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rico's current Secretary of State. In 2000, his wife died, days before his boss, McClintock, lost his mother. Coincidentally, the graves of these two wives of military veterans were placed side by side at the

Puerto Rico National Cemetery Puerto Rico National Cemetery is a United States national cemetery located in the city of Bayamón, in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It encompasses of land, and at the end of 2005, had 44,722 interments. Until 2021, it was the only United St ...

in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Bernazard retired and currently lives and works as an educator in the state of Florida.

References

Speakers of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{PuertoRico-bio-stub