Two Almeida advisors, with salaries exceeding €60,000, hide their participation outside Madrid in the campaign of Ayuso's candidate to preside over NNGG from their agenda

Two temporary advisors assigned to the district of Villa de Vallecas, with exclusive dedication and paid with public funds, are being subjected to public attention after their participation in events linked to the internal campaign of Ignacio Dancausa to preside over New Generations of the Popular Party. They are Adrián Pérez Hernando—general coordinator of NNGG Madrid and Dancausa's community manager—, and Bryam Fernando Orellana Pillajo—Dancausa's official photographer—, both included in the Madrid City Council's Transparency Portal as temporary staff.

According to social media publications and publicly disseminated material, both advisors would have participated in different events, outside Madrid, in Dancausa's campaign, such as yesterday's trip during working hours to Seville. However, this trip was not reflected in the public agendas of both advisors, despite the fact that their institutional activity must be registered through the City Council's transparency mechanisms. In this regard, this newspaper has contacted sources from the Madrid City Council, who have not provided details on the matter, and the Municipal Board of the Hortaleza District, where they have stated that Pérez and Orellana were not at their workplace this Wednesday.

According to the Madrid City Council's Transparency Portal, their gross annual salaries are €64,737.96 and €60,684.02 gross annually.

In addition to the trip to Seville, there is a tour of internal events by candidate Ignacio Dancausa in different cities, including Murcia —where it would start on June 11— and other locations such as Extremadura, Catalonia, Zaragoza, Galicia, Guadalajara, Bilbao or Murcia, according to the candidate's own disseminated agenda.

In this context, some unofficial internal sources from the Municipal Board consulted indicate that the trips to Seville would have been linked to an event scheduled for yesterday at 7:00 p.m., and that this type of trip would be repeating in different parts of the country.

Absence in the public agenda

A relevant element is that, being temporary staff with exclusive dedication, their institutional activity should be reflected in the corresponding public agenda. However, in the public agendas consulted, the trips to Seville related to the internal campaign of Nuevas Generaciones nor the days linked to the production of the podcast “Sin Filtro”, in which both advisors participate together with their councilor, do not appear.

This absence does not imply irregularity in itself, but it does raise questions about the nature of these activities: whether they were considered part of the institutional function —and therefore duly registered— or whether they were carried out outside the framework of official activity, during periods of leave, vacation, or outside working hours.

Link to a podcast with their councilor

In addition to their activity in the district, both advisors appear linked to the production of the podcast “Sin Filtro”, associated with the councilor of their area, where they allegedly perform recording, editing, and audiovisual production tasks.

If these functions are part of the tasks assigned to temporary staff, there would be no irregularity. However, if these were activities of a political or communicative nature unrelated to institutional functions or carried out with public resources without proper control or registration, the matter would require clarification.

These circumstances occur in a context in which information has already emerged about the use of staff paid with public funds in the Madrid City Council to carry out tasks linked to party organic structures. A recent example was published by El País, which detailed the situation of trusted personnel with mixed functions between institutional and partisan activity.

Since when are the events of the holders of management bodies and temporary cabinet staff public?

The agendas of management staff and temporary staff have been public since October 15, 2015, the date on which the agreement was adopted by the Governing Board. As of May 1, 2016, all these events are displayed in the public area of the application.

On the other hand, the agendas of councilors with government responsibilities have been public since July 2, 2015. As of May 1, 2016, events are edited in the agenda application and displayed in their public area.