Brazil’s next government: Takeover of the nerds

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian President-elect Dilma  Rousseff is building a Cabinet in her own image: a group of  bookish technocrats who, like her, have risen to power not  because of charisma or political connections, but for their  ability to crunch numbers and get things done.

You could even call it, in the most charitable sense, a  government of nerds.
“It’s true,” laughed an incoming minister, who like  Rousseff and several other future officials, pursued graduate  degrees in economics. “We’re more likely to argue about yield  curves than soccer, that is certain.”

The emphasis on technical qualifications reflects  Rousseff’s priorities such as exploiting newfound deepwater oil  reserves, bringing down interest rates, improving woeful  schools and ports, and other reforms designed to keep Brazil’s  economy booming once she takes office Jan. 1.

The approach carries risks. Rousseff, 62, is a career civil  servant who never ran for public office before this year, and  she may find her administration short of political operators  who can push contentious issues, like budget cuts, through  Congress.
Rousseff’s determination to focus on resumes rather than  political ties, has strained relations with her main coalition  partner, the PMDB party, whose leaders felt they were  underrepresented in early appointments.
Yet, to the delight of Brazil’s public sector, Rousseff has  pressed ahead.

Perhaps the most visible example of her selection criteria  was Alexandre Tombini, the next head of the central bank. The  bespectacled, slightly disheveled 47-year-old spent the last 15  years rising through the bank’s hierarchy, and had been best  known for working with the opposition party on a highly  technical inflation-targeting plan a decade ago.

Tombini — who will replace Henrique Meirelles, one of the  PMDB’s most prominent politicians — acknowledged the unlikely  nature of his appointment last week, calling it an example of a  growing “meritocracy in public institutions.”

A LOVE FOR POWERPOINT

Rousseff’s career followed a similar path.
After fighting in the resistance to Brazil’s dictatorship  as a student in the 1960s, and spending three years in prison,  she became an economist, worked at a think-tank, and occupied  several government jobs in a southern state when democracy  returned in the 1980s.

It was her policy knowledge that first impressed outgoing  President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who said he made her his  energy minister in part because of a great PowerPoint  multimedia presentation. He later chose her as his party’s  presidential candidate over other, better-known figures.

Rousseff seems eager to give others a chance to follow her  lead. Fernando Pimentel, who fought alongside her in the  guerrilla movement and will likely be her minister of trade,  was an economics professor before becoming a popular mayor.
Even the future chief of staff — traditionally a  grease-the-wheels, glad-handing position — will fall to  Antonio Palocci, a former finance minister, trained physician  and reformed Trotskyite who colleagues say seems more  comfortable around Wall Street bankers than at large public  events.

Rousseff’s appointments have also been designed to signal a  continuity of Lula’s policies, as illustrated by her decision  to keep Guido Mantega as finance minister. The next round of  ministerial appointments, expected later this week, will  include some overt political decisions to please the PMDB.

Yet the emphasis on practical experience will likely  continue. And while that may not jibe with Brazil’s  international image as a charismatic nation of beachgoers, it  reflects the evolution of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party from its  roots as a hard-left confederation of labor leaders 30 years  ago into a more pragmatic group that is primarily concerned  with lifting living standards for Brazil’s poor.

“All (Rousseff) has ever asked anyone for is technical  competence,” Mauricio Tolmasquim said in an interview before  the October election. Tolmasquim was Rousseff’s No. 2 at the  energy ministry and has been mentioned by local media as a  possible official in her government.

“She wants you to be efficient, and good at your job,”  Tolmasquim said. “Really, nothing else matters.”    (Editing by Todd Benson and Stacey Joyce)