Who is Alexandre Baldy, Temer’s new minister?

After buying his way out of criminal prosecution, President Michel Temer is set to once again pander to the parties in his coalition. Temer will promote changes in his cabinet in April, when politicians running for office next October must leave their duties in the Executive branch. But this “cabinet reform,” as Brazilians call it, has already started. Temer picked Congressman Alexandre Baldy for the Ministry of Cities – currently the most coveted office in Brasília.

Alexandre Baldy was picked by Rodrigo Maia, the House Speaker. Maia and Temer have not seen eye-to-eye on many issues over the past few weeks, and Baldy’s nomination represents Temers effort to get closer to the speaker. Maia is influent among a group known as centrão (the big center), a variety of politicians who are less driven by values than they are by traditional methods of pork barreling. With...