Paulo Pimenta (politician)

Paulo Roberto Severo Pimenta (born 19 March 1965) is a Brazilian journalist, agricultural technician, and politician, who is the current of Secretary of Social Communication under president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

At 16 years old, Pimenta was the president of the students' union of the agricultural college at UFSM, and in 1981, was president of the Central Directory of Students.

Initially an activist from the left-wing political group Resistência, which included people from the city such as Marcos Rolim as leaders, he became known when he was injured in a shooting by an assailant from Santa Maria.

He was in fact painting a message on the side of his house, "Diretas Urgente para Reitor e Presidente", as was common in that time.

The assailant was found guilty for the crime.

Pimenta's group kept going forward as his name reached public notoriety due to the incident.

He has been a member of the Workers' Party (PT) since 1985.

He became the vice-president of the State Union of Students of Rio Grande do Sul, at 21, from 1986 to 1987.

Pimenta began his political career as a councilman in Santa Maria.

He was first elected in 1988 and, in the next election in 1992, was one of the most voted candidates in the city.

As councilman, he was the vice-president of the chamber of councilors, presided over the Justice and Human Rights commission, the Public Services commission, and the subcomission of Education, Culture, Science and Technology.

The latter commission elaborated on the Organic Law of Santa Maria, along with having proposed to the commission the internal regime of the chamber.

Pimenta was the leader of the PT faction in the chamber, as well as the leader of the opposition.

In the municipal chamber of Santa Maria, Pimenta occupied positions on the board of directors.

He was a member of various municipal commissions during his time as councilman.

Pimenta is a journalist who graduated from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) in 1994.

He previously was an agricultural technician.

He also took agronomy courses at UFSM, but did not complete the major.

In the municipal elections of 1996, he ran, without success, to be the vice-mayor of the city with the coalition headed by Carlos Renan Kurtz of the PDT.

He became, in 1997, vice-president of the state branch of the PT in Rio Grande do Sul.

During the course of his political career, he was a councilman for the PT in his hometown of Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and was elected state deputy in 1998.

He was elected a state deputy in Rio Grande do Sul in 1998.

Pimenta was elected as a state deputy in 1998 and presided over the Legislative Assembly's Planning and Finance Commission.

During his mandate, he was part of governor Olívio Dutra's support in the Assembly.

In 2000, he was elected vice-mayor of Santa Maria, with Valdeci Oliveira as mayor.

In 2000, he was elected vice-mayor of Santa Maria, with Valdeci Oliveira as mayor.

In 2000, he proposed and presided over the parliamentary inquiry (CPI) that investigated organized crime in Rio Grande do Sul and returned to Santa Maria, when he was elected vice-mayor.

Along with being vice-mayor, he was secretary-general of the government and municipal finance secretary.

In 2002, Pimenta was elected federal deputy with the largest share of the vote obtained in the central region of the state for a candidate from said region, as well as the most voted PT candidate from outside of the Porto Alegre region.

Since 2003, he has been a federal deputy from the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

In 2003, he was elected federal deputy, and was reelected in 2006 and 2011.

He was reelected in 2006 with 104,430 votes, and was reelected again in 2010 as the most voted deputy from the PT in Rio Grande do Sul with 153,172 votes.

In 2008, he ran to be the mayor of Santa Maria but came in second place.

In 2008, he ran to be mayor of Santa Maria, but lost to Cezar Schirmer.

Pimenta was, for two mandates, a councilman from the PT in Santa Maria.

In 2010, he was the most voted for candidate from the PT in Rio Grande do Sul, with 153,172 votes.

In 2014, he was reelected as a federal deputy with the most votes for a PT candidate, with 140,868 votes, becoming the 6th most voted federal deputy in Rio Grande do Sul.

Pimenta is the son of Paulo Roque Mello Pimenta, ex-employee of the autonomous department DAER, and Rita Beatriz Severo Pimenta, a retired state school teacher.

He is married to teacher Cláudia Pereira Dutra and has three children: Francisco, Antonio and Paula.

He was again the most voted for federal deputy from the PT in 2014 with 140,868 votes.