BY JOHN MCPHAUL
  Special to The Herald

  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A jury has found Puerto Rico's former speaker of the House of Representatives guilty of extortion and money laundering in the latest of a series of convictions in federal court of members of one of Puerto Rico's major political parties.

  As part of a federal crackdown on corruption, former Speaker of the House Edison Misla Aldarondo, of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, was convicted Friday of peddling his influence to a group of investors for the sale of a state-run hospital.

  Misla Aldarondo also faces charges of raping a 17-year-old friend of his stepdaughter's, allegedly in his home while his wife was out of town.

  The conviction comes a month after Victor Fajardo, education secretary under former Progressive Party Gov. Pedro Rosselló, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on federal charges of shaking down Education Department contractors in a $4.3 million kick-back scheme. Prosecutors said that $1 million of the $4.3 million went to Progressive Party campaign coffers.

  ROSSELLO AIDE

  In August, Fajardo testified in the extortion and conspiracy trial that led to the conviction of María de los Angeles ''Angie'' Rivera Rangel, an aide to Rosselló, for receiving $125,000 from contractors for setting up meetings with government Cabinet members.

  Also Friday, former Deputy Secretary of State Angel Ocasio Ramos received 18 months in prison for making illegal payments to Rangel in exchange for government contracts.

  Meanwhile, the scandal-weary Puerto Rican public has reacted to the corruption cases with a mixture of outrage and resignation. ''For me all the politicians are corrupt,'' said Leslie Vincenty, a 31-year-old security guard. ``They start out working for the people and they end up beating each other up verbally.''

  Fajardo's case is particularly egregious to Puerto Ricans, who see the extortion scheme as an assault on the island's public education system.

  ''All the thieves should go to jail. But stealing from our children is the worst,'' said Felipe Timoté, a hospital administrator.

  The series of corruption cases making headlines for months has made campaign financing a priority of island politics and recently prompted the government, controlled by the Popular Democratic Party, to propose legislation to ban soft-money contributions to political campaigns.

  ''This isn't just the problem of one political party, but a problem that must be addressed for all parties,'' said Progressive Party President Carlos Pesquera, the defeated gubernatorial candidate in the 2000 elections.

  INCUMBENT PARTY, TOO

  The governing Popular Democratic Party has not been immune to the federal crackdown on corruption. Juan Manuel Cruzado Laureano, mayor of the town of Vega Alta, recently was sentenced in federal court to five years in prison for extortion.

  ''All the parties are equally corrupt. It's not just the last government, but in all governments,'' said Edgardo Rivera, 38, a social worker.

  The fraud cases have come to light because of the work of federal prosecutor Guillermo Gil, who has fingered the Progressive campaign fundraising under the Rosselló administration, in power from 1993 to 2001, as a chief source of official corruption on the island.

  But Gil was forced to drop extortion charges against three former Education Department officials and contractors, and seven more awaiting trial, after his star witness, Fajardo, allegedly perjured himself, raising questions about how much further Gil can go in prosecuting former Progressive government officials.

  Puerto Rico's current governor, Sila Calderón, has promised to prosecute the alleged crimes at the local level.