Puerto Ricans: Untapped Conservatives

Puerto Rico Herald ^ | August 9, 2004 | Alicia Colón

[Ebenezer]

According to the last census, there are 789,200 Puerto Ricans in New York City. They represent the largest group in the Hispanic community, and most are registered Democrats. But according to Luis Fortuño, Puerto Rico is very conservative, with values that are more in line with those of the Republican Party.

Mr. Fortuño was in New York City recently at a fund-raiser at the Yale Club. He is campaigning to become the resident commissioner [(non-voting delegate)] to Congress from Puerto Rico. If elected, he will be the first Republican delegate, and he is leading in all the polls.

He also confirmed what I have been writing for years about the Hispanic community. We basically have conservative, traditional family values, and the current Hispanic community leaders do not represent who we are.

According to Frank Luntz of the Luntz Research Company, Puerto Rico polled as one of the most conservative of all the regions surveyed. The majority of the island residents is pro-life and anti-same-sex marriages. Puerto Rico is more than 90% Christian, with 60% Roman Catholic.

Mr. Fortuño is running against [Commonwealth] Senator Roberto Prats, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Party [in the island]. The difference in their positions on the issues is as great as those between George [W.] Bush and John Kerry. Mr. Fortuño is for smaller government, lower taxes, school choice, and for statehood for Puerto Rico. Mr. Prats has voted for raising taxes in the past and believes that Puerto Rico should remain a commonwealth.

Whether Puerto Rico should remain a commonwealth or become a state or an independent nation is a question that many Americans do not consider important, but a recently released book may change their minds.

When I first received the book, "Pay to the Order of Puerto Rico," I was slightly affronted by the title. The subtitle of the book is "The Cost of Dependence to the American Taxpayer," and since I am certainly an Hispanic of Puerto Rican heritage, it was worth a look.

This analysis of the controversy by Alexander Odishelidze and Arthur Laffer comes down squarely on the side of Mr. Fortuño and is an eye-opener on the quagmire that is the colonial status of Puerto Rico. I must confess that I know about as much about Puerto Rico as any hyphenated American knows about the local politics of her ancestor's homeland. But the cost of maintaining the status of Puerto Rico as a territory is a burden taxpayers deserve to examine closely.

Puerto Rico is a tax shelter haven for American corporations and, because of Puerto Rico's unique status and relationship to America, it is also an ideal place for conversion of drug cash into "legitimate" revenue.

Colonialism has not benefited Puerto Rico, which still has a poverty rate higher than any of the 50 states. Mr. Fortuño says that if statehood is achieved, there will be a transitional period, but it will be the best choice for Puerto Rico.

Mr. Fortuño believes statehood is the only logical answer to the economic future of Puerto Rico, and besides that, it is richly deserved.

"Puerto Ricans have fully participated in every American war," he said. "There are 5,200 Puerto Rican National Guard personnel in Iraq. Sixteen have been killed. These numbers, of course, apply only to residents of Puerto Rico. Many Puerto Ricans from the mainland are also serving in the military in disproportionate numbers to the population."

If Puerto Rico is so conservative, why do Hispanic New Yorkers vote for liberal community leaders? From my own experience living in the barrio, I would venture to say that there was never any other political presence in our neighborhood. There were only Democratic social clubs that provided easy access to politicians who would work directly with the community. Besides, once upon a time, the Democratic Party was conservative and the liberal issues that are now part of its platform would have been unthinkable.

Slowly but surely, the message is leaking out. There have been conversions by lifelong Hispanic Democrats that may eventually spread throughout the community.

Olga Méndez is running for re-election for the [New York] state Senate for the first time as a Republican. She is representing my former neighborhood of East Harlem, and the race is expected to be a real battle.

This will be an interesting campaign to watch, as will the race for the Puerto Rican delegate to Congress. Luis Fortuño has received the endorsement and encouragement of [New York] Governor Pataki and other Republican leaders.

An interesting coincidence cropped up in my interview with Mr. Fortuño. I asked him about his family and he told me he has been married for 20 years to his wife, Luce.

"Any children?" I asked. "Triplets," he answered. His three children are 12 years old. The two boys, Luis and Guillermo, and one girl, Maria, are the center of his life.

I then told him about New Yorker Amy Richards, who had two of her triplets aborted because she only wanted one child. He looked stunned and I'm not even sure he believed me. Perhaps because, in Puerto Rico, that choice would be unthinkable.

[Ebenezer]

The Fortuño campaign is developing an English-language version of its website, the link to which follows:

http://www.luisfortuno.com/main_eng.html

[wrathof59]

Puerto Ricans are 99 % Democratic, and if Luis Guttierez (US Rep-D-Chicago) is the best they can come up, then they should should stay on the wrong side.

[Paul_B]

This is exciting. If we could break the minorities free from their traditional Crat machine, we would shift the nation's politics to the right massively. This is where it has to happen, and morals and school choice are the vehicles.

[Henchman]

Many PRs have decent values, however, they are not conservatives. The Dems wanted to have them as the 51 state so they could say millions more in poverty and increase their social welfare programs. The PRs did help build this country in the last 60 years, at least the welfare system.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Puerto Ricans are 99 % Democratic"

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I assume you mean that 99% of New York City and Chicago Puerto Ricans (who are actually New Yorkers and Chicagoans whose parents or grandparents were from Puerto Rico) are Democrats, but even with that qualification it is incorrect, since NY Governor Pataki got close to 50% of the Puerto Rican vote in 2002. Puerto Ricans in the Orlando area, most of whom recently moved there from Puerto Rico, voted for Governor Jeb Bush in 2002 and will be one of the most closely watched swing voters in the 2004 presidential election. And Puerto Ricans from the Island are pretty much unaffiliated with either the Democrats or the Republicans, since the two main political parties are the statehood party and the commonwealth party, but the mayors of the two largest cities (San Juan and Bayamon) are staunch Republicans, as is Mr. Fortuño, who is heavily favored to become the next Resident Commissioner (Puerto Rico's non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives).

[fieldmarshaldj]

A thread you will be rather interested in commenting on.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hehe, I posted that ping not even a minute after you replied. :-D

[fieldmarshaldj]

I presume if Mr. Fortuño prevails, he will align with the GOP when he arrives in Congress. The last Resident Commissioner who was a New Progressive was Carlos Romero-Barceló, but he chose to align with the Democrats. I don't know who the previous NPP member elected to Congress (Baltasar Corrada-del Rio, 1977-85) aligned himself with.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Luis Fortuño will definitely join the GOP caucus in the House of Representatives, since he is a National Committeeman for the Republican Party. I assume he will join the Hispanic Conference for Republicans (or whatever it's called), joining Henry Bonilla, Ileana Ros-Letinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Devin Nunes.

Baltasar Corrada del Rio was the Resident Commissioner during the governorship of Carlos Romero Barcelo (1977-1985). Carlos Romero Barcelo was probably the first pro-statehood politician in Puerto Rico to align himself with the Democrat Party, and he was eventually able to remove the pro-commonwealth opular Democratic Party's grip over the Democrat Party in Puerto Rico (although are still a minority of the delegates to the Democrat Convention). So it is not surprising that Baltasar Corrada del Rio was aligned with the Democrats when he served as Resident Commissioner. However, Corrada del Rio switched to the GOP during the mid-to-late 1980s (when he was mayor of San Juan and later gubernatorial candidate for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party), and if I'm not mistaken he presided over the Puerto Rico delegation in the 1988 Republican National Convention. The only previous New Progressive to serve as Resident Commissioner (the party was founded in 1968, pretty much as the successor to the Statehood Republican Party; to this day, many people in Puerto Rico refer to statehooders as "Republicanos") was Jorge Luis Cordova from 1969 to 1973, and he was most certainly a Republican.

BTW, the Brady Committee (or whatever it's called) is now actively campaigning against the reelection of San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini because Santini, a conservative Republican, sent a letter to Republicans in Congress urging them to let the so-called Assault Weapon Ban to lapse. If Puerto Rico became a state, Santini would be unbeatable running for a House seat based in San Juan (assuming that he didn't prefer to run for Governor or Senator instead).

[BluSky]

"But according to Luis Fortuño, Puerto Rico is very conservative, with values that are more in line with those of the Republican Party."

We were told several weeks ago the Jewish, in homeland Israel, are more conservative than the Jewish vote in the states. And now, we get this. Homeland Puerto Ricans are "very conservative, with values that are more in line with those of the Republican Party"

Memo to conservative think tanks: Use these stats as a shot across the bow to the Republican Party.

Increasing these types of votes: Jewish, Puerto Rico, Hispanic and Blacks. Yes-we're that close to seeing liberalism exist as the second major party.

[Dan from Michigan]

If Puerto Rico is so conservative, why do Hispanic New Yorkers vote for liberal community leaders? From my own experience living in the barrio, I would venture to say that there was never any other political presence in our neighborhood. There were only Democratic social clubs that provided easy access to politicians who would work directly with the community. Besides, once upon a time, the Democratic Party was conservative and the liberal issues that are now part of its platform would have been unthinkable.

Sounds like the old school Irish.

Most of my family left that machine - and I'm a descendant of one of the machine families.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"Luis Fortuño will definitely join the GOP caucus in the House of Representatives, since he is a National Committeeman for the Republican Party. I assume he will join the Hispanic Conference for Republicans (or whatever it's called), joining Henry Bonilla, Ileana Ros-Letinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Devin Nunes."

That's good to hear. He'll be the first Republican from any of the territories since General Blaz was defeated for reelection in Guam in '92. Of course, we need to be increasing our Hispanic membership on the mainland, too, and that's not looking too good now. :-(

"Baltasar Corrada del Rio was the Resident Commissioner during the governorship of Carlos Romero Barcelo (1977-1985). Carlos Romero Barcelo was probably the first pro-statehood politician in Puerto Rico to align himself with the Democrat Party, and he was eventually able to remove the pro-commonwealth opular Democratic Party's grip over the Democrat Party in Puerto Rico (although are still a minority of the delegates to the Democrat Convention). So it is not surprising that Baltasar Corrada del Rio was aligned with the Democrats when he served as Resident Commissioner. However, Corrada del Rio switched to the GOP during the mid-to-late 1980s (when he was mayor of San Juan and later gubernatorial candidate for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party), and if I'm not mistaken he presided over the Puerto Rico delegation in the 1988 Republican National Convention. The only previous New Progressive to serve as Resident Commissioner (the party was founded in 1968, pretty much as the successor to the Statehood Republican Party; to this day, many people in Puerto Rico refer to statehooders as "Republicanos") was Jorge Luis Cordova from 1969 to 1973, and he was most certainly a Republican."

I was looking up prior to that, and apparently there was only 1 PR Republican ever elected to Congress before Cordova, and that was the very first Resident Commissioner, Federico Degetau, way back in 1901. The NPP was founded by Don Luis Ferré, was it not ?

"BTW, the Brady Committee (or whatever it's called) is now actively campaigning against the reelection of San Juan Mayor Jorge Santini because Santini, a conservative Republican, sent a letter to Republicans in Congress urging them to let the so-called Assault Weapon Ban to lapse. If Puerto Rico became a state, Santini would be unbeatable running for a House seat based in San Juan (assuming that he didn't prefer to run for Governor or Senator instead)."

Is it expected to have any impact on the Mayor ? I noticed his opponent doesn't apparently even have a website up (according to Politics 1). As we discussed before, I still find it amazing that despite the fact the ticket of Rosselló-Fortuño-Santini are all NPP'ers, Rosselló remains a hardcore Democrat. Isn't there going to be some tension between former and soon to be again Gov. Rosselló and Comm. Fortuño as a result come next year ?

[AuH2ORepublican]

"I was looking up prior to that, and apparently there was only 1 PR Republican ever elected to Congress before Cordova, and that was the very first Resident Commissioner, Federico Degetau, way back in 1901."

---

Degetau is the only one listed as a Republican because he was the only one elected as a member of the Republican Party. I think all of the guys elected under the "Coalitionist" banner were Republicans, since they were elected by a coalition of the Statehood Republican Party and other pro-statehood parties.


"The NPP was founded by Don Luis Ferré, was it not ?"

---

Yes it was, in 1968. Ferré, who died last year at the age of 99, had lost several elections as the Statehood Republican Party's gubernatorial candidate, to which he had belonged since the 1930s (I think he attended every Republican National Convention from 1936 to 2000), and led the split from the Statehood Republican Party after the party wanted to boycott the political status plebiscite sponsored by the Popular Democrat Party in 1967; Ferré recognized that the wording of the options on the plebiscite were unfair, but thought that a boycott was a bad idea, and started a movement called "Estadistas Unidos" that shocked the Island by getting 39% of the vote for statehood in spite of everything that was going against them; the group became the New Progressive Party in 1968, and Ferré was elected governor that year, breaking the Popular Democratic Party's 20-year stranglehold on the governorship.


"Isn't there going to be some tension between former and soon to be again Gov. Rosselló and Comm. Fortuño as a result come next year ?"

---

I doubt it. Rosselló may be a Democrat, but he is very conservative on issues such as crime, taxes and school choice. Fortuño was Rosselló's Secretary of Economic Development and Director of the Tourism Company, and it was no secret that Rosselló privately supported Fortuño's candidacy in the primary over Democrat Carlos Romero Barceló and two other candidates (Republican Miriam Ramírez de Ferrer and unaffiliated Charlie Rodríguez). As for Santini, I don't think Rosselló will have any problems with him so long as Santini doesn't try to run for governor in 2008; every mayor of San Juan since 1969 has eventually run for Governor (two of them successfully: Carlos Romero and current Governor Sila Calderón), and the last time a mayor of San Juan from the NPP was reelected (Dr. Hernan Padilla, currently a very well respected physician in Maryland), he tried to run for governor the next election, was rebuffed by the NPP Governor (Carlos Romero), formed his own party, and split the NPP vote enough to throw the gubernatorial election to the Populares. Hopefully, there won't be a similar Rosselló-Santini rivalry.

[dfwgator]

Puerto Rican Independence Now!!!

[fieldmarshaldj]

As always, I tip my hat to the guru of PR politics on FR. ;-)

[skeeter]

Everyone with an iota of common sense is conservative.

But the Democrats own the politics of racial identity. If the GOP chooses to play this game they will LOSE. They must appeal to common sense.

[Ebenezer]

It is good to read contributions from fellow FReepers who share a knowledge of Puerto Rican politics.

The latest poll figures I have seen show Rosselló leading the race for Governor by some 9 percentage points over Acevedo; likewise, Fortuño is ahead of Prats. Given the present sorry shape of the island under lame-duck Governor Sila Calderón, however, the opposition should be winning by a landslide.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"The latest poll figures I have seen show Rosselló leading the race for Governor by some 9 percentage points over Acevedo."

---

The poll by El Nuevo Día purports to show Rosselló up by 43%-34% over Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá, but they kept the 7% who said that they would not vote in the denominator, so Rosselló is actually up 46.2%-36.6%, with 5.4% for Rubén Berríos of the Independence Party (who will almost certainly end up with under 5%, since he always polls better than the final result), 2.2% who refuse to say and 9.7% undecided. If the elections were held today, I think Rosselló would win 52%-44% with 4% for Rubén Berríos, which would not be a huge landslide in any other state, but in Puerto Rico it would be a landslide of Reagan proportions; no one has gotten 52% of the vote, nor won by as much as 8%, since the New Progressive Party was founded and the Popular Democratic Party lost its Muñoz-era monopoly.

[Ebenezer]

If the polls prove accurate and Acevedo loses the election, he and the rest of the Popular Democratic Party can thank Calderón (no friend of his, mind you) for it. I have read enough to realize what an incompetent, corrupt administration she has headed.