Latino Event Not a GOP Draw (Hunter's the Only One Showing Up)

The Tampa Tribune ^ | 06/25/2007 | William March

[Ultra Sonic 007]

TAMPA - When 1,000 Hispanic elected officials and community leaders from across the country gather in Orlando later this week, they'll hear from seven major Democratic candidates for president, but none of the major Republican candidates.

All of the GOP candidates except dark horse Duncan Hunter declined invitations to appear at this year's annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, or NALEO.

Even Arizona Sen. John McCain, a hero to some Hispanics because of his stance on immigration reform, won't be there.

Democrats are portraying that as a snub of Hispanics by the GOP candidates.

"Republicans Giving Up On Latinos" was the headline on a Democratic Party news release about the event. The release called it a "sign of conceding the Latino vote in Florida to Democrats," and noted that in 2006 Democrats won the Florida Hispanic vote for the first time in 30 years.

Leaders of the association say they're disappointed.

But some Florida Republicans, who acknowledge they would prefer that their candidates show up, scoff at the idea that GOP-oriented Florida Hispanic voters suddenly have converted or that the presidential candidates are giving up on them.

The reason the candidates aren't coming, said state Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, is that NALEO, even though it's nonpartisan, "absolutely is a Democratic-oriented organization - just because most Hispanic elected officials outside Florida are Democrats."

Rivera said he still would encourage Republicans to attend: "There's a case to be made for stating your position in a hostile environment."

He said a mostly Democratic gathering isn't a great place for a Republican to find support in a presidential primary, though.

Another Miami Republican state legislator, Rep. Juan Zapata, a board member of NALEO and chairman of the state's host committee for the conference, has lobbied for three years to hold the conference in Florida.

"To go through all that and then see all the Republican candidates are a no-show, it's a huge loss for the Republicans," Zapata said.

Zapata said the Democratic orientation of most Hispanic political figures "is not going to change if the Republicans don't engage."

Florida Has Unique Demographics The issue emphasizes the demographic differences between Hispanics in Florida and those elsewhere.

In Florida, Republican-leaning anti-Castro Cubans have long dominated Hispanic politics, and most big-name Hispanic politicians are Republican, including Sen. Mel Martinez and state House Speaker Marco Rubio, both speaking at the conference.

Hispanic communities in other states are made up of more residents from Central and South America and Puerto Rico, and leaders are more likely to be Democrats.

Arturo Vargas, executive director of NALEO, acknowledged that most of the group's members are Democrats, but denied the organization was Democratic-oriented.

"The strength of NALEO is that when they come to our events, they leave their party registration outside the door," he said.

Vargas said NALEO's president, former Pontiac, Mich., official John Bueno, is a Republican, as are four other members of its 20-member board.

Only about a tenth of the Latino elected officials who are NALEO members hold partisan offices, Vargas said, which means it's difficult to determine the membership's party breakdown.

Vargas said invitations went out in January, and the Republican presidential candidates who were invited - Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, McCain, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson - cited scheduling conflicts or prior commitments in declining.

"We know scheduling is a matter of priorities," he said. "This clearly sends a message that Latino elected officials are not a priority for the candidates."

Representatives for the leading Republican candidates denied that.

"It's nothing like that from us," said Giuliani spokesman Elliott Bundy, noting that his candidate will meet with Hispanic supporters Thursday night at a Hialeah restaurant.

A spokesman for McCain, Danny Diaz, said the senator likely would be welcomed at the conference because of his work on immigration.

"It would be hard to say he's ducking the Hispanic audience," Diaz said, noting that McCain chose Miami as the site of a major speech on immigration recently.

Romney's Hispanic outreach spokesman, Alex Burgos, himself from Miami's Cuban community, said Romney "chose to honor a prior commitment" for a dinner in Iowa. He said Romney "has campaigned among Florida Hispanic voters and counts on the support of an impressive group of national Hispanic leaders."

[Sun]

“Have done so.”

Great!

[Lexinom]

Have you? ;) (and our fellow Hunterites?)

[Sun]

“Have you? ;) (and our fellow Hunterites?)”

Yep, I gave to Hunter’s campaign, and I hope our fellow Hunterites have, as well.

Even for those who can’t afford much, I hope they give what they can. I keep thinking about the woman who ran against Tokyo Rose Murtha, who said she got one million hits on her website, and if only each person gave a dollar.

Of course, it’s better if we can give more, but it all counts, and I hope fellow “Hunters” will at least give something.

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