Posted on 05/22/2003 8:29:12 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Edited on 04/12/2004 5:50:59 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin, the highest-ranking Latin American woman in the Bush administration, plans to leave her post at the end of June, the Treasury Department announced Thursday.
Marin, who became the 41st treasurer in the summer of 2001, is being floated as a possible Republican contender for a Senate seat from California in 2004.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Standard newsroom required boilerplate for "they crossed the border illegally". I don't know that it's true in her case, but it wouldn't shock me.
Cool, huh? They couldn't find a native born American to hold the position. 300+ years of history, families with 10 - 15 generations here, but....none of us were qualified. Only someone from a country that has always been our enemy.
Guess we know how our government feels about us.
Yes we do, and some of us are getting entirely fed up of having our noses rubbed in the fact.
I've been pretty clear that I support legal immigration (& allowing more of it) and a massive crackdown on illegal. (Heck, I'd go so far as to lift all limits to legal #s, or at least double the # -- if we also have a zero-tolerance policy on illegals. Then at least we'd know who's in the country, businesses would be on a fair playing field vs. those who would hire illegals for peanuts, etc.) Right now we're almost exact opposite that posish.
We're already taking in a million a year legally, how much more would be enough for you... 10 million, 20 million, how about a billion?
The US is not a job fair, it's our home, and the views of a tiny minority, maybe 1% who have been imposing upon the rest of us an endless wave of humanity, legal or otherwise isn't going to last much longer. After 1924 and the Great Wave we had a 40 year pause to assimiliate and Americanize the new immigrants, it's time for another one.
I would think 3 mil would be plenty, then. a little more than 1% of the US population per year. Of course, the INS (ugh) would need to have the tools to help these folks integrate into America; hook 'em up with local English classes, that sort of thing.
The benefits of legal immigration are tremendous in terms of growing the US economy and adding new blood to the business world, and cracking down on illegal immigration would limit the downside that a lot of folks dread.
Well I, and about 80% of the population (read the polls) think 500,000 or less annually is plenty, as it was in the eighties. We had very prosperous times during that decade without bringing in the world. We do not need all this immigration to grow the economy, that's Wall St. Journal fallacy being perpetrated by Alan Greenspan and others.
All it is a tool used under the guise of keeping inflation down with the real intention of supplying greedy CEOs with cheap labor, as with the H1-B program. This while we pick up the tab for all the social costs. It's a scam, and we're on to it. And the policy will be changed shortly. If it isn't, Congress is going to have one heck of a time with an angry public, many of whom are losing their jobs at the expense of "growing the economy".
American dream? What exactly has she ever done positive for this country? It seems she's spending most of her time back home in Mexico trying to figure out ways to get more American money headed into Mexico. What she ought to do if she cares so much about her people is move back to Mexico, run for office there and do something about the terrible corruption there. She's not for Americans in the least ---it's fine for her to be for her people but she needs to do it the right way.
These people were welcomed and respected, unlike the current crop of illegal aliens which are invading by the millions and use up every social service we so foolishly offer. Our towns are turning to slums, and we just keep giving, and they just keep coming. I'll never forgive George Bush for his sloppy immigration policies.
SO THEY CAN LEARN ENGLISH.
There are plenty of good, cheap English classes at high schools (adult ed) and community colleges around the US.
They also weren't lining up at welfare offices, they were too proud to ask for help. They did it on their own, and in that way they lived the American dream.
And you don't think millions of Hispanics do this too? I tell ya, it's hard to have patience with someone ready to condemn anyone who comes from Latin America. If it's not bigotry is sure is prejudice!!!!!!!
And it's very hard to have patience with someone who wants to play the race card everytime someone dares speak out against these insane immigration policies.
Usually those tactics are confined to democrats, but Paul Gigot and a few other so-called "Republicans" don't have a problem doing it either I see.
Read the posts, bubba. All America's problems are from Mexico and the Mexicans, they say. The economy, budget problems, crime, education -- IT'S ALL A GIANT 'SPIC CONSPIRACY. Get a grip, people. I'm happy to be with Paul Gigot and GWB, with "business interests", with honest immigrants who come to America to work hard and raise a family.
Rosario Marin is a model immigrant, the type that even y'all should be holding up as a shining example, but no, "she's probably illegal", "she must have spent years on welfare", etc etc
That's prejudice and it has no place in conservatism.
Take a hike to wherever Pat Buchanan has got to.
Treasurer stokes talk of Senate run
NOTE - Marn = Marin (methinks the spellchecker is broke!)
WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marn arrived in California from Mexico as a scared 14-year-old unable to speak English. Now her stylish signature adorns America's currency -- the first immigrant to have that honor.
On Thursday, Marn announced her resignation amid widespread speculation she will seek to make more history as the first Latino from California to serve in the U.S. Senate. As the highest-ranking Latina in the Bush administration, Marn has been touted by some Republicans as a strong potential challenger to Sen. Barbara Boxer.
It has been an extraordinary rise for Marn, now 44, from a poor Mexico City neighborhood to an ornate, high-ceilinged office next door to the White House. Her path to the American Dream is even more remarkable because it includes a heart-wrenching detour -- one that inspired her to enter public service.
On the verge of her becoming an assistant vice president at a Southern California bank in 1985, her first child, Eric, was born with Down's syndrome and serious medical problems that several times left him close to death.
Eric's successful battle for life forever altered the course of his mother's.
Marn veered onto a path that led from community advocate for the disabled to state government official to the mayor of the Los Angeles suburb of Huntington Park. In 2001, President Bush chose her to be U.S. treasurer, a largely ceremonial position that involves overseeing the printing of the nation's currency and the prestige of having your name imprinted on the lower-left corner of America's money.
``I don't think he just selected me for me, but rather for who and what I represent. I believe in a very special way that I represent the essence of America,'' Marn said in an interview last week. ``That in this country, if you work hard and you show up on time, it doesn't matter whether you came to this country or not, whether you speak with an accent or not. That in this country you can achieve greatness.''
Marn has been publicly noncommittal about whether she plans to take on Boxer and declined an interview request Thursday. She said in her resignation letter only that she and her family had decided to return to California.
But her decision to step down, effective June 30, is a strong indication she may jump into the wide-open Republican Senate field, political analysts said Thursday.
``She's very active in trying to put together a campaign.'' said California Republican consultant Allan Hoffenblum.
Victory unlikely
The odds against Marn defeating the two-term Democrat would be long. A recent Field Poll showed Marn is little known in the state although her name is in virtually every Californian's wallet.
She is viewed as a moderate, but has refused to answer political questions as treasurer, including where she stands on abortion.
Still, analysts said she would offer great potential for the Republican Party as it tries to repair its tattered relations with the state's Latino community dating from the contentious debate in 1994 over Proposition 187, which sought to deny public benefits to illegal immigrants.
But Marn would bring much more to a campaign than just an accented name.
``She's got a great personal story to tell,'' said California Republican Party Chairman George ``Duf'' Sundheim.
Marn's life goes beyond the standard plot of immigrant rising to great success.
Her father was a factory worker in Mexico City. Her mother worked as a seamstress at home while watching the family's five children.
Seeking a better life, the family immigrated to the United States in 1972, arriving legally after a California embroidery factory sponsored Marn's father as an employee.
The transition was not easy. A few months after settling in Huntington Park, Marn took what then was a standard 10th-grade intelligence test. The normal IQ was about 100. Because she spoke little English, she scored just 27.
``Everybody around me laughed. The teacher, when he gave it to me, he laughed,'' Marn said. ``Far from making me angry or upset . . . or feeling sorry for myself, it just gave me a tremendous resolve. I would show that's not really me.''
And she did. She graduated among the top students in her class. She landed a job as an assistant receptionist at City National Bank's main headquarters in Beverly Hills and attended college at night.
``She was very bright, very personable, was very helpful and caught on to everything immediately,'' recalled Alex Kyman, then the bank's executive vice president. ``I pushed her along because I felt she had outstanding potential.''
In a seemingly innocuous way, Kyman also had a major impact on Marn's future in politics. As she was filling out paperwork for her U.S. citizenship, Marn asked Kyman for some help. He looked at the form and told her to register with his political party -- Republican.
Marn's career continued arcing upward. She graduated from California State University-Los Angeles and had a bright future at the bank.
Watershed event
Then Eric was born.
His medical problems forced her to quit her job to care for him. Without her income, she and her husband, Alex, had to sell their house in Huntington Beach.
``I know what it is to go to bed hoping you don't wake up. It's very hard. You say, `Please God, don't make me wake up,' '' Marn recalled, her eyes welling with tears last week. ``And then you wake up and say: `Oh my God, not again. Not another day.' ''
But Marn found strength and purpose from the crisis.
``I remember screaming at God that he should leave me this child,'' Marn said of the first time her son almost died, the tears now flowing down her cheeks. ``So God decided that I should keep the child, and I think that was the turning point.''
She became an advocate for the developmentally disabled within the Latino community. Her work led Gov. Pete Wilson to hire her in 1992 for a job in the California Department of Developmental Services. She stayed with the Wilson administration until he left office in 1998.
They were tough times to be a Latina working for Wilson. His support of Proposition 187 during his re-election campaign in 1994 infuriated many Latinos. The law was approved by voters but later struck down by the courts.
Marn said she ``walked a very, very tight rope'' in supporting Wilson's re-election but opposing Proposition 187. Marn said she particularly did not like that the law would deny public schooling to children who were illegal immigrants.
Jaime Regalado, a political-science professor at Cal State-Los Angeles, said Marn's connection to Wilson could be a liability. But he agreed that her opposition to Proposition 187 could help.
Uneasy alliance
Marn has overcome her association with Wilson before. In 1999, she sought re-election to the Huntington Park City Council. But because of her work for Wilson, many thought her political career was doomed in the city, which is 99 percent Latino and about 80 percent Democratic.
Marn easily won re-election, receiving more votes than any other council candidate and going on to serve a year as mayor.
She said the city's voters trusted her: ``Some of them `forgave' me for being Republican. Some said it didn't matter.''
Although she became a Republican because of her former boss, Marn said she soon discovered that the party of Ronald Reagan -- the first president she voted for -- best suited her.
``He would always make me feel that I was part of this great country, and if I worked hard and if I believed and if I had faith, that God would bestow upon me and my family incredible blessings,'' she said.
Marn believes she has been blessed by America.
As the Republican mayor of a largely Latino city, she met George W. Bush during his presidential run and campaigned for his election. In 2001, he nominated her to be treasurer. She has traveled often, speaking to Latinos and others to increase financial literacy.
The next challenge for Marn could come if she decides to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. She declined to rule it in -- or out -- during last week's interview.
``I've been approached by Republicans and Democrats, Latinos and non-Latinos,'' she said.
Although Marn would be an underdog should she run, she has faced long odds before.
``Can you imagine an immigrant becoming the treasurer of the United States?'' she asked last week. ``Only in America. Only in America can that happen.''
You have no clue what you're talking about. Come to California and take a look around sometime, you'll learn.
Boy, we're really into name-calling aren't we? Xenophobe, racist, bigot, bubba. Are we supposed to cower in fear of that or something? If that's what you think, try again.
Take a hike to wherever Pat Buchanan has got to.
So that's your position is it: either we take in the world, millions upon millions upon millions, or we're part of the Pat Buchanan brigade? Use a little common sense in your thinking, if the posts are about Mexico, maybe it's because by far the bulk of immigrants are coming from that country. Why would someone talk about Greenland or Iceland, they're not coming from there by the millions taking over our communities?
Although she became a Republican because of her former boss, Marn said she soon discovered that the party of Ronald Reagan -- the first president she voted for -- best suited her.
``He would always make me feel that I was part of this great country, and if I worked hard and if I believed and if I had faith, that God would bestow upon me and my family incredible blessings,'' she said.
But this isn't about Reagan, that's a smokescreen and you know it. I respect your views, you favor mass immigration. Fine, but why do you resort to the tactics of name-calling against those who don't? There are reasons why many of us don't support these policies, which have nothing to do with race. You are painting a very broad brush against everyone in an attempt to dismiss legitimate concerns.
Like this one?
"That loathsome token appointee seems to spend a lot of time in the dump south of the border working to speed up Mexico's strip-mining of the U.S. "
Xenophobe: A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.
There has been no attempt by most posters to differentiate between legal immigrants and illegal, law-abiding folks and not. Supposedly they're all taking our jobs and driving American into the ground. What a crock!
"And why do you have a hard time understanding why the rest of us don't particularly care for a person from another country advocating the abolition of ours?"
Oh yeah, that's a rational argument. Rosario Marin is trying to abolish America.
"Only native born Americans should hold any post in government"
"Cool, huh? They couldn't find a native born American to hold the position. 300+ years of history, families with 10 - 15 generations here, but....none of us were qualified. Only someone from a country that has always been our enemy."
"The US is not a job fair, it's our home, and the views of a tiny minority, maybe 1% who have been imposing upon the rest of us an endless wave of humanity, legal or otherwise isn't going to last much longer."
Oh, that's your comment isn't it?
Then I suppose you hate the Founding Fathers right? They placed into the Constitution a rule that only American citizens could be president. Why do you think they did that? Remember, back in the 18th century by far the immigrants were from Europe, so it wasn't the fear a Mexican citizen would run for president. It was because they felt, rightly that post should be held by someone whose ties are 100% to this country and have no foreign allegiances.
Personally, I happen to be of the opinion Rosario Marin does have more concerns about Mexico and "her people" than Americans. If that's the case, let her go down to Mexico and run for office. But because she's Hispanic, you would consider my comment racist? They are not immune from criticism, no one is. But you want them to be, and I would say you're the one who is being unreasonable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.