NewsTaco

By Brian Beutler, Talking Points Memo

The two biggest political stories of the day — the RNC’s release of its reaction to the party’s 2012 drubbing, and Tom Perez’s nomination to be President Obama’s Labor Secretary — couldn’t be more perfectly suited for each other. Two great tastes that taste great together.

The RNC report is called the Growth and Opportunity Project, and it effectively turns the GOP’s determination to avoid rethinking its economic policies — and to instead focus exclusively on making marginal inroads with minority voters —- into the party’s official strategy.

Enter Tom Perez.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by ryanjreilly]

By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan, Reuters

A bipartisan group in the House of Representatives is close to completing work on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would include a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, according to congressional aides.

Two of the aides confirmed on Friday that the negotiators were still trying to agree on the issue of how to handle temporary laborers coming into the United States.

Click on picture top read full story.

[Photo by  KP Tripathi]

By Griselda Nevarez, Voxxi

Latino conservatives are poised to play a prominent role in this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which is the nation’s largest annual gathering of conservative politicians and activists.

More than a dozen Latinos are scheduled to speak during the conference, which will run from March 14-16 in Washington, D.C. Among them are Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who will speak during the conference’s opening day, and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), who will join a panel discussion on immigration that same day.

The biggest speaking role of the three-day conference will go to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). He will become the first Latino in CPAC’s 40-year history to deliver the keynote address.

Cruz, who is a Tea Party favorite, has only been in office for less than two months but has already made a name for himself. He has done so by fervently defending gun rights during a recent gun violence hearing and by being a tough critic of President Barack Obama’s cabinet nominees Chuck Hagel and John Kerry.

Hector Barreto, chairman of The Latino Coalition, called the role CPAC is giving Latinos this year “a very positive thing” and was also quick to point out that this is not necessarily new.

Barreto, who will lead a discussion at CPAC about why businesses are conservative, noted that Latinos have attended and spoken at the annual gathering in past years. He also mentioned that a Latino, Al Cardenas, heads the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes CPAC. Cardenas was born in Cuba in 1948 and moved to the United States with his parents in 1960.

CPAC seeks to expand Latino base, showcase diversity

CPAC comes on the heels of the November elections in which the Republican Party saw steep losses among Hispanics voters. Now, the GOP is struggling to attract this voting bloc, which is critical to the party’s electoral future.

Organizers with CPAC know this reality and plan to address the issue through a panel discussion dubbed “Expanding the Conservative Movement with the Hispanic Community.” Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, will lead the discussion.

Barreto said that, like Republicans, Latinos are conservative on many issues, including family, faith, freedom and fiscal responsibility. However, he said it’s “not enough” to tell Latinos that they share the same conservative values in order to persuade them to join the GOP.

“You have to reach out to people, you have to invite people and you have to remind them what those ideas are and what those values are,” he told VOXXI. “And that’s what I think is going to be happening at CPAC.”

Besides Hispanics, Cardenas said this year’s CPAC will highlight the young people, African Americans and women who are part of the conservative movement.

“We’re going to have the most diverse and, I think, representative view of America at this year’s CPAC,” Cardenas said during an interview with MSNBC.

“I think the whole theme is that the conservative movement needs to grow with the demographic reality of America, and we’re going to be painting that picture at CPAC,” he added.

CPAC to hold discussion on immigration

This year’s CPAC will also address one of the most pressing issues for Latinos: Immigration.

Five speakers, including Rep. Labrador, will share their thoughts about immigration policy initiatives through a panel discussion dubbed “Respecting Families and the Rule of Law: A Lasting Immigration Policy.”

“We are thrilled to welcome these leaders to the CPAC stage, as they discuss immigration policy reform and its impact on families and the rule of law,” Cardenas said in a statement. “I am excited to hear what will no doubt be a lively discussion about a very important policy challenge.”

Last year’s CPAC also hosted a discussion on immigration and titled it: “Immigration — High Fences, Wide Gates: States vs. the Feds, the Rule of Law & American Identity.” It featured hardliner Kris Kobach, who helped draft some of the nation’s toughest immigration laws and was an influential voice in the GOP’s immigration stance last year.

Barreto said he expects this year’s conference will consist of people who don’t support any type of immigration reform and others who want to find a solution and move on to other issues. He added that there are Republican leaders, including Rubio, who agree that “it’s time” to pass immigration reform.

“It’s no longer a question of if something gets done, it’s a matter of when, and hopefully it’s this year,” he told VOXXI.

Barreto said he supports an immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements, a temporary workers program and “a much quicker” path to citizenship for undocumented youth who entered the country as children.

“There is a window of opportunity to get this done,” he told VOXXI about immigration reform. “I think all of us — from both sides of the aisle — who want a solution need to work together to get it.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Griselda Nevárez is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington D.C.

[Photo by CPAC]

By Ryan D. Enos, Washington Post

…in 2008 I conducted an experiment in which I sent a letter to African American voters just before an election in Los Angeles. The content of the letter was simple: It reminded people to vote and included a map noting how often people on their block voted compared with a nearby block. In some randomly selected cases, the comparison block consisted of African American residents; in others, it was largely Latino. When the letter pointed to a majority-Latino block, African Americans were significantly more likely to vote, suggesting that they were concerned about political competition with Latinos — even though both groups vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

In that same year, I examined the voting of Latinos in Los Angeles and found that those who lived near predominantly African American neighborhoods were far less likely to vote for Obama than Latinos who lived farther away — suggesting that contact with their African American neighbors may have prompted them to vote against an African American candidate.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Ben Woosley]

By Marin Cogan, New Republic

Few people in Florida can imagine Rubio running if Bush decided to get into the race. Though he has often been written about as an overnight Tea Party sensation, that narrative belies the methodic arc of Rubio’s career, points out Washington Postreporter Manuel Roig-Franzia in his book, The Rise of Marco Rubio. Duty, loyalty, and honor are considered first principles in his circles. “I have always seen him as a very respectful person,” said Rebeca Sosa, a former West Miami mayor who was tending her garden the day the young Rubio came to ask for her support in his first campaign. “I have no question in my mind that, if one day he needs to sit down with a friend and discuss issues of importance for the nation, … he and Jeb will do it.” Steven Geller, who served as the Democratic minority leader in the state Senate, told me, “I regard Marco as a man of honor, and I don’t think he’d do that to Jeb.”

“If Marco were to run against Jeb, or to run before Jeb has taken himself out, there would be a general feeling that Marco had betrayed his mentor,” Geller continued. “And I think that would hurt Marco.”

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

By Dan Amira, New York Magazine

According to a (caveat: very, very early) Quinnipiac poll, 60 percent of Hispanic voters would support Clinton in 2016, compared to a mere 24 percent for Rubio. Chris Christie, who is not Hispanic, pulled in 23 percent of the Hispanic vote to 62 percent for Clinton.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photos by  US Embassy New Zealand, Gage Skidmore]

By Ron Fournier, National Journal

Nothing angers President Obama and his allies more than suggesting that he bears even the minutest responsibility for resolving sequestration and the broader budget fights. He claims to be powerless to overcome a stubbornly antitax Republican Party — short of executing a “Jedi mind-meld.”

Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro doesn’t think it takes a Vulcan to deal with Republicans. Clear and strong leadership at the White House would suffice. “I think he needs to be a leader in the negotiation,” said the freshman House member from Texas who, along with his twin brother, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, is a rising political star.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo screenshot courtesy CSPAN]

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

Is California ready for Latino governor? And a Republican at that?

Former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado says he’s thinking of following in the footsteps of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and hopes the Lone Star State is ready.

On the heels of the GOP’s state convention, Maldonado says he is seriously considering considering challenging Democratic incumbent Jerry Brown in 2016, hoping to capitalize on wooing the state’s large Hispanic vote.

“I’ve been encouraged publicly, and privately,” says Maldonado. “At this point in time, I’m seriously thinking about it. I think I need to decide sooner rather than later.”

An uphill race?

Abel Maldonado would be taking on a three-term governor, and he would be trying to win a statewide race without the advantage Cruz enjoyed when he made history in Texas last year where Republicans have been in charge for almost a generation.

Many Republicans are also privately hoping for a Maldonado candidacy, fearing that the party could veer even further to the right should it back a conservative who could further alienate Latino voters.

Those GOP members are concerned about the possible gubernatorial candidacy of conservative Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, whose former membership of the anti-illegal immigration Minutemen Project is sending chills through the party.

Maldonado, however, may just be the face the GOP needs in an election that the gubernatorial candidate will likely face an uphill battle trying to unseat Brown.

Abel Maldonado and his Mexican roots

The son of an immigrant farm worker from the state of Jalisco, Mexico, Maldonado would be a dramatic departure from past Republican candidates on a statewide ticket.

His family worked the fields of the Central Coast and eventually established its own successful strawberry growing business.

“When I was picking strawberries, and I had strawberry stains on my pants and no [water] cooler in the fields, people said, ‘that guy’s on suicide mission,’” he recalled in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Those are the prices you have to pay to achieve what you want to achieve. Hard work? I’m not afraid of that.”

In 2009, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Maldonado to fill a vacant lieutenant governor position, but he was defeated the following year when he tried to win the seat for himself.

Maldonado is a conservative whose drawbacks are that he has no ready-made political base and last his last three campaigns.

Republicans also make up only 29 percent of state’s registered voters, compared to 44 percent for Democrats.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”

[Photo courtesy Abel Maldonado Twitter feed]

By Griselda Nevarez, Voxxi

As Republicans continue discussing how they must change their view on immigration in order to make inroads with Latino voters, one of the country’s most conservative Hispanic groups is ready to take action.

The Hispanic Leadership Network (HLN) is gearing up to launch a campaign aimed at growing support for immigration reform among Republicans.

The advocacy campaign will kick off this weekend with a television commercial dubbed “Be Part of the Solution.” It will feature former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, who is co-chair of HLN and served as adviser to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Latino outreach.

The commercial will run nationally in English on ABC’s This Week and Fox News Sunday as well as in Spanish on the Univision Network. It will also be accompanied by a targeted digital ad campaign.

Carlos Gutierrez: ‘We’re losing that American dream’

Cuba-born Gutierrez, who is the former CEO of the Kellogg Company, begins the commercial speaking about how he didn’t speak any English when he and his family left Cuba to come to the United States in 1960.

“America is the only place where a little boy who couldn’t speak English can grow up to be a CEO and U.S. Secretary of Commerce,” Gutierrez says in the ad. “Sadly, we’re losing that American dream to a broken system.”

“Washington must pass immigration reform that grows the economy and respects the rule of law, so others like me can help renew the American dream,” he adds.

HLN Executive Director Jennifer S. Korn said in a statement Thursday that Gutierrez is “a prime example of what can happen when the immigration system works.”

HLN campaign backs pro-immigration reform Republicans

Korn said the advocacy campaign aims to “encourage genuine bipartisan immigration reform.” But one of the biggest challenges ahead for the GOP is convincing enough of its members, especially those in the U.S. House of Representatives, to come out in support of immigration reform.

Latino Republican leaders, including Gutierrez, contend that there are Republican politicians who have held back from embracing their support for immigration reform because they fear they’ll face primary challenges from those in their party who lean far to the right on immigration.

Through its campaign, HLN intends to change that by supporting Republicans who advocate for immigration reform. Gutierrez plans to do the same through his own efforts.

He announced last Friday that he will be resigning from his post as vice chairman at Citigroup to head the newly formed Republicans for Immigration Reform, a political action committee focused on supporting Republicans who advocate for immigration reform.

Gutierrez will serve as the political action committee’s chairman. In a statement, he spoke about why he decided to dedicate his time and energy to this effort.

“The upcoming immigration reform debate will be one of the most important public policy discussions America engages in this century,” he stated. “Our country must get it right.”

“Secretary Gutierrez came to America looking for freedom, liberty and opportunity,” she said. “He found it. We need bipartisan support to ensure we fix our broken relic of an immigration system so that others can find economic success here as well.”

HLN launched in 2011 and is part of the center-right American Action Network. The main objective of the HLN is “to engage the Hispanic community on center-right issues that will restore opportunity and prosperity in America,” according to the group’s website.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Griselda Nevárez is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington D.C.

[Photo courtesy U. S. Department of Commerce]

By Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

The photo in Saturday’s New York Times was telling a lonely man alone, with an unhappy look on his face standing in the dull yellow light of an elevator as the doors closed.  This is the portrait that the junior senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, is painting of himself in Washington, DC.  An outsider, a voice that few agree with, a man setting himself apart from those who could possibly assist him in making public policy.  His behavior, both voice and vote, in the senate is embarrassing for our country and Texas and also not very constructive.

The current session of congress opened less than a month ago and since then Mr. Cruz has voted against the Violence Against Women Act, against raising the debt limit, against relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and against the confirmation of Senator John Kerry as Secretary of State in the new Obama Administration.  His foreign policy credentials have been bolstered by voting against renewing military aid to Egypt one of our few remaining allies in the Middle East and accusing Senator Chuck Hagel of taking monetary compensations from enemies of the United States specifically North Korea.

This last accusation was made by Mr. Cruz simply, as he pointed out, to get to the facts; he and his fellow Tea Partiers were only curious about Senator Hagel’s history during the confirmation hearings for Secretary of Defense.  After all, senate confirmation hearings are about seeking out all the facts and “real” history of presidential nominees!

Senator Barbara Boxer likened Mr. Cruz’s behavior to that of Senator Joe McCarthy’s 1950s behavior when he accused the United States Army of being peopled by communists.  Senator McCarthy’s behavior, he too was a Republican, became known as “McCarthyism” which is defined as making innuendos of disloyalty, treason and lack of patriotism without any basis in truth.  Senator McCarthy’s behavior, which eventually led to his fall from grace, was displayed across America’s television screens for the nation to see.  In the end, Senator McCarthy was censured by his fellow senators for his unethical behavior.  He died of alcoholism before his next election but his popularity had fallen so low because of unscrupulous tactics that he probably would have lost his reelection attempt.

McCarthyism is exactly what Mr. Cruz is practicing.  McCarthyism is dishonest, lacking in honor and integrity and has no place in the public realm.  McCarthyism is the destruction of a person’s character simply for political gain.  McCarthyism is disrespectful and, in some contexts, anti-patriotic.  In this last instance McCarthyism is unpatriotic because it has the possibility of depriving a country the service of an honorable individual based on innuendo and false accusations.

Mr. Cruz’s behavior indicates that he has gone to Washington not to represent the people of Texas but a small minority of bigots who care little for the welfare of our country.  He has set himself apart from his fellow members and, if he is not careful, will find his way into the history books as a traveling companion of the infamous Joe McCarthy.  Besides, Mr. Cruz says he is a Christian.  If so, he needs to begin behaving like one and stop bearing false witness against his neighbor and doing the people’s business because that was what he was elected to do.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

By Sean Sullivan, Washington Post

It wasn’t that long ago that Massachusetts Republicans were lamenting they had no candidates to run in the special election to replace John Kerry in the U.S. Senate. Now, there are two.

Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and Boston businessman making his first bid for office, announced his candidacy Tuesday. Democrat William “Mo” Cowan is filling the seat temporarily until a June 25 special election.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo courtesy gomezforma.com]

By Dr. Victoria M. De Francesco Soto, NBCLatino

What do Evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons all have in common?  And no, this is not the beginning of a joke.

The growth of all three faiths is being fueled by the Latino population.   Latinos are not just the fastest growing population but as a group they are more religious.  Latinos are the fastest growing segments of the Evangelical movement, the Catholic Church, and the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).  Coincidentally, these religious groups are also supportive of a more open immigration policy.

Click on picture to read story.

[Photo by America Redefined]

Vcitor Landa, NewsTaco

I don’t envy Marco Rubio. Especially not tonight, sandwiched as he will be between the President and the Tea Party. I don’t envy the attention, or the hyped expectation. But I’ll be watching tonight as he delivers the GOP response to the President’s State of the Union address.

The novelty is that his response on behalf of the loyal Republican opposition will be done in two languages; he recorded a Spanish version of the response that will be broadcast simultaneously with his live English speech.

It’s all part of a novel GOP approach: to bring out a shiny new attitude and language that’s designed to attract Latino’s to the conservative fold, where they reckon Latinos rightfully belong. Rubio was an obvious choice for their State of the Union retort. He’s a young, Latino up-and-comer who wows GOP audiences with his communication skills. The Tea Party claim him as one of their own and he is seen as a moderate on immigration. He’s the lure on the hook the GOP has been setting since the presidential election slapped them with a dose of electoral reality.

And that’s a lot of pressure. Too much so, I think, but not for the young Senator. I think the GOP has been putting too much pressure on their own expectations. They’re setting themselves up for a letdown. And it’s their own fault.

Many Latino GOPers whom I’ve talked to have told me so, they see the letdown coming as clearly as they see the GOP leadership’s blindside. What many Latino Republicans complain about is that there has been no meaningful change. There’s been a memo that directs Republicans to soften their language; there’s been an outward softening of immigration rhetoric; there’ve been attempts to reach Spanish speaking Latinos on social media; and even the conservative spin machine, Fox News, has started to re-package itself. But, to quote a GOP friend, “that’s just lipstick on a pig.”

The truth is that GOP leadership has not changed. The people who were at the top of the party decision-making structure are still there now, making the same decisions. The top Latinos, who steered the party on Latino matters in the past, have not left the helm. So there’s been no substantial change. All they’ve done is put on a sombrero and sa-rah-pee.

And that brings me back to Rubio. The State of the Union rebuttal is not the port that launches successful political futures. Bob Dole was the last response speech maker who became a presidential candidate. So we can scratch that expectation. That only leaves two things: accurately conveying the opposition’s point of view, and attracting Latinos.

On the first item, no doubt he’ll do well – he’s a very capable and charismatic speaker. But, his response will be followed by a Tea Party response delivered by Sen. Rand Paul. The only thing that will do for the GOP is muddy their intent and diminish Rubio’s presence. Scratch two.

That only leaves the Latino thing. And Latinos are not going to be drawn by sombreros and sarapes (despite what the GOP leadership may think).

Spanish or no Spanish, Latinos will be listening to Rubio’s substance. And given the lack of fundamental change within the GOP thinking, the substance won’t resonate.

Delivering that speech? It’s not an enviable position to be in.

[Photo by Gage Skidmore]

By Elizabeth Llorente, Fox News Latino

A Spanish-only Website. A Twitter account aimed at Latinos. New staff members focused uniquely on building relationships with Hispanics.

It’s all part of a new quiet but emphatic effort underway by Republicans in the House of Representatives — including some of the most conservative members of Congress — to try to repair their image with Hispanics.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo courtesy GOPEspanol Twitter page]