Latinos For Texas Blog

I woke up late Saturday morning, so leave it to me to leave my camera battery plugged into a kitchen outlet and then find I-10 down to one lane. I arrived just in time to grab a chair near Ralph, Nathan, and Mario and catch Charles Soechting who was cordial and tried to be funny – he missed a Friday night function to corral some goats at his new home.

Congressman and DNC Vice Chair Mike Honda of California introduced Congresswoman Grace Napolitano who also serves as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Rep. Napolitano is originally from Brownsville, TX and was elected to the House in 1998 after serving on the Norwolk City Council, sitting in the Mayor’s seat, and then in the California Assembly. She spoke with sincerity and passion. The AP quoted her as saying, “The party has been ignoring the Latinos for decades, and it’s time we say ‘No more.”

Saying no more turned out to be a recurring team.

After a short welcome by Howard Dean who promised “fire and brimstone” during his lunch time speech and a poll presentation by Cornell Belcher of Brilliant Corners the panel discussions began.

Rep. Pete Gallego shared his views on education in a very quiet and sincere manner. He closed by saying something like.. amongst all of us, there’s nothing we can’t do. Congressman Henry Cuellar followed him. His speech went something like this.. quote by famous person, quote drop-out statistics, talk about TEXAS Grant, close with quote by famous person.

Congresswoman Hilda Solis of California began the health care portion of the discussion with the reminder that there are 45 million uninsured and the number is growing. One-third of children under the age of six in her district have no insurance. She stated that we are the wealthiest country in the world and we should be ashamed and outraged that health care is rationed to those who cannot afford it.

We had to miss Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer and Congressman Charlie Gonzalez for a meeting with LFA, but we made it back in time for Dean’s lunch-time speech. From WOAI.com:

“Today, forty years to the day after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, there are 81 members of minority communities in the United States Congress. That’s pretty extraordinary, 81 members. Of those 81 people, four are Republicans. This still is the party of opportunity.”

and

Dean said the future of the Democratic Party is not in convincing Hispanic and other minority voters to support Anglo candidates, but to convince Anglo voters to support minority candidates.

Following lunch was a series of working group sessions. Two questions were posed:

1. What does the Democratic Party mean to you?

2. What can the DNC do better?

The discussion in our break out session will have to be a separate post, but the resonating themes were support the locals, invest resources locally, let us carry leadership roles, and develop the party of opportunity message.

I think a perfect example of this is Adolfo Carrión who took the mic as the first morning panelist and started with a loud, “The best social program is a job.”

The Bronx Borough President preaches about the end of the ay bandito (pobrecito) attitude. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Mr. Carrión reiterated that we have to use our political clout as leverage to improve our communities. Push the envelope to bring economic, educational, and public services development in our areas. The Puerto Rico Herald has a great article about Carrión’s initiatives and political history including a 40 day stint in the slammer with the Rev. Al Sharpton during a protest of Navy bombings off of an island of Puerto Rico.

KSAT.com quotes Carrión as saying:

“There’s a real movement occurring … and a recognition on the part of the Hispanic community that we have the ability to shape American politics,” he said. “It’s an important conversation for the Hispanic Democrats to have: What is our political agenda?”

He might be on to something with his own plan (which reminds me of Julían Castro’s Destiny Top 15 model). His State of the Borough address boasts of his Bronx at Work campaign, an economic development plan that includes a plethora of new jobs, a resource center to grow employer-employee relations, and business partnerships to spur entrepreneurial development in the area. He has innovative ideas for education and made health care a priority with his Fit Now - Its About a Healthy Bronx campaign which partners with the medical community to address area health concerns.

Overall, the summit was productive, but there is much work to be done. The strategy moving forward is an ambitious one that will require a vast number of people to stay energized and motivated to build the party and increase the voter universe on the ground. I believe that the motivation is there, but everyone needs support and the party needs infrastructure on the local and state levels and that will take a true collaborative effort. I came away certain with a few thoughts …1) Dean has more power now as Chair than if he would have won the nomination and lost the presidency. 2) Marcos Rubinstein, Chair of the Iowa Democratic Hispanic Caucus made an excellent point earlier in the day when he said the Democrats were missing solidarity. On certain levels, he’s right. We need some cohesion. 3) There’s still hope.