Thread: CA: GOP must reach Latinos, says former state legislator

GOP must reach Latinos, says former state legislator
By James Rufus Koren Staff Writer
Created: 03/10/2011 03:58:06 PM PST

Within the next few years, Latinos will likely become San Bernardino County's new majority - a milestone that has some Republicans concerned.

As the county's white population shrinks and its Latino population continues to grow, Republicans will have to either compete for Latino votes - something the Republican Party hasn't done well - or become an even smaller part of California's political landscape, said Jim Brulte, a political consultant and former state legislator.

"If Republicans are not careful, the number of decline-to-state voters will be greater than the number of registered Republican voters by the end of this next decade," he said. "They are becoming increasingly alienated in communities that are the fastest growing."

That is, in Latino and Asian communities.

New U.S. Census numbers released this week show that, in San Bernardino County, the Latino population grew by just shy of 50 percent and the Asian population grew by nearly 59 percent. Statewide, Latinos grew by 28 percent and Asians by 31 percent. And among Asians and Latinos, Republicans have not done well in California.

"If I were a Republican, I would be running scared," quipped Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino.

Last year, more than 60 percent of Latino and Asian voters chose Democrat Jerry Brown over Republican Meg Whitman in California's gubernatorial election. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer won similarly large margins among Latinos and Asians in her race against Republican Carly Fiorina.

"It's not just a regional phenomenon here in the Inland Empire," Brulte said. "It's statewide. Meg Whitman carried the white vote, but the white vote is an ever-shrinking component of the electorate."

Brulte said the disconnect between Latinos and the Republican Party is thanks in large part to the Republicans' increasingly hard-line stance on illegal immigration.

"However right and principled Republicans think their position on legal and illegal immigration is, the articulation of that position comes off as insensitive and uncaring to the fastest growing voter group in the state of California," Brulte said.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Claremont, a former minuteman whose campaign featured plenty of tough talk on illegal immigration, said that's not true and that plenty of Latinos are against illegal immigration.

"I don't think the fundamental human yearning for freedom knows any color, I don't think it knows any ethnicity," Donnelly said.

But the fact is that Latinos mostly vote for Democrats. And as the Latino population continues to grow, Republicans appear to be reinforcing rather than backing away from their position on illegal immigration.

That could alienate a generation of Latino voters, said Ben Bishin, a political science professor at UC Riverside.

"The risk they face, particularly with some of the rhetoric of the tea party, is that they'll put themselves in the same position they've put themselves in with African Americans," Bishin said. "African Americans, they vote nine out of 10 for the Democratic Party because they view (Republicans) as demonizing them."

He said that's not the case for Latinos yet, but it could be if Republicans aren't careful.

"If they get into that position, it will be a 20-year process of trying to bring them back," he said. "You'll have to wait a generation."

Brulte said Republicans' immigration stance could soften as lawmakers compete in the state's new open primary system.

Under the state's old primary system, Republicans voted for Republican candidates and Democrats voted for Democratic candidates, with the winner from each party facing off in the general election.

The new system will let any voter pick any candidate, with the top to vote-getters moving on - a system that could pit two Republicans or two Democrats against each other in a general election.

The old system resulted in elections that were decided by the most conservative or most liberal voters, meaning candidates had to take very liberal or conservative positions to win.

"To win a Republican primary, you planted on the far right," Brulte said. "In an open primary, candidates who take far-right or far-left positions run the risk of running against people of the same party who are almost as conservative or almost as liberal, but not so much."

But Bishin said that shifting on immigration and other key issues won't happen instantly.

"The guys already in office, they're going to be faced with a tough choice," he said. "Either they can reverse their position on these issues ... or they can keep their same positions and hope there's enough competition in these races to carry them to victory. We just don't know what's going to happen."

james.koren@inlandnewspapers.com

909-386-3826

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_17585740

The GOP is open to anyone who subscribes to those fundamental principles. What they mean when they say the GOP must "reach out" to latinos is they must pander and promise more entitlements, including amnesty for illegal invaders.

All of this because of illegal immigration!

What do they suggest, an amnesty platform and commercials and literature in Spanish?

I have a novel idea for our politicians reach out to the American "citizen" stop pandering to groups unless you wish to see a total breakdown of American society.

All the more reason to deport as many illegals as possible.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

GOP must reach Latinos, says former state legislator
By James Rufus Koren Staff Writer
Created: 03/10/2011 03:58:06 PM PST

Within the next few years, Latinos will likely become San Bernardino County's new majority - a milestone that has some Republicans concerned.

"If Republicans are not careful, the number of decline-to-state voters will be greater than the number of registered Republican voters by the end of this next decade," he said. "They are becoming increasingly alienated in communities that are the fastest growing." That is, in Latino and Asian communities.

Nonsense. Polls of likely voters show that majorities - whether Asian, black, or Hispanic - favor enforcement of our immigration laws.

People who talk about the need to pander to these folks are listening to self-proclaimed leaders, not to the people themselves.

IMO Hispanics are increasingly realizing that they and their children and grandchildren will be pushed aside by illegals, right along with all other Americans.
************************************************** *****************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade