Thread: Latinos' political power hasn't matched growth - Yet

Aug. 19, 2007, 2:18AM
Latinos' political power hasn't matched growth
Despite voter drives, Hispanics are still underrepresented

By CYNTHIA LEONOR GARZA
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 65798.html

It was a powerful sign to legislators of the yet-untapped potential of an emerging Hispanic voting bloc. Latinos heralded the moment as a political reawakening.

Since then, grass-roots and national Latino organizations have placed a large stake in citizenship campaigns and voter registration drives as a way to influence policy.

But there's been little organized push by Latino groups or leaders to capitalize on the momentum to get more Latinos elected to public office, or pursuing offices beyond the local level.

That goal locally has drawn new focus with this month's Census report that Latinos are now the largest ethnic or racial group in Harris County, at 38.2 percent or 1.48 million. Yet there's a void of Latino political leadership here at the highest levels.

Nationally, there are a handful of elected Latino leaders serving in Congress but none from the Houston area. Houston also has never had a Hispanic mayor and has just two Hispanics on the 14-member City Council.

"The demographic growth doesn't automatically translate into political power," said Nestor Rodriguez, chairman of the University of Houston's Sociology Department and co-director for the Center for Immigration Research.

But with immigration as the impetus, Latino politics in the U.S. is reassessing and redefining itself.

Latino leadership has long been decentralized by differences in region, generation, country of origin and ethnicity. That decentralization stymies a unified front and vision for Hispanics. Observers said immigration has bound different groups, including non-immigrants who were offended by the racial overtones of some of the anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric.

The youth, who were instrumental in leading the school walkouts, marches and rallies, see their charge as building social movements to influence as a group rather than running for political office, said longtime Houston immigrants' rights activist Maria Jimenez.

The key to filling the political power void will be to invest in leadership development, said Jorge Mursuli, national executive director of the Florida-based Democracia USA and vice president of People for the American Way.

Latinos "don't have a lot of national leaders elected or otherwise so whenever there's an issue, finding someone to articulate our messages is not an easy thing," Mursuli said. "Having national leaders is a sign that we've arrived on the national landscape and that is as important as having local leaders."


Money is a deterrent
In Harris County the number of elected Hispanic political leaders has not kept pace with Latino population growth, said Harris County treasurer Orlando Sanchez.

In 2002, Sylvia Garcia became the first woman and first Hispanic elected as one of the four Harris County commissioners. There is one Hispanic state senator in the county; and three Hispanic state representatives out of 25 who represent Harris or parts of it. There has never been a Hispanic elected to the U.S. House from the Houston area, although the 29th District was created with that aim.

In July, State Sen. Rick Noriega announced that he would be seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

Nationally, there are now 5,129 Latino elected officials, a 37 percent increase over the past decade, although less than 5 percent of those are at the state and federal level, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

Orlando Sanchez, a Cuban-American Republican, was a two-time mayoral run-off candidate who tried to become Houston's first Hispanic mayor. He said having Latino candidates run for mayor piques the community's interest in politics.

Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, said the cost of running a campaign coupled with the low pay for legislators deter some Hispanics from running. Senators and representatives in Texas earn $7,200 per year.

Hernandez, 28, took a four-month leave from her job as an attorney to campaign.

Garcia said the lack of candidates is not because Latino politicians aren't motivated to run, but that they're waiting for the right opportunity.

"The reality of politics is that incumbency has a lot of power and that is difficult to overcome," Garcia said.

And because of low Hispanic voter turnout, many candidates cannot count on winning with just those votes, Garcia said. Of the 44 million Latinos in the country, nearly 27 million, or 60 percent, are not eligible to vote because they are too young or they are not citizens.

A NALEO study of Harris County voting in 2004 found that although Hispanics made up one-third of the county's population, they accounted for only 17 percent of registered voters. But nationally in the 2006 elections, voter turnout among Hispanics went up compared to the mid-term election in 2002, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis.

Changes in Houston's Latino demographic may also affect future leadership. The Latino political power in Houston is mostly Mexican-American, Democrat and concentrated in east Houston. By contrast, some of the most vocal Latino leaders during the immigration rallies came from Central American groups in southwest Houston.

Push to register voters
Latinos, and particularly youth, may have their short-term focus on strengthening their power of influence. Observers said it will be at least a few more election cycles before more Latinos start to seek higher office, particularly positions at the federal level.

For now, many Latino youth are getting involved in workers unions, which have been revived in recent years primarily because of immigrants, said Tatcho Mindiola, director of the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies.

Others said they see more young Latinos working as aides and staffers for elected officials — a potential pipeline for political candidacy.

"We have a representative government, a growing number of Hispanics should definitely influence politics," said Alberto de la Torre, a 21-year-old political science major at St. Edwards University who worked for state Rep. Michael Villarreal of San Antonio during this spring's legislative session.

De la Torre said health care, education and immigration top his list in importance.

James Rodriguez, the former chief of staff for City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, is now vying to succeed Alvarado. He said the immigration rallies were an awakening for youth. Instead of urging youth to run for office, the 31-year-old University of Houston graduate urges them to finish high school and go to college.

The increase in political representation of Latinos is inevitable and vital, Mursuli said.

"No one can represent you like your own folks," he said.

cynthia.garza@chron.com

If I were on the other side.......

I would have waited about another 3-5 years to do all their marching and demands. Then we would have had no choice but to cave due to their numbers. I think they jumped the gun a little too quickly here which is in our favor.

They don't have any clout?? Why are they amazed by this?? There are only a handful of hispanics I know who have the desire to run for political office, not to mention the funding backers to make such an effort. Secondly, many of those whom they would look to for support don't vote, can't vote (illegals), or will not vote (read...more illegals). If you get the chance talk to a hispanic kid today, and very, very few of them have long range goals of college of continuing thier educations beyond high school. The majority of guys will say they plan to work in construction or something else with their fathers or other relatives (read...day laborers or others working for someone else.) The girls are only slightly better, that is until they get pregnant before they are 18, as in the case of three 14-year old girls at a local JUNIOR HIGH school where I work. Many of thier parents don't have much of an education, if any, so they have a very limited view of thier future.