Area Hispanics to meet with McCain
June 11, 2008

By ANDRE SALLES asalles@scn1.com
Dozens of Fox Valley Hispanics will get the chance to talk with Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's nominee for president, later this month. And they'll get to do it for free.

McCain will be in Chicago on June 18 for a fundraiser at the Drake Hotel, but he'll stick around that night to hold a town hall meeting with Illinois Hispanics.

More than 100 are expected to attend, according to the meeting's organizers, Julie Brady and Gabriela Wyatt.

Brady, of St. Charles, is the deputy co-chairman of McCain's campaign in Illinois. She said the event will be closed-door, with no media in attendance.

But it's not about grabbing headlines, she said -- McCain is interested in reaching out to the Illinois Hispanic community and hearing what they have to say.

"A lot of Hispanics are just hard-working small-business owners," Brady said. "They don't want their taxes going up, they don't want the government in their business. They want the borders closed, but they want (immigrants here) treated humanely."

Wyatt is a Mexican immigrant herself, and she said she respects McCain for being among the first to push for comprehensive immigration reform. McCain and Sen. Ted Kennedy jointly proposed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act in 2007, which included a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The bill never reached a vote.

Wyatt was selected as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention earlier this month, and as chairwoman for the Kane County Republican Party Central Committee, she's coordinating the contingent from Kane County to McCain's event.

"Knowledge is power," she said. "We want to make sure that when Hispanics go to the polls, they take with them an educated opinion."

McCain's town hall event will begin around 8 p.m., Brady said. The Kane County contingent will charter a bus to Chicago, which will leave the area at 5 p.m. All area Hispanics are invited.

For information, e-mail Brady at PatandJulieBrady@gmail.com, or Wyatt at gwyatt7@yahoo.com.

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