Can you imagine seeing this as an "honor"? This should be the scarlett letter for any U.S. elected official..


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Posted on Tue, Mar. 04, 2008
La Raza to honor Lincoln Diaz-Balart
BY LESLEY CLARK
Miami Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., are to share the honors Tuesday night at the National Council of La Raza's 2008 Capital Awards gala.

NCLR, which bills itself as the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and honoring -- in a bipartisan way -- Diaz-Balart and Solis for ``their leadership on issues of concern to the Hispanic community.''

Univisión was also to be presented with a public service award.

La Raza president Janet Murgu�*a said Diaz-Balart has been a ''long-standing champion'' of the Legal Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act, and was ``among the first members of Congress to step forward and demand fairness for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants who lost access to public health and other services in 1996 as a result of welfare reform.

''He has demonstrated extraordinary courage and has emerged as one of our community's strongest leaders,'' she said.

Solis, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force, is being lauded for showing ``critical leadership in eliminating health disparities for Latinos.''

Murgu�*a credited Univisión with ``mobilizing thousands of eligible Latinos to become U.S. citizens and encouraging the civic participation of many more.''