USA Today features the story that the US Latino vote is growing and steering to the Left, but looking closer at their data reveals a surprise.
Hispanic voters surged this week and swung their support to the Democratic Party, helping flip four states to winner Barack Obama in a trend that poses challenges for Republicans in future elections.
Their charts show that Colorado joined the national surge of Latino voting, but had a clear shift in the direction of McCain.
How could this be true? Immigration was clearly a more divisive issue in 2004, but that was true nation-wide, and the other states show a Democratic shift. Was it the presence of Salazar on the '04 ballot? Is this just another example of bellweather Colorado already having seen the shifts before the rest of the country catches up?
Colorado was the only state that Obama flipped from Bush's 2004 result without winning the youth vote - he lost 47-53 among that age group there, perhaps due to the large military presence in that state.
So, Obama lost the youth vote and lost ground with Latinos... and an army of old white guys put him over the top in Colorado? I don't get it.
We are hearing reports that Sheriff's vehicles and uniformed officers are being placed close to the entryways of voting locations in heavily Democratic precincts of Weld County.
Weld County Democrats are registering their concern that this might have a chilling effect on voters approaching the polls.
The Weld County Sheriff's office referred reporters to Undersheriff Margie Martinez, but she was unavailable for comment.
Update 2: Erin Rosa is reporting that police have been inappropriately checking identification from voters.
Update: Frankie points us to this from the New York Times.
2 p.m.: In Weld County, there were reports of Hispanic voters leaving polling places without voting because voter information, including ballots, had not been translated into Spanish.
Lindsey Hodel, organizing director with the Colorado Progressive Coalition, said the county had run out of bilingual voter registration information three weeks ago and that there were interpreters at only five of eleven voting centers.
As a result, she said Hispanic voters had to wait for family members to show up to help translate.
"This could potentially affect thousands of voters here," she said.
Steve Moreno, the Weld County clerk, said he had not heard those reports.
The federal Voting Rights Act requires that ballots be translated into Spanish if the number of voting age Hispanics who are limited in English is greater than 5 percent in an election jurisdiction.
Mr. Moreno acknowledged that Weld County probably exceeds that threshold now, but said he made his decision not to translate ballots based on the 2000 census and that he never received instructions from the federal government to do so for this election.
A current diary reports on Weld County, Colorado, with a 27% Spanish-speaking population, where the County Clerk did not provide ballots in Spanish as required by law when the non-English speaking population is greater than 5%. The Clerk when by the 2000 census figures, when the Spanish-speaking population was less than 5%.
"Most of Obama's gains over the last three weeks can be traced to the Hispanic vote.
Where his lead among those voters was previously 57-36, he has now upped it to 71-21."
The Colorado Campaign for Change just sent out this press release:
Obama Campaign Announces Colorado Latino Advisory Council
DENVER, CO - Today, the Obama Campaign announced the formation of its Colorado Latino Advisory Council, highlighting the continued growth of support Senator Obama is receiving in the Latino community statewide. The advisory council is made up of key labor, community and faith leaders and elected officials from across the state, who will advise the campaign on issues important to the Latino community, as well as play an active role engaging and mobilizing Latino voters in their local communities.
"I am honored to have the support of these leaders that have dedicated their lives to advancing opportunity - not just for Latinos; but for all Americans. They've all fought tirelessly for an economy that rewards work and the workers who create it, a quality education for our children, access to affordable health care, civil rights and voting rights," said Senator Obama. "With their counsel and support, we will continue building our movement for change in every community in Colorado and across the country."
"Latino voters will play a pivotal role in the November election, and our job is to ensure we are communicating Senator Obama's message to this key community," said National Council Chair, Federico Peña. "The members of the advisory council bring a breadth of knowledge, experience, leadership, and action to mobilizing Latinos here in Colorado. Over the next two months, we will be out talking about the contrast between Senator Obama's commitment to changing the direction of our country and putting in place an economic plan that works for America's middle class families and McCain's plan to continue the failed Bush economic policies of the last eight years."
Former State Senator Polly Baca said, "Senator Obama represents the kind of leadership that will fight for America's working families and will help create opportunities to empower our communities across America at this critical moment in history."
"As the Latino community continues to get to know Senator Obama, it is clear that he is the right candidate for our issues and is the best candidate to deliver the change that America desperately needs," said State Senator Abel Tapia. "Senator Obama not only understands the struggles and diversity of our community but because of his personal history and background he will stand with us and be a fighter for our issues."
Basil Sabbah, Chairman of the Board of Solera National Bank, said, "He will create jobs here in America, lower taxes on the middle class, reform our education system, and ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care. I look forward to continuing to work to elect Senator Obama as the next President of the United States."
Colorado Latino Advisory Council Members:
Katherine Archuleta, Senior Policy Advisor to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper; President of the Board of Directors, Latina Initiative
Polly Baca, Former State Senator
Richard Baca, Retired Higher Education Administrator, Mesa State College
Patricia Barela Rivera, Former CO District Director, U.S. Small Business Administration
Adrienne Benavidez, Attorney, District Director with the State of Colorado
Celina Benavidez, Director, Division of Human Resources and Administration, Colorado Department of Transportation
Juana Bordas, President, Mestiza Leadership International
State Representative Ed Casso, House District 32
Zee Ferrufino, Owner, KBNO Radio
Debra Gallegos, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Colorado Department of Transportation
Rick Garcia, Denver City Council Member, District 1
Dr. Eric Gonzalez Juenke, Professor of Political Science
Lucia Guzman - Pastor, United Methodist Church; Director, Denver Council of Human Rights/Community Relations; Former Executive Director, CO Council of Churches
Arturo Jimenez, Denver Public School Board Member, District 5
Paul Lopez, Denver City Council Member, District 3
Rich Lopez, Owner, Greeley Printers
Denise Maes, Chairwoman, Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Debbie Marquez, DNC Member, Eagle County
Chris Martinez, Chairman, RTD Board of Directors
Ramona Martinez, Chair, DNC Hispanic Caucus
James Mejía, CEO, Denver Preschool Program
Christopher Meza, Denver Business Owner
Judy Montero, Denver City Council Member, District 9
Keith Montoya, Owner, Doc 1 Solutions
Dianne Ortiz, Vice Chair, Pueblo Chicano Democratic Caucus
Gil Ortiz, Political Director, Laborers Union, Local 578, Colorado Springs
Dan Pabon, Attorney, Holland and Hart; Denver Young Democrats
Federico Peña, Chair, National Hispanic Advisory Council; National Obama Campaign Co-Chair; Former Mayor of Denver; Former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Transportation
Theresa Peña, School Board President, Denver Public Schools
Today I was invited to the Hispanic Caucus for a morning of tribute, blogging and comraderie with the Hispanic legislators of our country at the invitation of fellow Kossack, Obama Super Delegate from Colorado, fellow garden blogger and Colorado DNC committeewoman...Green Chile Democrat.
John and Ken Salazar were the featured lead-off speakers which included a visit by Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton. Speakers included Senator Menendez of New Jersey, Congressperson Loreta Sanchez of California who all spoke of the dynamics of increased voter registration for the emerging Hispanic communities and demographics in America.
In what is very good news for the Colorado Democratic Party, my analysis indicates that all but one of the diversity goals has been met!
A large part of electing delegates to the Democratic National Convention being held in Denver this year, is achieving diversity in the delegation. The DNC requires it. Last summer, a committee of about 50 members that represented all seven congressional districts met to establish the goals and outreach plan for the Colorado Democratic Party. The idea is that the committee agree on goals to insure a diverse delegation that is representative of the state population. The counties are then required to draft their own plan or adopt the CDP plan to 'reach out' to community members, especially in underrepresented groups, and let them know how to become a delegate to the national convention. In September the Colorado Delegate Selection Plan was finalized by the DNC.
Dial-up warning: Lots of photos on the flip side. Welcome delegates and new readers. Please sign-in to post a comment. It's a quick and easy registration.
See and read about members of the Colorado delegation on the flip. Flip it good.
(If Luis doesn't mind, let's also make this an open thread for Thursday. - promoted by johne)
I know from the Friday Random Ten feature that there are a lot of iTunes users reading SquareState. You might be interested in checking out this exclusive charity album, proceeds of which go to support Latino GOTV efforts through Voto Latino.
It’s not always about the money! How many Hispanics have been invited to this event, how many of us can pay the entrance fee, what is it, $5K per couple?
We wonder why we can’t recruit more Hispanics into the GOP, could this be one of the issues? This is a lost golden opportunity because GOP candidates are interested in raising the big bucks, what about the few dollars some of us have to donate. Doesn’t buy our way in to meeting and rubbing elbows with President Bush.
I hope someone listens to this plea, get the Hispanic community involved. How, give us an opportunity to meet and have a photo op with the President and meets some of the Big Bucks supporters of the GOP to let them know what issues are important to our community, if you care to listen!
Gilberto (Gil) Cisneros
State Chairman
Colorado Republican National Hispanic Assembly
Gil, Gil, Gil - $5,000 is chump change for the likes of Bob Schaffer and George Bush. Their business model calls for billions in tax breaks and billions in profits.
Latinos yelling at African-Americans yelling about who's really repressed.
White guys yelling that "this meeting has a (g*ddamn) moderator" and to "sit (your ass) down". To no one in particular.
Bob Null (andvoid) - Candidate for District 11 School Board - yelling at everyone that he's a registered Republican and to back off. Cause he's not so bad.
Allison Hunter, president and (g*ddamn) moderator, yelling that passionate debate is good - but could we please calm down before someone calls the cops on our asses.
I'm paraphrasing.
And then there's me. Yelling at my children to chew with their mouths closed. At least fifteen times.
Let's back up.
The El Paso Dems had their $10 all-you-can-eat pizza/pasta buffet last night. As I walked in, I noticed an extra-large crowd. More than a few of Hispanic descent and I couldn't help but wonder if the guest speaker on immigration was the reason for their sudden interest.
But who am I to judge? I show up for the pasta. And the hopes that someone will give *me* a free glass of wine.
But none of them read my sh*t. I'm safe for at least a year before I become overrated. And a superstar. So I ate my pizza in peace.
Homeboy from Immigration Enforcement Unit stood up and started talking about human trafficking and the sex trade. Nothing says family time like discussing underage prostitutes, but my seven year-olds were preoccupied with inhaling plates of complex carbohydrates. They didn't hear me whisper, "Breathe!", much less Officer Todd's energetic tutorials on blood in strange places.
Then the Latinos (who only had accents when they said the word Latinos) went all apesh*t on Todd.
My favorite was the guy in a purple dress shirt, reeking of Old Spice and a thinly-veiled superiority complex, calling:
Todd - a liar.
Immigration enforcement - institutionalized racism and pissing in the wind.
Those who disagree - idiots.
I try not to pay attention to elderly men who still wear mousse. Plus the garlic bread was out of this world.
An audience member who wasn't drinking Crazy Juice asked Officer Todd what we could do to help. He told us to view with suspicion any group of young girls, who should be in school, but were instead traveling with older men. Often they are kept in suburban homes with lots of male visitors.
Some bimbo in the back shouted, "Don't you really mean we should look out for cars full of Mexicans?"
Right.
The Mexicans had Mexicans on the brain. They wouldn't shut up about themselves.
Finally, the air thick with nastiness and too many "my people were wronged worser than your people" nonsense, I turned my baby blues to Officer Todd and raised my hand.
"As a lifelong Democratic activist," I said, "I am constantly dismayed at events where my fellow Democrats are hostile to soldiers and police officers and officials of authority. As a teacher, I too am told that we're part of the problem, we're not doing what we should, and that we're never going to make a difference. And I'm sick of it.
As an officer of the law, you work under tremendous pressure, in a thankless job, with levels of danger that I can't even comprehend. And so I think it's important that you hear a liberal Democrat say: Thank you."
Two people clapped. I was high for five minutes.
Almost turned to the Latinos and said, "Put that in your mojitos and slurp 'em down, b*tches. Next time - show some g*ddamn respect."
But I'm trying to make friends. And score some free wine.
Rep. Terrance Carroll (D-Denver) received yesterday the Roger Cisneros Public Service Award from Denver's Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA). From LARASA's web page:
Rep. Carroll has been a consistent supporter of legislation that would benefit the Latino community and a leader against harmful legislation aimed at our immigrant population and online learning. He led the fight in the State House of Representatives to achieve rational and responsible legislation to oversee Hope Online Learning Academy and the LARASA Learning Centers.
Now I don't know the back story behind LARASA possibly being caught up in the justified backlash surrounding the scandal at the Hope Online Learning Academy, but Terrance Carroll has earned enough credibility with me that I am willing to presume until shown otherwise that he did the right thing on that. When other Democrats felt like they had no choice but to support the anti-immigrant bills of the Special Session, Terrance Carroll did the right thing by opposing them. Plus, and this is not mentioned in the LARASA award but is worth noting, Carroll also opposes efforts to pass the federal REAL ID Act. There's a connection between the two that is often missed, and which I'll discuss below the jump.
Attorney General John Suthers issued an opinion today confirming the obvious: No, Metro State and other colleges are not required to charge out of state tuition rates to Colorado resident students who can't prove that their parents are in the country legally. What have we learned from this episode?
WHEREAS, if passed, the "Colorado Anti-Immigrant Initiative" would make systematic racial profiling official policy in Colorado and would make it more likely that Latinas/os and other people of color will be questioned about their immigration status in Colorado's schools, hospitals, libraries, government offices, and universities; and
. . .
WHEREAS, mass racial profiling and unfair denial of benefits to citizens resulting from the "Colorado Anti-Immigrant Initiative" could perpetuate many costly lawsuits, clogging the state's legal system
That was from the Colorado Democratic Party's resolution against the Tancredo-Lamm "Anti-Immigrant Initiative," passed only a few months before the legislature's Democrats enacted the heart of that initiative as HB-1023. We're still waiting for the proponents of HB-1023 to make good on their claim that the worst aspects of the 2006 Special Session laws can be repealed.
Second, we know that at this moment in time, Republican Attorney General Suthers looks like the hero that saved a predominantly Latino group of college students from having to pay out of state rates for college under a "tough on immigration" law passed by the Democrats.
There seems to be a belief that all Republicans can't help themselves from engaging in rank anti-Latino race baiting all the time. Certainly, there are those who fit the description, and I still think the most interesting unanswered question in this story is who told Metro State, the urban school with the most diverse student body in Colorado, that they were required to enact this policy? [Bonus questions: Did the promoters of HB-1023 foresee the possibility that someone would argue that HB-1023 required denial of in-state tuition to citizens who can't prove their parents are legal? Did they even read the bill before they voted on it in a rush to issue press releases preening about their "toughness" on immigration?]
But John Suthers is from the Karl Rove-Bill Owens camp that wants to try to at least peel off a substantial percentage of the Latino vote by not engaging in race baiting. He is positioning himself perfectly for a future run against the architects of HB-1023 and the rest of the Special Session anti-immigrant package.
I posted as a Quick Hit, then deleted, Jim Spencer's story in CoCo about Metro State and other state colleges' decision to charge out of state tuition to Colorado resident citizens unless they can prove that their parents are also citizens. It is outrageous enough to put on the front page. You see, this kind of thing does not happen by accident. It is way too parallel to the Grandfather Clauses used in the South after the Civil War to disenfranchise African-Americans. (Actually, those clauses disenfranchised immigrants and the children of immigrants as well -- they worked by putting in very difficult requirements for voting and then exempting those who could prove that their ancestors were eligible to vote before Reconstruction.)
The argument that the intersection of various Colorado laws regarding eligibility for in-state tuition requires state schools to charge out of state tuition to students, unless they can prove that their parents are legal citizens, sounds to me like something that was cooked up in a right wing think tank as part of the anticipated follow up to the Tancredo-Lamm anti-immigrant amendment. Especially since the idea that undocumented are somehow not "residents" of Colorado reeks of the same tortured reasoning the Tancredistas use as part of their campaign to deny citizenship to the children of undocumented and to get around the clear Supreme Court precedent and plain language of the 14th Amendment that goes against them.
Of course, everyone knew these "tough on immigration" laws would promote discrimination against Latino citizens at the time they were enacted by the Democratic state legislature. There's real malice being directed at Latinos in Colorado, and we could use a little support instead of triangulation from Democrats who figure we have no choice but to support them.
Oh yeah, and then there is that story out of California about Pedro Guzman, the U.S. citizen who was "deported" -- actually, exiled -- to Mexico, which was never his country. I'm so glad for him and his family that he has been found, but the story only makes me wonder, which one of my own relatives could get mistaken for a Mexican immigrant and tossed out of the country? This is a textbook case for why immigration control should be left in the hands of well trained federal officials and not local law enforcement.
We just got back from the Chicago Firehouse. As some of you may know, Jared is here with Wanda James, our campaign manager, and I. Together, we're talking with the largest gathering of bold progressives this year--the YearlyKos Convention.
Despite what Bill O'Reilly might think, the people at this convention aren't just readers of DailyKos, the largest progressive blog. They're a huge part--I would say the biggest part--of the reason why we Democrats control Congress. They're people just like you and I--people who know where our country went off the rails, and want more than anything an America where people can rise to the level of their dreams.
The people at this convention also know that the same tired, worn-out politics of blame and fear won't work. They know that we need leaders who bring bold, new innovative approaches to politics that depend on appealing to the better angels of our natures, rather than the darker demons of our nightmares.
In Colorado, that leader is Jared Polis.
I joined Jared's team for many reasons; we've been friends for a number of years, and loyalty means a lot to me. But I wouldn't support him and work for him if I didn't believe that he could be a phenomenal Member of Congress. When he takes the oath of office, Jared will be one of our generation's first leaders in the House. He's someone who deeply, instinctively understands the interplay of technology and public service, both in politics and education.
We ate dinner at the Chicago Firehouse--a well-known eatery housed in an old fire station--with the Colorado delegation to YearlyKos. During that dinner, Jared had the opportunity to field questions--not softballs, but real hard questions about the issues that matter. The war, women's choice, the future of technology--you name it, he answered it.
I'm not going to go into mind-numbing detail about the call-and-answer, but I am going to take this chance to briefly answer something that's come up, and that's Jared's supposed fervent, all-consuming passion for vouchers.
Put it simply: *He doesn't*
What he believes in is simply this: first, that education is the silver bullet. Give children a great education, and that act alone places them on a rapid path to success in life.
Second, *if* education *is* the silver bullet, then we need to do everything necessary in our power as a community to ensure that children have the opportunity to use that silver bullet.
Vouchers don't do that. What they do is take away money from public schools and, in the case of underperforming schools, make a difficult task even tougher. They are simply a method by which enemies of public education can kill public schools in the still of the night.
What Jared believes is that if a community wants to create a school to serve its children in ways that the local system cannot or will not, then they should have the opportunity to do just that.
What Jared believes is that if families want to educate their children; in bold, innovative ways that challenge to perform at the height of their abilities, then they should have the means to do just that.
Jared's dedicated an immense part of his life to helping people--particularly the Latino community, and students--achieve the greatness of their dreams.
Duke 1676 at Migra Matters bemoans the failure of the progressive movement to do much more about immigration than gloat at how the racist posturing of some right wingers deprives Latinos of a meaningful choice between two parties (my characterization, not his). I would have just linked it as a Quick Hits item but I figured people might want the chance to comment on it.
Given that the US Attorneys who were targeted for firing by the Bush Administration largely worked in swing states with large populations of voters of color, it seemed only a matter of time before the US Attorney scandal reached Colorado. And sure enough, the McClatchy Newspapers are reporting (via TPM) that Acting USA Bill Leone was on a list of US Attorneys to be fired. Of course, as merely an Acting US Attorney, Leone was relatively easy to replace; he left office in August 2006 after a permanent successor was named. McClatchy reports:
His replacement was Troy Eid, a former lawyer with the Washington-based lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig, which at one time had employed convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Eid had little courtroom experience and was a member of the conservative Federalist Society, Leone said.
I've always thought that the US Attorney scandal is not just about the Bushies wanting to pursue phony voter fraud allegations against Democrats, it is also about not wanting DOJ to prosecute real voter suppression campaigns by Republicans. So this is a good time to bring back this story from Election Day 2006:
Colorado Democrats charged today that Latinos in their state are the target of a voter-intimidation scheme.
In automated and live calls, Democrats allege, Latinos have been told that their ethnicity makes them ineligible to vote in today’s elections. The calls also threatened that Latinos would be arrested at polling places if they did attempt to vote, party sources said.
Although it remains unclear who is responsible for the calls — and how widespread the alleged intimidation is — aides to Democratic House candidate Angie Paccione said they have received two complaints today from Latinos in Weld County, which is part of the district held by GOP incumbent Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.
Now, it is no secret that I think Paccione did a fine job of (lawfully) suppressing her own potential Latino vote with her constant "I'm tough on immigrants too" message. But that doesn't excuse the failure of state and federal prosecutors (not to mention the news media) to follow up on this story. Perhaps now that the USA scandal is hitting Colorado, some questions will be asked about who was behind those voter suppression calls in northern Colorado on Election Day.
Kudos to Governor Ritter and the state legislature for enacting HB-1050 into law, and by so doing proving wrong my cynical yet tongue in cheek prediction about flag law reform under the Democratic trifecta. The bill signed by the governor is sensible and clear in permitting public schools to set their own policies regarding the display of foreign flags.
Still, I found interesting the historical amnesia in the Denver Post story about the bill. (I didn't see a story in the Rocky or any other Colorado newspaper.) To read the article, you might imagine that the flag controversy started when a teacher at Carmody Middle School in Jefferson County was disciplined for displaying foreign flags in the classroom. Actually, that controversy was just a sequel to the earlier controversy at North High School, where the display of the Mexican flag as part of the cultural heritage of many of North's students sparked an uproar from the usualsuspects in Colorado.
Testifying in support of HB-1050, the principal of Goddard Middle School in Littleton said that she removed 31 flags from the school cafeteria that represented the "birth nations" of Goddard students.
It pretty much proves my entire point about this affair that there was a huge stink when a high school in north Denver displayed the Mexican flag because it has students of Mexican heritage, while just a couple of years later the fact that suburban kids can't have the flags of their ancestral homelands displayed becomes a reason to loosen the law. (As a product of the Littleton Public Schools myself, I must acknowledge that Mexico is certainly one of the 31 countries represented in the Goddard display.) The point being that the effort to enforce the specific ban, enacted in 2002, on displays of the flag in public schools except for a "temporary display of any instructional or historical materials" was directed only at the display of the Mexican flag in Denver Public Schools, but under that darn Constitution you can't write a law that says only schools with a majority of Latino students are banned from displaying the Mexican flag only. Once suburban kids started feeling the effect, the law was doomed.
So this ends the controversy, at least until some brown people in the city decide to start exercising their rights.
Update: It was bad form of me to fail to recognize Rep. Nancy Todd and Sen. Suzanne Williams, both Democrats from Aurora, who were the primary sponsors of HB-1050. Thanks to both of you!
This was filmed by DenverDirect. I think it gives an interesting glimpse at the candidates answering an unrehearsed question from the community.
I am working on Darrell Watson's campaign, so I will not editorialize further.
pacified has a QuickHit about a Roll Call piece suggesting Ken Salazar is on a (long) list of Senators who might be VP choices. (But where are the governors?) I hear QuickHits have been criticized for not having comments, but one can always do a diary about one. And this diary is to explain why Ken Salazar's name is being floated and why it will not happen.
