Libre Initiative
koch ass kick 2012 leads to Among those groups receiving money from the Koch donor network, GOP operatives say, are Concerned Women for America and the Libre Initiative, which was launched by Dan Garza, a former White House aide under President George W. Bush.
see Rachel Campos-Duffy supports baby jails
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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/libre-initiative-promotes-ideology-over-evidence-on-d-c-vouchers/
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The LIBRE Initiative, the Koch brothers’ organization that promotes right-wing economic ideology to Latinos, put out a press releaseon Friday celebrating that Congress had tucked into the recent budget bill a three-year reauthorization for the private school voucher program that it had originally imposed on the District of Columbia during the George W. Bush administration.
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While LIBRE President Daniel Garza claimed that “educational choice programs offer tremendous potential benefits to Latinos and others around the country,” the evidence suggests that the D.C. voucher program hurts rather than helps student achievement.
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LIBRE’s press release claimedthat “there is growing evidence that this program is effective at breaking the link between poverty and poor education.” Really? The press release links “growing evidence” to an article from 2009. Meanwhile, just last month, the U.S. Department of Education published an evaluation that found that students using a voucher to attend private schools score worse in math a year later than their counterparts who applied for a voucher but were not offered one. Reading scores for voucher students were also lower, but not by a statistically significant amount.
As PFAW’s blog noted at the time:
These results throw more cold water on voucher supporters’ enthusiasm for the program, but history suggests that privatization advocates are not deterred by dismal data. That’s whyone scholar called the nomination of voucher cheerleader Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education “a triumph of ideology over evidence that should worry anyone who wants to improve results for children.”
In March, members of the DC Council sent a letter to Rep Jason Chaffetz, chair of the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, opposing reauthorization of the program, which the councilmembers wrote “should be phased out because participation in the program and similar initatives has not only failed to improve students’ academic performance, but worsened it, as found in a series of recent studies.”
People For the American Way and the African American Ministers In Action were among 62 organizations that signed a National Coalition for Public Education letter opposing reauthorization of the program, which the signers said “has proven ineffective and unaccountable to taxpayers.”
The recent Department of Education analysis wasn’t the first bad news for the D.C. voucher program. A 2012 Washington Post investigation found that quality control and accountability were lacking.
Last year People For the American Way worked with Brave New Films to release “Koch Brothers Exposed,” which explains how LIBRE fits the Koch Brothers’ larger strategy to promote right-wing economic policies.
LIBRE’s Daniel Garza was listed earlier this year at #19 on right-wing site Newsmax’s list of 50 most influential Latino Republicans; Garza ally Samuel Rodriguez was next on the list at #20. Two other LIBRE spokespersons, Marilinda Garcia and Rachel Campos-Duffy, also made the top 50. In 2013, at a prayer breakfast organized by Religious Right operative Ralph Reed, Campos-Duffy criticized school breakfast programs for low-income students, saying they hurt family bonding by giving parents an excuse not to make breakfast for their own kids.
Although LIBRE and the Koch Brothers have had their disputes with Trump, a high-level former LIBRE and Americans for Prosperity staffer Andeliz Castillo joined Vice President Mike Pence’s staff this year, part of a wave of Koch-connected people moving into senior administration positions.
More information on the LIBRE Initiative is available in our 2015 Right Wing Watch In Focus report.
Tags: Andeliz Castillo Daniel Garza Donald Trump Marilinda Garcia Mike Pence Rachel Campos Duffy Koch Brothers Public Education Vouchers LIBRE Initiative
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trump player?
And many more Koch-linked operatives are expected to join Trump’s nascent administration in the coming weeks, according to Trump transition-team sources. Names being considered include Koch Industries_{lobbyist Brian Henneberry}_ and former company spokesman Matt Lloyd, as well as Daniel Garza, who runs a Koch-backed nonprofit called the LIBRE Initiative that courts Latinos, not to mention a handful of veterans of the Koch network’s advocacy groups who worked on the Trump campaign — from top Pence adviser Marc Short and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to ex-campaign aides Stuart Jolly, Eli Miller, Scott Hagerstrom, Charles Munoz and Matt Ciepielowski.
Perhaps more surprisingly, despite some predictions of imminent policy clashes, there’s already informal communication between the Trump team and the Koch network, and both camps are signaling a willingness to work together on issues of mutual interest._{David Koch even attended}_ Trump’s election night victory party.
How long the comity lasts between Trump and the powerful Koch brothers could go far in determining whether Trump is able to take full advantage of the complete Republican control of Washington ushered in by his stunning victory over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Things weren’t so agreeable during the campaign, when the_{Koch operation blocked Trump}_ from directly accessing its data or its candidate forums, while the brothers _{condemned the first-time candidate}_ for his combative tone, his calls for a Muslim immigration ban and his opposition to the sorts of trade policies that facilitate the brothers’ vision of unfettered global capitalism. At one point, Charles Koch compared the choice between Trump and Clinton to choosing between “_{cancer or heart attack}_,” and the Koch network did not spend any money directly boosting Trump or attacking Clinton.
Trump in turn _{boasted}_ that the Kochs could not influence him because he didn’t “want their money or anything else from them.” And he blasted his rivals for the GOP nomination as_{puppets}_ of the Kochs. A possible truce after Trump clinched the nomination broke down quickly, with the two sides_{clashing}_ over who_{rejected a proposed meeting}_.
The Koch network, which some believed was discouraging its operatives from working with Trump’s campaign, is now seen by insiders as welcoming the chance to have allies on the inside of Trump’s administration.
At the same time, though, the network already is signaling that it_{intends to oppose}_ aspects of Trump’s agenda that_{run counter}_ to the brothers’ brand of small government, low-regulation conservatism, possibly including the incoming president’s $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan and his pledge to renegotiate trade deals.
Trump’s press office didn’t respond to requests for comment.
James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central group in the Koch network, said, “We’ll try to find areas to work together to advance a free and open society and reverse the counterproductive policies that have created a two-tiered society.” He added: “We wish the new administration well.”
Setting aside the personal and policy conflicts, Trump’s willingness to draw from the Kochs’ operation makes sense in several ways.
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The political operation created by the billionaire conservative mega-donors Charles and David Koch is quietly investing millions of dollars in programs to win over an unlikely demographic target for their brand of small-government conservatism ― poor people.
The outreach includes everything from turkey giveaways, GED training and English-language instruction for Hispanic immigrants to community holiday meals and healthy living classes for predominantly African American groups to vocational training and couponing classes for the under-employed. The strategy, according to sources familiar with it and documents reviewed by POLITICO, calls for presenting a more compassionate side of the brothers’ politics to new audiences, while fighting the perception that their groups are merely fronts for rich Republicans seeking to game the political process for personal gain.
The efforts include a healthy dose of proselytizing about free enterprise and how it can do more than government to lift people out of poverty.
“We want people to know that they can earn their own success. They don’t need the government to give it to them,” Koch network official Jennifer Stefano told activists and donors during
in Columbus, Ohio, at which she introduced one such project, Bridge to Wellbeing.
Housed within the foundation arm of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch network’s largest group, the program represents “the new way to advance freedom,” Stefano boasted. “And so that’s why, today, you’ll see Americans for Prosperity Foundation reaching out to new communities offering not just classes on the Constitution, and knowing your rights, but on couponing and how to turn your passion into profit by helping other people be successful, to not just tell them about the economy and economic freedom, but to show them that we want them to economically thrive, and how to do it.”
Bridge to Wellbeing last week served hot dinners to crowds of dozens of primarily African American attendees at a church in Miami and a community center in Orlando. A chef offered tips on how to prepare “dinner on a dime,” while attendees were guided into “learning about freedom,” according to the Twitter feed of one AFP staffer.
The Koch efforts can seem at times almost like a post-Citizens United version of turn-of-the-century political machines like Tammany Hall ― part privatized social-service agency, part voter mobilization. But liberal critics see it as a craven and patronizing gambit to bribe the disadvantaged into supporting a de-regulatory agenda that helps the haves at the expense of the have-nots.
"It won't work. They can't hide their agenda of lower wages, no unions and no health care, which would be devastating to these communities, merely by trying to 'help' them with a food coupon," said David Brock, who founded a liberal non-profit group that tracks the Koch network. He added, "It's also creepy. It sounds like something Hezbollah would do to get recruits."
Like most else in the Kochs’ expansive network, which plans to spend as much as $889 million from the industrialist Koch brothers and hundreds of allied mega-donors in the run-up to the 2016 election, the so-called well-being efforts, as they are known within the network, are only partly about electing Republicans.
Charles Koch has long argued ― mostly privately until recently ― that government welfare and regulation actually hold back many of its ostensible beneficiaries. His network's goal, he told hundreds of ultra-rich conservatives he had summoned to a tony Southern California resort this summer, “is to remove the shackles preventing all Americans, especially the disadvantaged, from pursuing their dreams. That’s what’s happening in this country. We are crushing ― these policies are crushing peoples’ dreams,” including by making "it nearly impossible for the poor to start a small business or, in many cases, even work.”
Koch went on to call his network "the most effective movement in history for helping people improve their lives and making the world a better place."
In addition to Bridge to Wellbeing, Koch-backed wellness efforts include the Hispanic-focused LIBRE Initiative, which has given away holiday turkeys and toys, as well as Spanish-language training for drivers’ licensing, GED exams and tax-preparation. Another network group,Concerned Veterans for America, is expected to begin offering similar well-being programs for veterans, according to sources. There are also initiatives aimed at the homeless, developmentally disabled and mentally ill. And there’s a new group called Stand Together for America focused partly on using well-being-related outreach to appeal to what network officials call “the middle third” ― persuadable voters who are mostly disengaged. And the Charles Koch Institute in 2013 launched a “Well-Being Initiative” to provideintellectual firepower for the overall network effort.
“Sometimes, we have not been as good at explaining the virtues of economic freedom and individual liberty to people who are struggling,” said Americans for Prosperity’s president Tim Phillips. He also conceded that well-being initiatives could help AFP’s main arm satisfy an Internal Revenue Service requirement that the group spend most of its money on educational or charitable purposes, not political or policy advocacy. “Part of it is we are a social welfare organization. And, so, yes, we do try to help folks live more prosperous lives. That’s not related to direct policy.”
“Could come off as not being genuine”
The well-being push includes causes that defy easy partisan typecasting ― such as a major criminal justice reform push and a fledgling fight to reduce occupational licensing ― on which Koch allies have worked with liberal groups and even lately with President Barack Obama’s administration. But messages about reining in government and empowering the private sector undergird all of the efforts ― even pitching in to help emergency victims.
After a chemical spill polluted the water supply in nine West Virginia counties last year, AFP Foundation gave away more than 100,000 gallons of bottled water to affected residents. Some environmentalists bristled, pointing out that Koch-backed groups have fought against stricter environmental regulations. But sources say that Stefano, the Bridge to Wellbeing leader, in a presentation to AFP staff, argued that charitable efforts like the one in West Virginia “allow us to demonstrate our values of individual responsibility and the private sector stepping up in times of need, instead of waiting for government.”
Inside the network, the well-being initiatives are viewed as a legacy project for Charles Koch and his longtime lieutenant Rich Fink. An executive at the brothers' multinational industrial conglomerate Koch Industries, Fink advocated for the creation of Stand Together for America, and has sat on the boards of Charles Koch Institute and Americans for Prosperity Foundation, though he left the AFPF board at the end of last month. Sources familiar with the network tell POLITICO that, in weekly meetings of top officials from across the expanding network, groups are urged to pursue outreach to disadvantaged groups.
“They’re trying to reshape the country, and they realize they can’t do that without changing the perception of conservatism,” said one operative who works with Koch-backed groups, who requested anonymity. In an internal network memo reviewed by POLITICO, though, in which AFP sought additional program funds, it predicted that the Bridge to Wellbeing initiative would allow the group and its foundation to “go on the offense against the current suggestions that AFPF is extreme, an arm of a political party or the front group for wealthy donors.”
Still, there’s a fair amount of concern inside the network that the efforts could be a costly boondoggle that is unlikely to yield any progress towards the Kochs' goals, and more likely risks backlash.
Stefano privately addressed those concerns during Bridge to Wellbeing's formative stages, according to sources familiar with the discussions, who said she warned network officials on multiple occasions that “capitalizing on these types of events could come off as not being genuine.”
And one former network executive said, “There are a lot of high-up lieutenants who roll their eyes when they talk about this and question whether it’s getting any bang for the buck. How does teaching people how to clip coupons or giving them free turkeys translate into convincing them that conservatives or Republicans have the best interests of the disadvantaged at heart? Is this really changing people's minds or are they just showing up for the free turkeys?”
The calculation, according to AFP spokesman Levi Russell, is that new audiences might be more receptive to the message if it’s presented in a less-political context. “If we're only engaging people on the latest piece of legislation being debated, we're starting too late in the process,” Russell said.
‘Care and intent’
After spending more than $400 million boosting conservative candidates and causes in the run-up to the 2012 election, only to see Democrats retain the White House and the Senate, the Koch network commissioned a forensic analysis to determine where their efforts had fallen short.
It identified a number of needed tactical and strategic adjustments. But it also concluded that its efforts were hampered by the widespread perception that conservatives don’t care about the plight of regular folks struggling to make ends meet ― let alone the underprivileged.
Sources tell POLITICO that, in post-election strategy sessions, Charles Koch and his inner circle fixated on an exit poll finding that highlighted a so-called “empathy gap” that plagued GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Among voters seeking a candidate who “cares about people like me”, Obama clobbered Romney 81 percent to 18 percent ― by far the widest gap among the four traits commonly measured (the others are vision for the future, shares my values and strong leader).
“All we talked about post-2012 was that statistic,” said a former executive with one network group. “How Romney won on economics or national defense but lost like 80 to 20 on who cares about you. It spoke to a larger problem with the conservative movement. Romney just embodied that.”
Koch and Fink concluded that winning over empathy-seeking voters could help them tilt the electoral map in their favor.
“If we are successful, there will be enough … support to not only drive state policies, but also to elect a majority of freedom advocates in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and we need 317 electoral votes to elect a president who will advance” economic freedom, Fink argued to donors at a closed-door 2014 session. In his remarks, which were secretly recorded and posted online by a liberal blogger, he stressed that “intent matters to this middle third,” and pointed out “Mitt Romney won on leadership. He won on the economy. He won on experience. What did he lose on? He lost on care and intent.”
He conceded that the Koch network’s efforts to reach the coveted middle third have been clumsy.The focus has been on “telling them what’s important — what we think is important should be important to them. And they’re not responding and don’t like it, okay? Well, we get business — what do we do? We want to find out what the customer wants, right, not what we want them to buy.”
The network commissioned focus groups done by veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz, a Koch favorite, to assess the concerns of the middle third, and determine how best to reach them, sources told POLITICO. On top of that, Fink told the donors the network gathered “20 years of objective research of left, right, middle scientists, and we’ve looked at 170,000 surveys of people around the world, in the United States — they were all people in the middle — and what they think is important.”
The result was an index of “six dimensions demonstrated to be key factors of well-being,” according to documents from the Charles Koch Institute. Among them were increasing the standard of living by providing for basic necessities, offering opportunity through strong job markets and entrepreneurship, bolstering personal freedom, encouraging family and community bonds, promoting physical and mental health and providing safety from war and crime.
It’s difficult to assess how much of the network’s $889-million budget for the 2016 cycle is slated for well-being initiatives, both because the efforts are spread across multiple groups and because the groups aren’t required to disclose detailed financial information.
But sources tell POLITICO that Fink has directed that a greater percentage of AFP’s overall budget be allocated to its foundation, which runs Bridge to Wellbeing and which tax filings show had a 2014 budget of $23 million (as compared to $82 million for AFP's main arm). And leaked documents reveal that the Koch network has pitched donors on well-being projects and concepts since at least last year.
At a June 2014 network gathering, donors were given the option of attending breakout sessions entitled “Well-Being: What It Is and Why It’s Important” and “Value-Added Events: Engaging the Middle Third.” The latter session, which refers to the precursor program to Bridge to Wellbeing, featured presentations by Stefano and Fink’s daughter Justine Fink, who helps run Bridge to Wellbeing. Stefano was listed as the “VP of Value Added Events” on AFP’s 2014 tax filings, which show she received an annual salary of $184,000.
“Not politics”
The Bridge to Wellbeing pilot program was launched in key swing states like Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. And insiders profess that the hope is that some of those helped by the network’s social services will embrace free-enterprise conservatism and possibly even join the ground troops that Koch-backed groups deploy to get out the vote.
Yet, publicly, the Kochs and their allies downplay political motivations.
In a promotional video shot at a Bridge to Wellbeing turkey giveaway, an "instructor" named Nicole Thorton, who previously worked as a high school history teacher and now teaches courses for AFP Foundation about the Constitution and individual rights, explained that the purpose “is not politics. It’s to help citizens to have a better quality of life and that is something that everybody wants, regardless of your political affiliation.”
There’s an almost evangelical undercurrent to the group’s efforts, which came across during Stefano’s speech in Columbus this summer.
“We have to go out and we have to embrace people for who they are. We have to meet them where they’re at. We must personalize freedom so that it’s meaningful to them and not just to us,” Stefano said, after taking the stage to the Rocky theme song. “There is no community, no group of people, no barrier that the six states that have agreed to a test of this model would not overcome to advance this new way of introducing Americans again to freedom,” she said. “We have gone in to shelters, rescue missions. We have gone and taken our message to people with intellectual disabilities, those with mental illness.”
Bridge seeks to cultivate relationships with potential activists by holding smaller-group events that bring in “aligned but unengaged” people, according to sources familiar with the planning. A particular focus is women. An AFP survey found women would be more likely to attend events if childcare or child-friendly entertainment is offered, sources said. It also found that events using words like “everyday affordability” were popular with “aligned but unengaged women.”
Bridge’s events are typically held at churches or community centers. They offer “coaches” in areas including “budgeting and finance” and “health and lifestyle, nutrition” and “constitutional and personal rights.” Free workshops are geared towards teaching “how to save money and have economic freedom.” Specific skills have included couponing, healthy and affordable eating and tips for answering the question “Is My Child’s School Any Good?”
It held a “Business, Budgeting and Money Saving Tips” event at a conservative church in Richmond, Va., and a healthcare event in Phoenix, Ariz., where a local doctor discussed how women can lead healthier lives while also criticizing Obamacare as hindering healthcare delivery and medical advances.
One event attendee explained in a promotional video he’s “learned how to flip furniture” and use coupons, as well as better time management.
During the turkey giveaway featured in the video, a participant identified as Alyssa thanked Bridge to Wellbeing for helping her family recover from her husband's lay-off.
“If it wasn’t for you guys, I don’t know how we would have made it the past few months, if you guys hadn’t offered that couponing class, because I didn’t even know how I was going to put groceries in my cabinet,” she said. “And I am incredibly grateful and I really appreciate all the hard work that you guys do and you put into it.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/charles-david-koch-poverty-charity-216631
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/us/politics/libre-backed-by-the-kochs-aims-to-raise-gop-standing-with-hispanics.html
MIAMI — The crowd that lined up around a megachurch here last week — largely Hispanic and mostly poor — came for the Saturday services, but also for the free flu shots that were being offered in the church, and for the Thanksgiving turkeys being given away just outside.
But before they received their turkeys, those in line were asked to answer a few questions: Were they more likely to vote for a Republican or a Democrat in the 2016 presidential election? And did they feel that the government should increase or decrease federal spending in order to improve the economy?
Volunteers, holding clipboards and speaking mainly in Spanish, collected the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of everyone who showed up.
The approach — a free Thanksgiving turkey in exchange for some personal information — captures the mission of Libre, a multimillion-dollar effort financed by the conservative billionaire Kochs and devoted to winning over Hispanics, with the message that economic freedom and smaller-government principles will yield opportunity and prosperity.
With an increased emphasis on Hispanic outreach, the Kochs are hoping to step in where the Republican Party has, by many accounts, failed. After the 2012 presidential election — Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, won just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote — a report by the party concluded that it would have to make significant inroads with Hispanic voters to retake the White House.
The Republican Party, however, has made a concerted effort to improve its performance, placing Hispanic outreach staff members in communities more than a year before the 2014 elections and keeping them there for 2016. But Democrats still won the Latino vote in congressional races nationally 62 percent to 36 percent, according to an analysis by the Pew ResearchCenter.
“They’ve been just terribly disappointing,” said Daniel Garza, 47, the son of migrant farm workers who is now the executive director of the Libre Initiative, during an interview at a candidates forum with Jeb Bush last month in Las Vegas. “I wish they would ramp up their efforts and do a lot more on the policy side, but again we’re not going to wait around for them.”
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The group declined to say precisely how much it would spend during this election cycle, but the sum is expected to surpass the $9 million it spent from 2013 to 2014. Representatives for the Kochs also declined to make them available for comment.
Such efforts could prove especially important to Republicans in a presidential election cycle in which immigration has returned as a wedge issue and the rhetoric from many Republican candidates has become increasingly vitriolic.
libre, reflecting the Koch’s views, supports a broad overhaul of the immigration system, including a path to citizenship. It waged a campaign in support of the Senate’s 2013 immigration effort, including airing in excess of $1 million in television ads. Those positions have put the group at odds with many of the party’s grass-roots conservative voters.
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But the group has also drawn the ire of some Hispanic and immigration advocacy groups by raising concerns about some of President Obama’s more sweeping executive actions on immigration, and by pouring money into House races to help defeat two Hispanic lawmakers — Pete P. Gallego of Texas and Joe Garcia of Florida, both Democrats — because they supported the president’s health care plan, among other issues Libre opposes.
Craig Hughes, a Democratic strategist who managed Mr. Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns in Colorado along with Senator Michael Bennet’s 2010 race there, said that while the group’s “potentially unlimited funds” from the Koch network were a source of worry for him, he thought the group would still have a tough time making its pitch to Hispanic voters.
“The question is, does an aggressive outreach and relationship-building program help them when their candidates are at such odds with the population?” Mr. Hughes said. “I am highly doubtful, but I never underestimate the impact of a massive amount of money in politics.”
Libre, which was created in June 2011, now has between 65 and 70 full-time employees in nine states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Freedom Partners, an umbrella organization for Koch network donors, has provided the group with $15.8 million in funding, according to federal tax records, and Libre now has more than 1,000 donors of its own.
Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke at a Libre Initiative forum in Las Vegas last month.CreditIsaac Brekken for The New York Times
The initiative is based on a model used successfully by Democratic-leaning groups in Hispanic-outreach efforts, consisting of both an education component (the Libre Institute, a nonprofit) and an advocacy arm (the Libre Initiative).
The group says that it genuinely wants to make a difference in the community, and offers its services to everyone, including undocumented immigrants. Libre has helped Hispanics get driver’s licenses in Nevada, provided English lessons in Florida and held seminars on how to start a business in Virginia.
These community services speak to what the group says is its core mission — to provide Hispanics with the tools to lift themselves toward the American dream of economic freedom and success, while also showing them that they do not need to rely on the government to succeed.
“At the end of the day, we want Hispanics to prosper, to be self-reliant, to achieve their full potential,” said Ivette Fernandez, national director of the Libre Institute, which is running a pilot program to help people study for and pass G.E.D. exams. “So we felt it was very important to be able to educate them on those principles the country is based on.”
At same time, Libre’s advocacy arm engages deeply in the political process. Since the group’s inception, Libre volunteers have made 4.7 million phone calls and knocked on 160,000 doors; their goal is to make three million calls this cycle.
even at community-focused events, every attendee is typically asked for some bit of information — email, phone number, and perhaps an issue of concern — which is then provided to both Libre and i360, the Koch network’s voter data operation. And every event usually has some tie-in with Libre’s economic policy agenda.
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“Without question, with apologies to nobody, we want to influence the policy agenda,” Mr. Garza said. “It should come with some type of messaging, everything we do, and we don’t apologize for that. We are an advocacy organization.”
Democrats are taking notice. Cristóbal Alex, the president of the Latino Victory Project, said that after being “caught by surprise in 2014,” his group is working with other Hispanic organizations across the nation to counter Libre’s influence.
“They’re a threat in the sense that their focus is very much aligned with theTea Party, and the type of work that they do, in our view, is really about advancing their donors’ prerogatives, the Koch brothers’ prerogatives,” Mr. Alex said. “That’s the threat. They’re pouring significant resources into our communities to get Latinos to vote against their own best interests.”
The challenge of turning credibility with Hispanic communities into votes was illustrated by the Saturday church event where most of the attendees — who cooled themselves with Libre-emblazoned cardboard fans and clutched blue and yellow Libre balloons — had never heard of the group before and mostly leaned Democratic or were apolitical.
Haydee Colina, 52, came to the United States from Panama, and is not yet eligible to vote. With her daughter helping to translate, Ms. Colina said she appreciated the work Libre was doing. “It’s very good,” she said.
“But,” her daughter added, “of course she would still vote Democratic.” endit
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/11/1082512/-Koch-funded-Group-LIBRE-Trying-to-Woo-Latinos-for-GOP
As the recent FOX News Latino poll showed, Republicans are in serious trouble with Latinos. Serious trouble -- as in losing to Obama by a six-to-one-margin trouble. And they're looking for ways to dig themselves out of that ditch. So, it caught our attention when we learned that a group called the LIBRE Initiative released a new poll:
On Tuesday, April 10, 2012 The LIBRE Initiative (LIBRE) will announce key findings of a new national Hispanic Poll in Miami, FL. The key findings will be presented by LIBRE’s Executive Director, Daniel Garza and LIBRE’s National Coordinator, Jose Mallea. The release of the poll will be followed by a panel discussion and press
availability.
Here's what everyone needs to know about LIBRE, via The Center for Public Integrity:
Eyeing potentially restive Hispanic voters in 2012, GOP operative Dan Garza is launching an “economic freedom” message campaign aimed at Latinos, and hiring big name business and religious figures to help in key states.
Garza told iWatch News he hopes to raise $1 million by the end of 2011 for his campaign, dubbed the Libre Initiative, which will tout such core Republican values as less economic and business regulation. Among the big name donors he has approached are “representatives of the Koch family,” said Garza, who worked in the White House’s public liaison office under George W. Bush and then did stints with Spanish language media. Garza declined to say, however, whether Koch interests have committed any funds yet to the initiative, a 501 (c) (4) which is permitted to keep donors names secret.
Two GOP operatives familiar with the initiative say Garza told them he has already secured commitments for about $1 million — including funds from Koch family interests.
Yes, the Kochs have set their sights on Latino voters...soon, we'll see the results of their investment.
Cross-posted at America's Voice.
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Fox News is passing off the Koch-funded Libre Initiative as a grassroots organization founded "to empower Hispanics" and advance "liberty, freedom and prosperity." In reality, the group urges Hispanics to support policies that experts say go "against their own interests" and "disenfranchise Hispanic voters."
The Libre Initiative was founded in 2011 and claims to be a "non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that advances the principles and values of economic freedom to empower the U.S. Hispanic community." The group "has a presence in eight states" and "plans to expand to Wisconsin and North Carolina this year and increase its staff by about 30 percent ahead of 2016."
Fox has portrayed the group as the product of "a coalition of Hispanic leadership organizations." But Libre is staffed by veteran Republican operatives, and the group has received over $10 million in funding from oil billionaires Charles and David Koch. Libre has admitted its message "aligns more with Republicans" and "with the principles and ideas of Charles and David Koch."
The group promotes the agenda of people like the Kochs at the expense of Hispanics. Libre opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which helps Hispanics get health insurance. They oppose a federal minimum wage increase, which would help more than 6.7 million Hispanics. They support voter ID laws that serve "to disenfranchise Hispanic voters." They've joined Fox News in pushing misinformation about "illegals" and immigration. Libre has also campaigned against politicians that support immigration reform due to those politicians' support of the Affordable Care Act.
In this report about the Libre Initiative and the media:
- Fox Presents Libre As Representing And Empowering "The Hispanic Community"
- Experts: Libre Is "Trying To Get People To Vote Against Their Self-Interests"
- Libre Helps Fox Push Misinformation About "Illegals" And Immigration
- Libre's Senior Staff Are Republican Party Veterans
- Libre Is Backed By Over $10 Million In Koch Funding
Fox News Presents Libre As Representing And Empowering "The Hispanic Community"
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Fox News has repeatedly endorsed and portrayed Libre as a pro-Hispanic grassroots group even though Libre takes positions that experts say hurt Hispanics. Fox has also regularly failed to mention that the group is actually staffed by Republican Party veterans and receives heavy funding from the Koch brothers. For example:
Fox News: Libre A Product Of "Hispanic Leadership" That's "Advancing Liberty, Freedom And Prosperity."Fox & Friends Saturday co-host Juliet Huddy began a February 18, 2012,segment by saying "a coalition of Hispanic leadership organizations announcing a brand new initiative for Hispanic and Latino Americans. The goal is to increase economic freedom by putting forth a free market message." On-screen text claimed Libre is "advancing liberty, freedom and prosperity." During the segment, executive director Daniel Garza claimed the group was started because of a "groundswell within the Hispanic community." Fox did not mention Libre's Republican or Koch connections.
Fox: Libre Was Founded "To Empower Hispanics." A July 12, 2013, Fox & Friends
promoted the #MsLIBRE initiative, Libre's conservative response to the Obama campaign's Life of Julia campaign. Co-host Gretchen Carlson told viewers to visit Libre's website to learn more. On-screen text during the segment said the group was "founded in 2011 to empower Hispanics" and is "inspiring women to be self-reliant." The segment also encouraged viewers to "learn to be libre"and "live like a #MsLibre now." Fox did not mention Libre's Republican or Koch connections.
Fox News Presented Libre As The Voice Of "The Hispanic Community."Fox News presented Libre as representing the views of "the Hispanic community" during a December 10, 2013, report about the ACA. Reporter Peter Doocy said on America's News HQ that the ACA Spanish website was launched late "and that's something that the Hispanic community apparently noticed." Fox then ran video of Libre executive director Daniel Garza claiming the Obama administration has "sort of marginalized or, you know, shoved" Hispanics to the side. Fox did not mention Libre's Republican or Koch connections.
Experts: Libre Is "Trying To Get People To Vote Against Their Self-Interests"
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While Fox News has presented Libre as empowering Hispanics, the group campaigns for policies that would hurt Hispanics. As UCLA political scientist Matt Barreto said, Libre is "definitely trying to get people to vote against their self-interests."
Libre opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which helps Hispanics obtain health insurance; opposes a federal minimum wage increase, which would help more than 6.7 million Hispanics; supports voter ID laws that serve "to disenfranchise Hispanic voters"; and campaigns against Democrats who support immigration reform because of their support for ACA.
Libre Opposes ACA, Which Has Decreased The Uninsured Rate For Working-Age Hispanics. Think Progress noted that Libre has been campaigning against the Affordable Care Act, which has "decreased the uninsured rate for working-age Latinos from 36 to 23 percent."
"They're just not seeing the benefit [of health care reform]," [National Coalitions Director Michael] Barrera said of Latino Americans. "And actually, support for it among Hispanics has dropped considerably."
The data, however, suggests otherwise. A study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the Affordable Care Act has decreased the uninsured rate for working-age Latinos from 36 to 23 percent, with young and low-income people benefiting the most. And in states that chose to expand Medicaid, the uninsured rate for Latinos decreased from 35 to 17 percent. The study's authors wrote: "The full implementation of the ACA...has the potential to be one of the most important developments affecting Latino health care."
Barrera is correct, though, that the support for Obamacare has declined. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that just 42 percent of Latinos currently have a favorable view of the law, down from a high of 73 percent in 2010. But they remain much more supportive than non-Hispanic white Americans, only 29 percent of whom approve of the law. Furthermore, social scientists Matt Barreto and Gary Segura have found that the souring view of the law isn't because it goes too far, as LIBRE claims, but because it doesn't go far enough. 67 percent of Latinos they surveyed believed everyone should be eligible for coverage regardless of citizenship status, while 74 percent favored a public option. Think Progress, [9/30/14]
Hispanics Have The Highest Uninsured Rate Of Any Racial Or Ethnic Group. Pew Research wrote that "This year, one-in-four (25%) Hispanics lack health insurance, the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group, according to the Current Population Survey's March 2014 Annual Social and Economic Supplement. About 14% of the general U.S. population is uninsured." Pew Research Center, [9/26/14]
UCLA Professor: Hispanics "Have The Most To Benefit From Health Care Reform."The El Paso Times interviewed UCLA political scientist and pollster Matt Barreto, whose clients include Univision Noticias and National Council of La Raza, for a February 2014, article about Libre. Barreto, formerly of the University of Washington, argued that Libre is "definitely trying to get people to vote against their self-interests":
Garza claims to be speaking in the interest of Hispanics, but in opposing Obamacare, he's flying in the face of Hispanic opinion, said Matt A. Barreto a political scientist at the University of Washington. Barreto directs the Washington Poll and studies political participation by minorities.
"There's overwhelming support for a government role in health care among Hispanics -- it's probably the highest of any group," Barreto said Friday. "It's also the group with the greatest percentage of uninsured. They have the most to benefit from health care reform."
[...]
Barreto was asked if the Libre Initiative is a Hispanic twist on the tea party groups.
"I would say that it's definitely something to get people to vote against their own interests," he said. "I don't know if it's the same sort of rhetoric as the tea party -- the name calling and the divisiveness -- but they're definitely trying to get people to vote against their self-interests." *El Paso Times*, [2/9/14]
Libre Opposes Minimum Wage Increases, Which Would Disproportionately Help Hispanics.Libre opposes minimum wage increases, calling it a "gimmick" that "will only harm people in the end."
However, the progressive Economic Policy Institute notes that "Increasing the minimum wage would substantially benefit both minority and nonminority workers" -- 24.6 percent of workers who would be affected are Hispanic. The AFL-CIO wrote in 2014 that "more than 6.7 million Latino workers would be helped by raising the minimum wage to $10.10." University of Maryland associate professor Stella M. Rouse wrote that "43.3 percent of Latinos were employed in jobs earning poverty level wages (compared to 23.4 of whites and 36 percent of African Americans)." 84% of Hispanics support raising the federal minimum wage, according to Pew Research.
Libre Supports Voter ID Laws That "Disenfranchise Hispanic Voters." The Libre Initiative supports voter ID laws. During an October 27, 2014, appearance on Fox News, Libre spokesperson Rachel Campos-Duffy called such laws "important ... for our democracy and our freedoms."
The Atlantic legal analyst and editor Andrew Cohen wrote in 2012 that "the larger purpose and effect of the [voter ID] laws is to disenfranchise Hispanic voters, other minorities, and the poor -- most of whom, let's also be clear, vote for Democrats." Department of Justice lawyers noted that in Texas, "according to the state's own data, a Hispanic registered voter is at least 46.5 percent, and potentially 120.0 percent, more likely than a non-Hispanic registered voter to lack this identification."
It is difficult for many Hispanics to obtain voter ID. New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice wrote in a July 2012 report that "500,000 eligible Hispanic voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have photo ID than the general population."
In 2014, Libre Ran Campaigns Against Pro-ACA, Pro-Immigration Reform Politicians. Griselda Nevarez, a reporter for the Hispanic-American site VOXXI, wrote in September that Libre "is going after Democrats who are strong supporters of immigration reform":
The ads go after six members of Congress--all Democrats--for supporting the Affordable Care Act and "unnecessary spending" by the federal government. Among those attacked by the ads are Reps. Joe Garcia of Florida and Pete Gallego of Texas.
[...]
Robbie Sherwood, executive director of ProgressNow Arizona, also criticized the ads. He said the ads take aim at Democrats who back immigration reform--an issue that the LIBRE Initiative strongly supports--and end up benefiting candidates who only support immigration enforcement.
"They're looking to punish people who actually support their one signature issue that they say they support in favor of politicians who don't want to touch immigration reform with a ten-foot pole," Sherwood said in an interview with VOXXI, referring to the LIBRE Initiative.
Garza defended his group's decision to run the ads, saying the purpose of the ads is to show that there is a significant percentage of Latinos who oppose more government spending and increasing the role of government.
He also said the purpose of the ads is to highlighting how Latinos across the country are having a tough time making it from paycheck to paycheck. He said many Latino families are seeing their daily costs rising while their incomes are falling.
When asked why his group is going after Democrats who are strong supporters of immigration reform, Garza shifted the conversation to how the Democratic Party's agenda and policies on immigration are hurting the Latino community. Voxxi, [9/26/14]
Libre Helps Fox Push Misinformation About "Illegals" And Immigration
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Libre's senior staff includes professional Republicans who worked for the Bush White House, Republican National Committee, and numerous Republican politicians. The organization's executive director, Daniel Garza, ran for Congress as a Republican the year prior to founding Libre. Garza has admitted Libre's message aligns "more with Republicans" and they may "benefit" from his group.
Libre Executive Director: "Our Message Aligns More With Republicans."The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:
In an interview at St. Anthony High School, Garza stressed that Libre is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, not affiliated with a political party.
"Our message aligns more with Republicans because it's conservative and libertarian, and if Republicans benefit, so be it," he said. *Milwaukee Journal- Sentinel*, [2/23/14]
Libre Grew Out Of The Bush Administration. Garza has attributed the launch of the group to working in the Bush administration. Garza said on CSPAN in October 2014: "I served in the Bush administration at the White House and I served with a lot of folks that were very talented. I think had vast capacities who we felt we could leverage their talents and their voice ... we helped to launch [Libre]."
Libre's Senior Staff Is Made Up Of Republican Party Operatives. Here's a brief overview of the Libre Initiative's senior staff and their ties to the Republican Party:
Executive Director Daniel Garza. Garza served in the Bush White House from 2001 to 2006. In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary for Texas' 15th Congressional District. Garza also worked for Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA).
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Of Staff Andeliz Castillo. Castillo worked for Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the House Republican Leadership, and the Republican National Committee.
National Strategic Director Jose Mallea. Mallea worked for Bob Dole for President, Jeb Bush for Governor, George W. Bush for President, and Marco Rubio for Senate. He also served in the George W. Bush administration.
National Field Director Mario J. Beovides.Beovides worked for Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), the Republican Party of Florida, and Florida Republican Carlos Curbelo.
Communications Director Brian Faughnan. Faughnan worked for Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Marketing Director Judy Pino.Pino worked in the George W. Bush administration, and for the Republican National Convention.
National Spokesperson Rachel Campos-Duffy. Duffy is a parenting author who is married to Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI).
Libre Is Backed By Over $10 Million In Koch Funding
he Koch brothers have given the Libre Initiative over $10 million in funding since its founding, according to available public documents. Libre, which isn't required to publicly disclose its donors, has said they "fully embrace" their association with the Koch brothers, and "we do align very much with the principles and ideas of Charles and David Koch."
The Kochs are responsible for "a broad network of nonprofit groups that control hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into politics." During the 2012 elections, their network reportedly raised over $400 million for conservative causes. Politico reported that the Koch network "has in many ways surpassed the reach and resources of the" Republican National Committee, and they plan on spending nearly a billion dollars for the 2016 elections.
Libre Has Received Over $10 Million In Koch Money. In September 2011, Garza told the Center for Public Integrity that he approached "representatives of the Koch family" for funding, but declined to say whether they committed any funds. However, CPI reported that "Two GOP operatives familiar with the initiative say Garza told them he has already secured commitments for about $1 million -- including funds from Koch family interests."
Libre has received over $10 million in Koch funding through Freedom Partners and TC4 Trust, according to a *Media Matters* search of public IRS documents:
- Freedom Partners gave Libre $9,312,000 between 2011 and 2013, according to the group's IRS 990 forms. FreedomPartners.org, accessed [2/9/15; accessed 2/9/15; accessed 2/9/15]
- TC4 Trust gave Libre$693,000 from 2011-2012, according to the group's 990 form.
Politico has called Freedom Partners the "Koch brothers' secret bank" which serves "as an outlet for the ideas and funds of the mysterious Koch brothers." The group's board includes several senior members of Koch Industries, Inc.
TC4 Trust, which is now defunct, served as a conduit for Koch money. ProPublica reported that TC4, along with Freedom Partners, were "[a]t the top of the network" of the Koch's complex webof non-profit distribution.
Libre Says It "Fully Embrace[s]" Its "Association" With The Kochs. In an October 2014 appearance on CSPAN, Garza was pressed by a viewer to explain the group's connections to the Koch brothers. Garza responded by acknowledging Libre is "associated with Freedom Partners" and "the association with Mr. Charles Koch and Mr. David Koch, I fully embrace it. I align with their values and what they're trying to do." From the appearance:
GARZA: We are associated with Freedom Partners. We very much align with a lot of the principles and the ideas of other organizations like AFP, Americans for Prosperity. Citizens For A -- Concerned Veterans of America. So I don't have any -- I don't apologize for advancing the principles of economic freedom, of the free market, to try to advance more prosperity to the Latino community through the free market. That is what made America strong and prosperous and we will continue to do that. And the association with Mr. Charles Koch and Mr. David Koch, I fully embrace it. I align with their values and what they're trying to do. These are successful Americans who achieved great things, who created 70,000 high paying jobs in their own company and then of course indirectly provide a lot of jobs to other Americans and contractors, you know, through their association. So I don't know what her [CSPAN viewer] objections are about the Koch brothers, but we're proud to associate with Freedom Partners.
Garza also said on CSPAN that "we do align very much with the principles and ideas of Charles and David Koch."
Fox News is passing off the Koch-funded Libre Initiative as a grassroots organization founded “to empower Hispanics” and advance “liberty, freedom and prosperity.” In reality, the group urges Hispanics to support policies that experts say go “against their own interests” and “disenfranchise Hispanic voters.”
The Libre Initiative was founded in 2011 and claims to be a “non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that advances the principles and values of economic freedom to empower the U.S. Hispanic community.” The group “has a presence in eight states” and “plans to expand to Wisconsin and North Carolina this year and increase its staff by about 30 percent ahead of 2016.”
Fox has portrayed the group as the product of “a coalition of Hispanic leadership organizations.” But Libre is staffed by veteran Republican operatives, and the group has received over $10 million in funding from oil billionaires Charles and David Koch. Libre has admitted its message “aligns more with Republicans” and “with the principles and ideas of Charles and David Koch.”
The group promotes the agenda of people like the Kochs at the expense of Hispanics. Libre opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which helps Hispanics get health insurance. They oppose a federal minimum wage increase, which would help more than 6.7 million Hispanics. They support voter ID laws that serve “to disenfranchise Hispanic voters.” They've joined Fox News in pushing misinformation about “illegals” and immigration. Libre has also campaigned against politicians that support immigration reform due to those politicians' support of the Affordable Care Act.
In this report about the Libre Initiative and the media:
- Fox Presents Libre As Representing And Empowering “The Hispanic Community”
- Experts: Libre Is “Trying To Get People To Vote Against Their Self-Interests”
- Libre Helps Fox Push Misinformation About “Illegals” And Immigration
- Libre's Senior Staff Are Republican Party Veterans
- Libre Is Backed By Over $10 Million In Koch Funding
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Libre Spokeswoman Campos-Duffy Pushes Policies That Would ...
while appearing as a guest on cnn, rachel campos-duffy, a spokeswoman for the libre initiative -- the koch brothers-funded organization that reaches out to latinos with conservative talking points...
The Libre Initiative: The Koch Brothers' Focus on Latino ...
Libre spokeswoman Rachel Campos-Duffy spoke at a prayer breakfast hosted by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition in 2013, where she criticized school breakfast programs for low-income students, saying that they infringed on family bonding.
Rachel Campos-Duffy - Wikipedia
Rachel Campos-Duffy (born October 22, 1971) is a conservative American television personality.She first appeared on television in 1994 as a cast member on the MTV reality television series The Real World: San Francisco, before moving on to work as a television host.She was a guest host on the ABC talk show The View, before moving to Fox News, where she has guest-hosted the show Outnumbered ...
The Libre Initiative - SourceWatch
National Spokesperson Rachel Campos-Duffy is "a parenting author who is married to Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI)." According to employees profiles on networking applications, Nevada State Director, and former Nevada Field Director Juan Martinez was a Clark County Republican Party executive board member. [30]
How Tall Is Rachel Campos Duffy? Meet Daughter Evita Pilar ...
Nevertheless, she currently serves as a spokesperson for the "LIBRE initiative." It is a non-profit organization set up by the Koch Brothers. Here is a little fact about talented TV host Rachel Campos Duffy. How Tall Is Rachel Campos Duffy? Height Age Disclosed. Rachel is quite tall with a perfectly matching physique.
LIBRE Initiative Promotes Ideology Over Evidence On D.C ...
Two other LIBRE spokespersons, Marilinda Garcia and Rachel Campos-Duffy, also made the top 50. In 2013, at a prayer breakfast organized by Religious Right operative Ralph Reed, Campos-Duffy criticized school breakfast programs for low-income students, saying they hurt family bonding by giving parents an excuse not to make breakfast for their ...
Going after the Latino vote - Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin
Rachel Campos-Duffy was picked as one of the most powerful Latinos in ... and is the national spokesperson for the Libre Initiative, a Koch brothers-funded group that hopes to convert Latinos into ...
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While Garza is very measured when balancing the Koch agenda with the sentiments within the Hispanic community, LIBRE Initiative spokesperson Rachel Campos-Duffy takes a more brash approach. She often uses the insensitive term "illegal immigrants" when discussing policy.
The Libre Initiative: A Koch-Funded Group Being Passed Off ...
Libre Is Backed By Over $10 Million In Koch Funding; The Latest. Marjorie Taylor Greene's speech to white nationalists also puts the spotlight on Tucker Carlson. 02/26/22 4:11 PM EST.
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Eyeing potentially restive Hispanic voters in 2012, GOP operative Dan Garza is launching an “economic freedom” message campaign aimed at Latinos, and hiring big name business and religious figures to help in key states.
Garza told iWatch News he hopes to raise $1 million by the end of 2011 for his campaign, dubbed the Libre Initiative, which will tout such core Republican values as less economic and business regulation. Among the big name donors he has approached are “representatives of the Koch family,” said Garza, who worked in the White House’s public liaison office under George W. Bush and then did stints with Spanish language media. Garza declined to say, however, whether Koch interests have committed any funds yet to the initiative, a 501 (c) (4) which is permitted to keep donors names secret.
Two GOP operatives familiar with the initiative say Garza told them he has already secured commitments for about $1 million — including funds from Koch family interests.
Charles and David Koch control the nation’s second largest privately owned company, Kansas-based Koch Industries, with big interests in oil and gas, paper products and derivatives trading. The two Koch brothers are each reportedly worth about $21 billion. Over the last few decades the brothers and Koch family foundations have been financial angels for numerous conservative think tanks, grassroots groups and politicians.
A spokesman for Koch declined to comment.
Garza’s fledgling effort is but the latest example of GOP drives to win the hearts, minds and votes of the fast- growing Hispanic community — efforts that in the 2012 elections could be crucial in swing states like Florida and New Mexico.
On Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque, the Hispanic Leadership Network, run by Jennifer Korn, another alumnus of the Bush public liaison office, is hosting a conference featuring several prominent Latino officials as part of its drive to build a Hispanic grassroots political network. Korn’s group was created earlier this year by the Republican-affiliated American Action Network; the network is chaired by former Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.
And this summer the Republican State Leadership Committee — chaired by GOP super-consultant Ed Gillespie —announced plans to spend $3 million in 2012 recruiting 100 Hispanics to run for state legislative office and boosting GOP support for women and other minority candidates.
“Voters would like to have someone they can identify with,” Gillespie told iWatch News, noting that currently there are only 39 Republican Hispanic state legislators nationwide. “The immediate perspective is to increase our share of the Hispanic vote in 2012, which would be significant,” Gillespie said.
Hispanics are the nation’s fastest growing minority: there are some 50 million living in the U.S., about 16 percent of the nation’s population, according to the 2010 census. One in five voters in 2012 is expected to be Hispanic in states such as California, New Mexico and Texas.
The GOP’s stepped up drive to woo Hispanics may be complicated by the get-tough stances of many leading Republicans on the issue of illegal immigration — and the sometimes harsh rhetoric of conservative Tea Party activists.
But Republicans see new opportunities in part because of the impact of the recession. Unemployment in Hispanic communities has been running at more than 11 percent, compared to the latest national figure of 9.1 percent.
In 2008, the Obama campaign reportedly spent about $20 million on a robust Hispanic outreach effort, and was rewarded with 67 percent of the Hispanic vote. The President’s overall job approval rating dropped to 48 percent among Hispanics, according to a recent Gallup survey, down from 60 percent in January. The drop in support is usually attributed to the impact of the struggling economy and disappointments about the failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform.
Democrats know they can’t take the Hispanic vote for granted. In mid-August, the White House hosted 160 Hispanic leaders for two days of meetings that included access to cabinet officials and key presidential advisers, according to The Washington Post. The get-together seems to be part of a stepped-up drive by the White House and President Obama’s reelection campaign to revive Hispanic enthusiasm before next fall. .
“I think both sides are going to spend a lot of money to win the Hispanic vote,” said Jose Mallea, the campaign manager in 2010 for GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Mallea, who worked for White House chief of staff Andy Card while Garza was at the public liaison office, said he “offered to help Dan” with the Libre Initiative . “I think it’s a great idea. He told me he had funding,” Mallea said.
The gist of the Libre Initiative, based in Mission Texas, is simple: “By increasing awareness of economic freedom, people will vote accordingly,” said Garza. “Our effort is to expand the conversation from just immigration to issues of the economy, jobs and small business.”
To achieve these goals, the Initiative has hired Michael Barrera, the former president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and John Mendez, a Southern California evangelical minister. Garza, who left the White House in 2006, also boasts media skills that could help: he did a stint in 2008 as host of Agenda Washington, a Sunday morning show on Univision, the Spanish language cable network. Garza previously was president of Hispanicand Poder magazines.
The Colorado-based Barrera will focus on reaching out to small business and entrepreneurs in the Southwest, while Mendez will be doing “outreach to mostly faith-based groups,” Garza said.
Garza said the initiative plans to target three big states California, Florida and Texas, plus the Southwest and Northeast. To spread its message widely, the initiative will “align with organizations that support economic freedom,” such as the American Enterprise Institute, CATO and the Mercatus Center, Garza said. “We want to be a partner and a resource.”
Other groups are taking different tacks.
Korn of the Hispanic Leadership Network, toldiWatch News that this weekend’s conference in Albuquerque will explore a range of issues affecting Hispanics, including jobs, housing and education. The meeting will feature New Mexico’s Governor Susana Martinez, former attorney general Alberto Gonzales — whose Justice Department Korn once worked for—and several other Hispanic political figures.
Korn, who was national Hispanic director for President Bush’s reelection drive in 2004, said her group has a budget of about $1 million annually, and plans to hold two conferences a year to help build a grassroots network that will include Hispanic leaders who want to be media surrogates. The group hosted a similar get-together in Florida early this year — which drew former Gov. Jeb Bush — and plans another one in the Sunshine State in early 2012.
Coleman of the American Action Network told iWatch News that the critical issue for the Hispanic network group is how best to “mobilize voters on the ground. It’s getting email and identifying organizations. It ranks as one of our top priorities.”
The Republican State Leadership Committee’s drive to recruit 100 Hispanic candidates for state legislative offices is “the first step on the escalator” to higher office, said Gillespie, noting that Sen. Rubio came out of the Florida legislature. “The Southwest,” Gillespie said, “is an area where we have a real opportunity and ready candidates.”
American Crossroads, the Karl Rove-linked group that Gillespie helped launch, also is trying to make inroads in the Hispanic vote in 2012. This summer, the group’s affiliate, Crossroads GPS, spent about $158,000 on Spanish language television spots hammering President Obama’s economic policies. The ads ran in nine markets with substantial Latino populations, including Denver, El Paso, Miami and Reno.
Crossroads declined to say what they’d spend next year on ads aimed at Hispanic voters. But Steven Law, the group’s president, said that “Hispanics are a huge priority for us… Hispanics are also becoming a crucial voting bloc in a number of states, and we need to be communicating with them on our issues.”
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