U.S. Presidential Contenders Realize Importance of Winning Over Hispanics
"Llama me Alberto," the U.S. vice president tells his Hispanic
audience at a Kennedy Center gala -- Call me Alberto. Then Al Gore shows he has
graduated from the Macarena to dancing salsa with Caribbean legend Celia Cruz.
Across the country in Austin, Texas, Gov. George W. Bush just this week told a
Mexico City newspaper to call him "Mexico's best friend across the
border." The governor, who likes to say, "My heart is Hispanic "
-- in Spanish -- also broke with the language of his Republican Party in that
interview to sympathize with Mexican immigrants here.
Such pitches to U.S. Spanish-speakers, from the two front-runners for their
parties' presidential nominations, speak to what's shaping up as one of the
biggest fights within the fight for political control in 2000: the battle for
the growing Hispanic vote.
That vote is concentrated in the U.S.'s four largest states: California, the
big enchilada, with 54 electoral votes, along with Texas, Florida and New York.
With the U.S.'s already-large Hispanic population growing at a steady clip,
"it's reached critical mass," said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the
William Velasquez Institute in Los Angeles and San Antonio.
Overall, the U.S.'s 31 million Hispanics make up nearly 11% of Americans,
according to the Census Bureau, and by 2005 they will pass African-Americans as
the biggest minority group. The Wall Street Journal
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Wow! I know how Italian-American kids must have felt in the '40s, watching Joe
DiMaggio hit a homer.
Anthony Suarez, who grew up humble in New York, the son of Puerto Rican
parents, has become the first Hispanic elected to represent the Orlando area in
the Florida Legislature. Suarez, a Democrat, won the House of Representatives
District 35 seat Tuesday in a special election.
Expecting a low turnout, Suarez decided to go after his base -- Hispanic voters.
So much for Hispanic solidarity in this race.
Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez, a Cuban-born Republican who won the
chairman's race with strong support from Democrats and Hispanics, backed Creel.
That ticked off many Democrats and Puerto Ricans.
Puerto Rico's island politics also played a divisive role in this race,
splintering Puerto Rican voters on an issue that has little to do with their
lives here. The Puerto Rican Statehood Foundation in Orlando, which includes
Winter Springs Commissioner Eddie Martinez, backed [GOP opponent] Creel. Ouch!
Suarez' experience helping the lost souls among us bodes well for Central
Florida. His election win has put the area's old Republican guard on notice:
Hispanics are a part of this community.
We're here to stay. Myriam Marquez, The Orlando Sentinel
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)-- [Gov. Pedro] Rossello and the Puerto Rico
Manufacturers Association said they will lobby together to try to revive a
measure known as Section 30a that provides a federal tax break to U.S.
companies with operations in Puerto Rico , based on the amount of wages they
pay to islanders.
Congress voted in 1996 to phase out a larger package of tax breaks that
includes 30a.
Puerto Rico needs federal incentives for companies to create jobs, the
manufacturers group argues.
While supporters of Puerto Rico 's commonwealth status see the federal tax
breaks as a cornerstone of U.S.- Puerto Rico relations, others consider them
incompatible with statehood.
Not so, said Jaime Morgan Stubbe, the director of the government's industrial
development agency.
"Whether a state could have a special treatment, my answer is yes,"
he said. "There are precedents. That would have to be a subject of
negotiation during the transition period to statehood." Dow Jones
International News
The current governor of Puerto Rico had sought statehood as an important step
in his economic-reform effort, turning the economy from an industrial base to a
"knowledge" base. The voting population decided otherwise. However,
his ambitious plan has already seen some success, since the privatization of
many government companies has resulted in lower prices and improved service.
The government seeks to promote technology-based businesses to build on the
strength of Puerto Rico's growing pharmaceuticals business.
The reforms emphasize the service sector, and a new program of tax incentives
is especially generous to companies investing in education, training, research
and development.
The government sees ultimate success down the road, comparing the current
reforms to "Operation Bootstrap," the policies under which the island
moved from an agrarian-based to an industry-based economy. Those reforms, the
government points out, took a decade or two to take effect.
Financial Times Survey: Puerto Rico
White House: "None Of The Above" Win
Not A Clear Status Choice
Vote Said To Give Little Guidance
On Ultimate Outcome
Washington -- The White House indicated Saturday
that the "none of the above" winning vote in the Dec.
13 island plebiscite has little or no meaning for the ultimate
outcome of Puerto Rico's political future.
The White House and Gov. Rossello were in
sync Saturday on the confusion wrought by the Dec. 13 plebiscite
results.
Rossello...said that Congress must "step
in and recognize its responsibility" because "local
politics distorts the discussion and decision on status. We have
to make sure that Congress responds" with clear status choices
for island voters, the governor said. -Robert Friedman, SAN JUAN
STAR
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Washington D.C. -- House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young, Alaska
Republican, is considering introducing a bill to force residents of Puerto Rico
-- now a "commonwealth" rather than a state or territory -- to pay
income taxes for the first time since the United States annexed the island in
1898. That might force islanders to choose between independence or statehood,
a choice they have consistently refused to make.
The island gets as much as $12 billion per year in federal funds but sends less
than a quarter of that back to the Treasury, a House GOP staffer said.
"The question is, how much longer should an arrangement like that go
on… There should be a process that leads to an acceptance [by Puerto
Ricans] of the obligations of being U.S. citizens," he said.
Outspoken opponents of statehood say they will oppose any new initiative by
Young.
But even statehood advocates are not fond of Mr. Young's ideas.
"We are more than willing to comply with responsibilities such as [paying
income tax] as long as it comes hand in hand with all the benefits of
statehood," said Alcides Ortiz, the Washington representative of Puerto
Rico's pro-statehood governor, Pedro Rossello. Sean Scully, The Washington Times
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[I]t is dangerously misleading to conclude that that so-called "collective
naturalization" of Puerto Ricans in 1917 by federal statute, followed by a
later federal statute that defined Puerto Rico as being part of the United
States, gives Puerto Rico the same constitutional citizenship as those born in
states of the Union. The fact that Puerto Rico… may be designated by
Congress to be part of the United States for purposes of current or previous
federal nationality and immigration laws, or any other federal statutes enacted
under the Territorial Clause, does not create vested constitutional rights or
give the U.S. Constitution application in Puerto Rico by its own force.
That is why the Congressional Research Service's legal opinion of March 9, 1989
concluded "...the limitation of... the Fourteenth Amendment would not
restrain Congress from legislating about the citizenship status of Puerto
Rico." Certainly, if Congress could take away statutory citizenship
conferred… at birth… it could end the conferral of U.S. citizenship
by statute for persons born in Puerto Rico in the future. Herbert W. Brown III,
President, Citizens Educational Foundation
Making IRS Section 30A Permanent for U.S. Firms Operating in Puerto Rico is Not
the Best Way to Stimulate Sustainable Development on the Island
In the past, an unhealthy reliance on tax credits created a crutch preventing
the public sector reforms and economic liberalization needed to make Puerto
Rico's economy productive and competitive. Puerto Rico should avoid a return
to tax gimmick strategies, and push forward with a package of reforms that have
demonstrated proven success: deregulation, privatization, fiscal reform, and
heavy investment in people and infrastructure.
In contrast to dire predictions, the Puerto Rican economy has not fallen into
recession nor has unemployment skyrocketed since Congress voted to eliminate
Section 936 in 1996. In fact, the economy continues to grow at a moderate rate
and employment is increasing. This performance reinforces Congress' decision to
repeal the ineffective and costly tax credit, and demonstrates that Puerto Rico
can and should do without it.
Puerto Rico's economic performance also reflects the success of badly needed
government reforms initiated by Governor Rossello under the New Economic
Development Model. These reforms have already yielded impressive results,
reforming the fiscal system, promoting deregulation, investing in
infrastructure, and reforming the public sector.
The government has already made significant progress. It
would be unfortunate if making section 30A permanent were to undermine the
long term sustainability of the successful reform efforts now underway.
"[I]n harmony with its long-standing
acknowledgement of the importance of self-determination by the
people of Puerto Rico as to the status of Puerto Rico, the National
Governors' Association (and the Southern Governors' Association)
urges the 106th Congress to enact legislation that will, no later
than the year 2000, provide a mechanism for political self-determination
by the American citizens who reside in Puerto Rico."
Since the signing of the Treaty of Paris brought
the war to its end, Puerto Rico has remained a U.S. territory
and its inhabitants have lived under the Constitution of the
United States of America. During that time, Puerto Rico and its
people have come to embrace the United States Constitution and,
in particular, the individual liberties protected by the Bill
of Rights. As a result, Puerto Rico has broken, culturally, from
its Latin roots over the last one hundred years. JAIME PIERAS,
JR., United States District Judge,
Zappa v. Cruz
An Open Letter to Congressman Gutierrez:
If you truly feel that independence is the
best option for Puerto Rico and that being Puerto Rican and American
are mutually exclusive, then you really should put your money
where your mouth is and come live in Puerto Rico and fight for
your ideals.
It seems somewhat hypocritical for someone
who is living the American dream to the extent you are to deny
that same dream to the millions of Puerto Ricans who do call
this lovely island home. Please stop undermining our struggle
for equality. You are not our elected representative. -Roberto
Guzman, THE SAN JUAN STAR
(I)nstead of asking why Congress still has
no plan to end Puerto Rico's current state of political limbo,
many pundits reacting to a recent status vote held under local
law in Puerto Rico seem puzzled because statehood supporters
in the territory have not abandoned their cause after failing
to win a majority.
(I)nstead of being puzzled because elected
statehood leaders in Puerto Rico are asking Congress to act on
the basis of the recent plebiscite, let's remember that America
became the greatest nation in the history of the world by empowering
people with the tools for informed self-determination. Sooner
or later Congress will have to do the same for Puerto Rico, and
the sooner the better for Puerto Rico and the nation as a whole.
-Dick Thornburgh
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