N.E. Ohio Hispanic Campaign Coordinator for Ted Strickland for Governor

The Latino Democratic Voters in Cuyahoga County are Confused

In talking with many Hispanic friends and associates from Toledo, Columbus, Lorain and Fremont, they continually commented on the political situation of Hispanics in Cuyahoga County - the largest county in Ohio and the most democratic county in the country. They remarked That today some of the Hispanic Organizations, which are very visible in Cleveland, are being run by Hispanics who openly support, contribute and/or are militant in the Republican Party.

By paying close attention to the above comment this prevailing behavior is clearly evident by the actions of some very prominent Hispanics in Greater Cleveland. Dan Porras, CEO of the Hispanic Business Association is openly promoting by e-mail the reelection of Republican Senator Mike DeWine, in Veronica Dahlberg who immerses herself into almost all the meetings that take place in Cleveland regarding undocumented immigrants, with Ms. Dahlberg, who is the Director of the publication HOLA and has made it known that she is a strong supporter of Senator DeWine, in the case of Rev. Jess Laboy, an Evangelical Minister, who works with the disadvantaged in the Hispanic community, and most notably with the President of the Hispanic Roundtable, Jos Feliciano, who with other members of his organization and with the Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutirrez, actively participated in a recent lunch for Senator DeWine on October 2, 2006 at Mi Pueblo Restaurant in Cleveland.

According to Dan Porras e-mails, other Latino events are scheduled with Senator DeWine and his wife in Lorain for November 1 and at Machu Picchu Restaurant in Cleveland on November 2.

At first glance, it sounds almost ridiculous to mention these events since one of the many advantages of living in this country is the freedom one has to choose his or her own political affiliation.

But by delving deeper into the impact that these prominent Hispanics have over Cleveland Latinos in general and on the Latino Democrats in particular, the situation begins to turn a bit more disturbing. The political confusion becomes even more compelling when a typical Cleveland Latino person observes that some of these Hispanic Republican Leaders are regularly honored by certain Hispanic Social Services and Educational Institutions, who in turn receive help from a city and a county where the Mayor is a Democrat, the three County Commissioners are Democrats and all 21 Council members are all Democrats. The confusion becomes even greater when a Cleveland Latino Democrat sees that these Hispanic Republican Leaders maintain a very close association and relationship with well known Cleveland Hispanic Democrats therefore causing confusion by association. Possibly even assuming they are all Democrats.

Given this condition, it is fair to say that there are many Cleveland Latino Democrats who at this precise moment are questioning: Sherrod Brown or Mike DeWine? People who always voted Democrat could be voting for Mike Dewine due to the confusion created by some Republican Hispanics in Cleveland and in Cuyahoga County.

Although Republican Senator DeWine has voted on some occasions to protect the rights of undocumented immigrants, he is at best, very conservative in most issues and his limited pro-immigrant votes in the US Senate does not change the fact that the harshest of legislations that are directed to undermine undocumented immigrants were introduced by members of his Republican Party. Secondly, that most of the proponents of an English Only law are Republicans. And that the mentality of the minutemen group is embraced by the majority of the Republicans in position of power. It is a known fact that most Republican Congressmen and Senators are opposed to a fair immigration policy that includes the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants, almost all of them Hispanics.

To legally confuse the electorate is punishable by law, but to confuse them by other means, as Karl Roves does it so well, is considered by Republicans to be a stroke of political genius. To the Hispanic/Latino Democrat Voters of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, it should be clear that the next Democratic Governor of the State of Ohio, Ted Strickland, will need the consensus of ideas and the support in Washington from the next US Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.