The Republican Party More Open to Minorities

Southern Democrats are losing clout and influence because they’re fighting for control over their shrinking bases while Republicans increasingly welcome individuals from minority groups, former Alabama Democratic Rep. Artur Davis told The Daily Caller.

Hispanics Are Swing Voters That Lean Conservative

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio Comes To Texas

Fast and Furious

Reaching Out To Hispanic Voters

The Latino Surge

Rep. Jose Aliseda NOT Seeking Re-Election

It is with great sadness that we report that Texas State Rep. Jose Aliseda (R-Beeville), one of the founding members of the Hispanic Republican Conference has publically announced that he will NOT seek re-election to the Texas House in order that he run for District Attorney for Bee, Live Oak and McMullen counties.

Aliseda, one of the stronger conservative voices in the Texas House was this year elected “Freshman of the Year” by the 101 House Republicans.

Gov. Perry Is Running For The Presidency

Here is his first campaign commercial.

America the Beautiful

Dear Pro-Life Friends

Texas House of Representatives

June 27, 2011

Dear Pro-Life Friends,

We are pleased to report that Senate Bill 7 today passed the House of Representatives. As we reflect on the passage of Senate Bill 7, we thought it important to take a few minutes to fill you in on what’s been going on at the Capitol over the last several days. Some incomplete reports have been circulated, and we want to make sure you have the whole story. Thankfully, the story has a happy ending.

By way of background, Senate Bill 7 is a major bill dealing with healthcare costs and efficiencies. Your pro-life members of the House of Representatives amended the bill on the House floor on June 9 with three strong pro-life amendments. These amendments, plus good provisions already in the bill, made it a very good pro-life bill. Most of the pro-life measures in the bill we had already inserted in other places (in other bills, the state budget, or agency rules), but still we like to have as many vehicles as possible for these protections for the defenseless unborn.

Sadly, when Senate Bill 7 went to a House-Senate Conference Committee, one of the pro-life amendments was completely removed. And in an even more troubling move, language was added to the bill to allow the taxpayer funded abortions of children with fetal abnormalities. Here is the specific language describing the babies that could be aborted at taxpayer expense:

“[I]f the fetus has a severe and irreversible abnormality incompatible with life after birth identified by reliable diagnostic procedures.”

Many pro-life House members were concerned that this wording was much too broad, so we consulted with a number of pro-life physicians from across Texas. They told us that this language could be applied to unborn children with Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Trisomy 13, and several other disabilities – some of which actually correct themselves during pregnancy. We knew that we could not and would not vote to allow taxpayer funded abortion of these precious children.

And the more we researched the matter the more we realized how serious it was. For example, we found a Minnesota statute that uses almost identical language (“incompatible with life after birth”), and defines it as applying to a child that is “not expected to live more than three months.” (Chapter 145, Minnesota Statutes) The thought of taxpayer-funded abortions of unborn children because they are not “expected” to live more than three months is obviously offensive to us as pro-lifers, so this strengthened our resolve to fight this with all that we had.

Since we knew that SB7 was a good bill that we wanted to save, we immediately set out to remove this horrible language, hoping to restore the bill’s pro-life character. Our work involved intense negotiations with pro-life members of the House and high level staff from the Governor’s Office, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, the Health & Human Services Commission, the Texas Hospital Association, and many others.

We consulted experts on the House Rules to make sure this could be done in the time left in the special session without jeopardizing the bill. These experts assured us that the House Rules gave us a process to re-open SB7 and remove the offensive provision. In fact this very procedure was used in the House more than once during the just-completed session.

Throughout this process we were very thankful for our friends in the pro-life community who worked alongside us and supported us in this most critical mission. While we were not able to share all of the details of the situation with them, they agreed with us that the fetal abnormality language approved by the Conference Committee was too broad, and they trusted us to do our work here in the Legislature to solve the problem. These groups and individuals that trusted us as fellow pro-lifers, and whom we rely upon heavily during the legislative session, include: Texas Right to Life, Cathie Adams, Jonathan Saenz and Kelly Shackelford of Liberty Institute, Dr. Joe Morrison of Montgomery County Right to Life, Dr. Mary Catharine Maxian of Health Care Professionals for Life, Texans for Life Coalition.

By God’s grace, on Thursday afternoon we reached an agreement to re-open the bill. Because so many pro-lifers inside and outside the Legislature stood together, we were able to remove the broad language on fetal abnormality that we were so concerned about, and we replaced it with clear and specific words that will protect these precious disabled babies from being aborted at government-funded hospitals. SB7 – with this pro-life language – passed the House today. Because we were able to re-open the bill and correct it, the version of SB7 with the offensive fetal abnormality language was never even voted on by the House.

So we write today to thank you and to congratulate you on another pro-life success. This was one of the most intense battles we have seen in some time, and we are so thankful to our Creator for this victory. We know that He gave us each life and we know that these precious unborn children are each known and loved by Him.

Thank you for all that you do to stand for life. Please continue to pray for us as we endeavor to speak for those who have no voice.

Sincerely,

Representative George Lavender Representative Dan Flynn
House District 1 House District 2

Representative Erwin Cain Representative Lance Gooden
House District 3 House District 4

Representative Bryan Hughes Representative Leo Berman
House District 5 House District 6

Representative Wayne Christian Representative James White
House District 9 House District 12

Representative Tim Kleinschmidt Representative Mike Hamilton
House District 17 House District 19

Representative Dennis Bonnen Representative Randy Weber
House District 25 House District 29

Representative Jose Aliseda Representative Aaron Pena
House District 35 House District 40

Representative Jason Isaac Representative Paul Workman
House District 45 House District 47

Representative Charles “Doc” Anderson Representative Marva Beck
House District 56 House District 57

Representative Rob Orr Representative Sid Miller
House District 58 House District 59

Representative Phil King Representative Ken Paxton
House District 61 House District 70

Representative Charles Perry Representative Jim Landtroop
House District 83 House District 85

Representative Jodie Laubenberg Representative Todd Smith
House District 89 House District 92

Representative Bill Zedler Representative Linda Harper-Brown
House District 96 House District 105

Representative Rodney Anderson Representative John Garza
House District 106 House District 117

Representative Allen Fletcher Representative Jim Murphy
House District 130 House District 133

Representative Dwayne Bohac Representative Ken Legler
House District 138 House District 144

Representative Debbie Riddle
House District 150

The Hispanic Republican Conference Endorses Rick Perry for President

The Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas voted today to take a position encouraging Texas Governor Rick Perry to run for President. In doing so, the thirty-three member organization of Texas legislators, representing sizable Hispanic populations, is the first political organization in the nation to endorse his candidacy.

GOP National Convention

Sanctuary Cities and the HRC

At the beginning of this session Governor Perry included "sanctuary cities" as an emergency item to be addressed by the Legislature. The legislation coming before the body seeks to address concerns regarding cities, counties and other subdivisions of government enacting ordinances that prevent lawful enforcement of state and federal immigration laws.

On Friday, May 6th, House Bill 12, the so called "sanctuary cities" bill is scheduled for debate in the Texas House. In anticipation of the debate and due to the interests of many the officers of the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas have gathered to discuss various options in addressing the legislation.

Because the bill may raise sensitive issues of ethnicity and race, the conference wishes to have a positive influence on the debate. It will submit a number of constructive amendments, including the controversial issue of racial profiling. Speaking for the membership I can say that is our hope to make improvements to the bill and to guard against any nonconstructive measures pushed forward.

The Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas was organized to study issues related to all Texans but will focus on examining those of particular significance to the Hispanic community. House members whose Hispanic populations comprise over 40% are voting members of the conference. Those whose districts comprise over 30% Hispanic population are able to join as associate members.

Follow the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas on Twitter @HRCofTexas on it's website, and on Facebook.

Chairman Peña Makes Texas Monthly

Texas Monthly, by Patricia Kilday Hart, May 2011

Texas House District 40, which is anchored by the Rio Grande Valley town of Edinburg, encompasses one of the poorest areas in the state, with 42 percent of its residents living below the poverty line. The population is 94.9 percent Hispanic. More than half of its adults never graduated from high school. Not surprising to anyone who follows Texas politics, the district is also solidly blue. It has never elected a Republican when a Democrat was on the ballot, and 2010 was no different. In November, 76 percent of District 40 voters backed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White over Republican incumbent Rick Perry. Those same voters also gave Democrat Aaron Peña, who ran unopposed, his fifth term in the Texas House. Though the election was a disaster for Democrats statewide, all seemed well in District 40.

Then came December 14, a day that will live in infamy, at least for Democrats in Texas. That afternoon, at a press conference at Republican party headquarters in Austin, Peña appeared, flanked by Perry, House Speaker Joe Straus, and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, to make a cataclysmic announcement. He looked giddy as he stepped to the microphone, and so did the Republicans gathered around him. “I used to think Republicans had horns,” Peña said. “But I checked, and they don’t!” Though he had spent his whole career opposing them, Peña now declared that he felt more at home among Republicans. He was switching parties.

Peña’s defection, which happened at the same time Nederland state representative Allan Ritter decided to change parties, heralded a supermajority for Republicans by boosting their membership in the House to 101 lawmakers. No longer would the GOP have to fear upstart Democrats’ resorting to guerrilla tactics like that quorum-busting road trip to Oklahoma in 2003. Thanks to Peña and Ritter, the Republicans were a quorum.

But Peña’s conversion had even larger implications. As the first Hispanic member of the House to switch from Democrat to Republican, he represented the opening salvo in an epic struggle in Texas politics. With Hispanics expected to claim a majority of the Texas population by 2020, the continued dominance of the state Republican party depends on its ability to attract Hispanic politicians, who will in turn keep the party from losing touch with a growing constituency. Meanwhile, the Democrats have staked their best hope for a resurgence with the emerging Hispanic voting bloc. For years, observers have assumed that these demographic changes benefit Democrats, but Peña’s decision casts doubt on these assumptions. He himself has argued that Democrats have been taking for granted the support of the Hispanic community. Furthermore, many Hispanics adhere to values consistent with Republican principles. As Catholics, they are pro-life; as small-business owners, they loathe taxes.

Certainly the November election provided evidence that the Hispanic Republican has emerged as a viable political species. Texas elected two Hispanic Republican congressmen and six Hispanic Republican members of the Texas House. Buoyed by their success, Republicans began planning to use their advantage in this year’s redistricting to field more Hispanic candidates. And in Austin, many political observers extolled Peña as a prescient political strategist on the leading edge of a massive demographic shift. But was his partisan maneuver as canny as all this or was it just one more odd move by a quixotic politician who, back in District 40, now has no chance of winning reelection ever again?

I caught up with the 51-year-old Peña in February, over a plate of tacos at a restaurant in Edinburg. The evening had started on a promising note, as I accompanied him to the beautifully restored Edinburg Municipal Auditorium for the mayor’s state of the city speech. Local pols greeted Peña with abrazos and backslaps. Mayor Pro Tem Agustin “Gus” Garcia politely introduced Peña, betraying no indication that only recently he’d announced that he might run against him in 2012.

But as a local journalist interviewed Peña, a scowling man accompanied by his two young sons watched in angry silence. After the interview, he unloaded on Peña, who looked crestfallen. Pushing through the crowd, I introduced myself to Daniel Vasquez, who told me he had brought his sons so he could show them to Peña and castigate the lawmaker for failing to protect their education.

“I’m very angry,” Vasquez told me. “A lot of people are. We’re one hundred percent Democratic down here!” Waving his hand at Peña, he added, “He backstabbed us!”

The exchange darkened Peña’s mood: “What I said to him was ‘Give me a chance to win back your trust.’ He said no.”

As we walked out into the balmy night air, Peña seemed sincerely hurt. “I could have become a Buddhist and nobody would have said anything. I change parties and they go berserk!” he said with wonder.

His wonder may come in part from the fact that he has always staked out an independent path for himself as a politician. The personal has always seemed to matter to him more than the partisan, for better or for worse. He was the first major politician in the state to embrace blogging (you can find him at www
.acapitolblog.com) and emerged as an avid user of Twitter (follow him at @aaronpena). Like most people in the Rio Grande Valley, he inherited his membership in the Democratic party. The son of a successful attorney in Edinburg, Peña volunteered for Hubert Humphrey at the age of nine. He remembers the thrill he felt as a student at the University of Texas in the late seventies when he heard Henry Cisneros speak.

But he worked outside the local party machine when he decided to become a candidate, which he now says planted the seeds of distrust. “I didn’t ask anyone’s permission to run,” he says. In fact, it was a highly personal decision, motivated by the tragic death, in 2001, of his sixteen-year-old son, John, from a drug overdose. According to Austin political consultant James Aldrete, who worked on Peña’s first election, John’s death defined his father’s campaign. “It became about making sure we had a drug abuse treatment center in the Valley,” Aldrete said.

Perhaps because of the intensely personal way he came into elected office, Peña relishes the role of the outsider, commenting frequently—on his blog, on Twitter, and to anyone who will listen—on the patrón system of South Texas, in which elections and government contracts are hopelessly intertwined. The Valley does not have a monopoly on dirty dealings, but it is an open secret that politiqueras are paid by candidates to deliver voters to the polls and assist them in casting their ballots. “It is an industry,” Peña told me. “Where I come from, people don’t have confidence in the elections.”

His long-simmering unhappiness flared up after the massive defeat that Republicans handed his party in November. Peña skewered the Democratic leadership for failing to engage Hispanic voters in South Texas. His comments prompted rumors that he might jump ship, and Peña once more felt besieged. “The professional left says, ‘You are a sellout,’ ” he told me. In early December, a reporter asked him if the speculation was true. Maybe, he replied. “It was a flippant remark that grew more serious,” he said, leading, pretty quickly, to his appearance at the December 14 press conference in Austin.

The response was swift and hateful. State senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa called upon him to resign. Blogs erupted with curses and rants about prior Peña flip-flops: his support of Republican Speaker Tom Craddick, his abandonment of the Hillary Clinton campaign for Obama, his shift in allegiance from the liberal-leaning Texas Trial Lawyers Association to its nemesis, Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Democrats felt betrayed and pointed to posts from Peña’s blog that made it hard to believe he truly felt at home across the aisle. During the contentious 2006 state Republican party convention, for instance, Peña had quoted state Republican chairwoman Tina Benkiser asserting, during a speech about immigration, that Texans are “in a war for our culture.” He blogged, “There is no subtlety here. No code words where the wink, wink and a choice phrase tells us that ‘THEY’ are different and results should follow. No folks, the chairman of the Texas Republican party is telling us that they are in a ‘war’ with half of the citizens of their state.” A subsequent post urged Hispanics to leave the convention rather than endure the insults.

What changed? The key to resolving the mystery may lie in Peña’s service on the House Redistricting Committee assignment. Not only did Hispanics contribute 65 percent of the growth in Texas in the past decade, they broke out of the barrio. Over the past ten years, the suburbs have become the fastest-growing areas in Texas, thanks largely to Hispanics. The Dallas–Fort Worth area is now home to more Hispanics than the Valley. Peña came to believe, he says, that the economic assimilation of Hispanics will lead many of them to the Republican camp. Months before his party switch, I spoke to him about the redistricting challenge. We talked about the data showing the growing dispersal of Hispanics, as well as the likelihood that Texas would earn four new congressmen. His take, offered long before rumors of his party switch, was this: “We could end up with three Hispanic Republicans: one in South Texas, or Austin to San Antonio; Dallas to Fort Worth; or Corpus Christi north to San Antonio. It could be a great opportunity to have three Hispanic Republicans.” This could be helped along by redistricting. As Republican strategists divide Texas into congressional and legislative districts, they’ll be aiming for “coalition districts” that pair conservative and Hispanic areas. This creates opportunities for Hispanic Republicans. Already, TLR, the Associated Republicans of Texas, and Hispanic Republicans of Texas, which was founded by George P. Bush, have begun generously backing Hispanic candidates.

This scenario carries with it two huge asterisks: First, how willing are Republican primary voters to back candidates with Hispanic surnames? Just last year they turned down railroad commissioner Victor Carrillo, a Perry appointee, for an unknown opponent, David Porter (though in November, two Hispanic Republicans won congressional races, Francisco Canseco and Bill Flores). Second, how will Hispanics respond if the Legislature passes bills that are viewed as hostile to them, such as the proposal that punishes an employer for hiring an illegal immigrant unless the job relates to housework?

And for Peña, these questions may be purely academic. The next election cycle won’t begin for another year, but his fate may be sealed by May 30, when the Legislature adjourns its regular session. Though he is pushing an ambitious agenda to clean up elections and to institute a guest worker program, by then he’ll have taken tough votes on legislation sure to be anathema to his constituents, such as giving police officers the right to pull over “suspected” illegal aliens. He has already voted for a voter ID bill condemned as racially motivated by Democrats, but he went against his new party on the House version of the budget, which includes deep cuts to public schools, nursing homes, and various social programs. What are the chances Peña can vote with Republicans and still survive another election cycle? “He’s walking dead,” one political observer told me.

But Peña’s fate could also hinge on whether the redistricting gods turn District 40 into one that is competitive for a Republican or whether his crusade for clean elections will earn him a political appointment. “I hope I’ll have a constructive influence on my new party,” he told me. “As a Democrat, I wasn’t allowed to express myself. I was half of an individual. When I became a Republican, I became a full individual.”

Texas Monthly, by Patricia Kilday Hart, May 2011

Session '11: Martinez-Fischer, Aliseda on Voter ID

Session '11: Martinez-Fischer, Aliseda: kxan.com

New Hispanic Republican Conference Gets Recruiting Boost with Census

The Newly-Organized Hispanic Republican Conference is Off to an Auspicious Start

Capitol Inside
by Mike Hailey

A big jump in the number of Texas House Republicans who represent significant Hispanic populations has spawned a partisan spin off rivalry that didn't exist until now.

While the Mexican American Legislative Caucus has been a large and highly influential Democratic force in the Capitol's west wing, the newly-organized Hispanic Republican Conference is off to an auspicious start with a substantial boost from the new U.S. Census numbers that were unveiled last week.

Almost twice as many Republicans are now eligible for membership in the GOP's first Hispanic caucus in the House as a result of spectacular growth in Latino communities in Texas during the past decade.

The HRC, which drew the wrath of the Texas Democratic Party with its debut last month, adopted qualification standards that limit participation to GOP members who represent House districts that are at least 30 percent Latino. While 19 House Republicans met that threshold when the caucus got off the ground in January, about three dozen state representatives for the GOP qualify now for the HRC in light of phenomenal Hispanic growth that the new Census reflected.

State Rep. Aaron Peña, an Edinburg Republican who conceived the HRC and is serving now as its chairman, said the new Census figures were a "boon" to the caucus and its hopes for exerting substantial sway on key issues in the Legislature's lower chamber.

"The new census data shows what many have been saying for years, Hispanics are driving the tremendous growth that Texas has experienced this last decade," Peña said.

Peña, who infuriated Democrats when he switched parties in December after winning re-election a month earlier as a Democrat, is one of six Hispanics who are charter members and officers for the Hispanic Republican Conference.

Peña is persona non grata in MALC, which has 40 House members now on its roster including more than two dozen Hispanics. MALC's chairman is Democratic State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio.

But Peña, who entered the lower chamber in 2003, has asserted that the GOP is gaining inroads with Hispanics partly because Democrats haven't shown them level of respect and attention they deserve as the fastest growing segment of the state population by far.

"Our ultimate agenda is to give Hispanics a conservative choice and force the parties to compete for votes rather than take this important community for granted," Peña said.

Democrats - on the other hand - have accused the Hispanic House Republicans of betraying their Latino constituents as members of a party that supports positions on issues like illegal immigration that the vast majority of Hispanics oppose.

The Great Awakening


New Hispanic Caucus Chief Becomes Top Target for Democrats
as Someone Who Represents Threat of Losing Last Stronghold

By MIKE HAILEY

The way Texas Democratic Party official Anthony Gutierrez sees it, a new Hispanic caucus that six state House Republicans have started can demonstrate how its commitment to the Latino community by having its leader take State Reps. Debbie Riddle and Leo Berman with him to a town hall meeting in the city where he lives in the Rio Grande Valley. The TDP's deputy executive director says that would give State Rep. Aaron Peña of Edinburg a prime opportunity to explain to his constituents why he joined a political party that opposes the federal Voting Rights Act and wants Texas to use Arizona as the role model on immigration law.

Texas Democrats don't have Tom Craddick to kick around anymore - with the Midland Republican no longer running the state House as the speaker even though he's still a member of it. The Democrats chased Tom DeLay out of politics several years ago - and it's hard for them to get excited anymore about attacking Governor Rick Perry when they've thrown everything they have at him and failed to knock him down or out. While some Democrats outside the Capitol have taken shots at Speaker Joe Straus, his Democratic colleagues in the House have refused to play along because they like him a lot and think he's been a fair leader. The Democrats simply can't afford to take on Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst because he's so rich.

But the Democrats have a new target in the heart of their crosshairs with Peña, a five-term state lawmaker who's been public enemy number one as far as the Democratic Party is concerned since he spurned it in December and joined the GOP in a brazen act of defiance that flew in the face of conventional wisdom, local custom and Texas political culture.

At a time when Democrats were still staggered by an election that turned talk about taking the state back into a scramble for ways to simply stay relevant, Peña poured napalm into the wounds when he appeared with Perry, Dewhurst, Straus and a long list of other GOP leaders and legislators 10 days before Christmas to tell a room packed with giddy Republicans and reporters in disbelief why he no longer wanted to be associated with the only political party in town for all practical purposes back home in South Texas. The Republicans had already scheduled a press conference at the state party office in Austin that day to toast State Rep. Allan Ritter's decision to switch parties after he'd won a seventh House term as a Democrat a month earlier in Beaumont-Port Arthur area district where the GOP would have probably taken him out if it had known how big the November tsunami would be. But Peña made it a two-fer when he showed up without advance warning and hit the red carpet with the exuberance and joy of a kid on a Slip 'n Slide and essentially told the Democrats where they could stick the plans they'd been making to try to beat him in the primary election in 2012.



Ritter's shift to the GOP made perfect sense as a moderate lawmaker in a district that had become increasingly Republican since he won a House seat initially in 1998. But the defection by Peña sent shock waves through political circles from Brownsville to Pampa as an event that appeared at first blush to have all the markings of a kamikaze mission in the making if he had any desire at all to run for another term in the House without relocating to a different part of the state.

Peña - an attorney who'd planned to run for state Democratic Party chairman in 2000 before shifting his sights to the Legislature instead two years later - had been an outcast in his own party since he and a dozen other Democrats backed Craddick in a bruising re-election bid that he won in 2007. But Peña turned back a high-dollar challenge when Democratic bosses in Austin targeted him for defeat in the primary election a year later - and after running unopposed in 2010 - he'd been duly warned to expect to face another party-backed first round foe when he sought a new term next time around.

As a Democrat who'd been independent politically and openly critical about a party that he said had little or no interest in South Texas beyond the money it raised there and guaranteed votes, Peña had become an annoyance who the Democratic Party no longer trusted to toe the line. But as a newly-converted Republican who seems to be as confident about winning re-election as he's ever been if not more - assuming he doesn't run for Congress in 2012 instead - Peña represents much more to the Democratic Party that he jilted than a standard legislator with only one vote on legislation and an R by his name where the D used to be.

After watching Nueces County a few hundred miles to the northeast go Republican last fall, Peña has become symbolic in the minds of Democrats who'd have never believed that the GOP would take over in Corpus Christi if you'd told them that could happen a few years ago. Democrats have ample cause to be concerned that Peña could be a harbinger for an era they hadn't contemplated in their wildest imaginations until he bolted less than two months ago amid substantial fanfare.

If Peña wins another term in House District 40 at the polls next year, he could be kicking open a door through which younger Hispanics with the same relatively conservative views would feel less reluctant to pass as voters and prospective candidates for public office. A Peña victory in 2012 would have the potential to trigger a political chain reaction that turns the Rio Grande Valley from the Democrats' last true bastion outside the inner-cities into Republican territory. While most of the people who live in deep South Texas still vote Democrat, they tend to be just as conservative if not more so than folks in suburban areas that lean Republican.

So the Democrats will have a lot more incentive to try to oust Peña than any other Republican on the ballot in 2012 if he runs for the House again as he says he plans to do. The Democrats won't just want to oust Peña from the Legislature. They'll do everything in their power to beat him badly enough to make an example out of him.



The TDP was just warming up with the rhetorical grenades it lobbed this week at the Hispanic Republican Conference while mentioning Peña by name each time and all but ignoring the other five founding caucus members. The swing that Gutierrez took today designed to offset a counterpunch that the Texas GOP threw Monday in response to the Democratic Party's first attack on the new GOP group in the House for Hispanics.

“Aaron Peña’s new friends can protest all they want; the Hispanic Republican Conference will remain nothing more than a public relations stunt until they take a hard stand against the many discriminatory policies the Republican Party is pursuing," Gutierrez said.

Now it's the Republicans' turn.

Mike Hailey's column appears regularly in Capitol Inside

New Census Numbers Double Size of Hispanic Republican Conference

AUSTIN – The new United States Census indicates that the newly formed Hispanic Republican Conference has effectively doubled in size. The new data shows 37 House members who are eligible for membership in the Conference.

"The new census data shows what many have been saying for years, Hispanics are driving the tremendous growth that Texas has experienced this last decade," said Rep. Aaron Peña, Chairman of the Hispanic Republican Conference. “Those numbers are reflected in communities across many legislative districts, which is a boon for the Conference. Our ultimate agenda is to give Hispanics a conservative choice and force the parties to compete for votes rather than take this important community for granted.”

With 37 members, the group could include over 1/5 of the Texas House of Representatives. Members whose districts comprise over 30% Hispanic population are able to join as associate members, and those whose Hispanic populations comprise over 40% are able to join as voting members of the conference. The Conference offers membership to 13 voting members and 24 associate, non-voting members.

The conference will meet to discuss issues related to all Texans but will focus on examining those of particular significance to the Hispanic community. The Hispanic Republican Conference can be followed on twitter at HRCofTexas and on Facebook.

The HRC of Texas is led by Chairman - Aaron Peña (R-Edinburg); First Vice-Chairman - Jose Aliseda (R-Beeville); Vice-Chairman of Administration - Dee Margo (R-El Paso); Vice-Chairman of Financial Affairs - Raul Torres (R-Corpus Christi); Vice-Chairman of Legislative Affairs - Larry Gonzales (R-Round Rock); Vice-Chairman of Membership - John Garza (R-San Antonio).

The Conference’s mailing address is: 1108 Lavaca, Suite 110-188, Austin, Texas 78701.

Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday

Attorney General Abbott Swears in Officers of the Hispanic Republican Conference

From left to right: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Rep. Raul Torres (Vice-Chairman of Financial Affairs), Rep. Dee Margo (Vice-Chairman of Administration), Rep. Aaron Peña (Chairman), Rep. Jose Aliseda (First Vice-Chairman), and Rep. Larry Gonzales (Vice-Chairman of Legislative Affairs)

We had a successful meeting of the Hispanic Republican Conference of Texas as we shared ideas with our Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for the 82nd legislative session. As I started the meeting, I spoke briefly about the special challenges our communities are confronting this session. We spoke of the complex issues that could have a significant impact on our districts. Among these, immigration, border security, and budgetary issues, to name a few, will require members to step up and provide the necessary leadership in directing our state in a positive direction.

Rep. Geanie Morrison's ultra-sound bill received considerable support from members of the conference, many of whom are co-authors of the legislation. An official position has yet to be voted upon.

Attorney General Abbott joined us for dinner and spoke to the members about the unique importance we bring to the issues before the legislature. The issue of immigration was an important topic of discussion as was the recent court decision involving the Obama health care law. Questions regarding redistricting and the EPA were answered and discussed.



Most importantly what was discussed and clearly communicated was the desire of Attorney General Abbott to involve our communities in the decisions important to them and our state's future. Our conference members earnestly agreed and were impressed by the Attorney General's commitment. To confirm his commitment he agreed to travel to each of our districts to address issues of concern.

As we concluded our discussions, I asked the Attorney General if he would do us the honor of swearing in our conference's founding officers. He kindly obliged us.

We ended our meeting with a commitment to return to our discussions in the future. I think I speak for all involved that it was a significant and productive meeting and marks a continued improvement our communities will have in the leadership of our state.

The Great Awakening

New Hispanic Caucus Chief Becomes Top Target for Democrats
as Someone Who Represents Threat of Losing Last Stronghold

By MIKE HAILEY

The way Texas Democratic Party official Anthony Gutierrez sees it, a new Hispanic caucus that six state House Republicans have started can demonstrate how its commitment to the Latino community by having its leader take State Reps. Debbie Riddle and Leo Berman with him to a town hall meeting in the city where he lives in the Rio Grande Valley. The TDP's deputy executive director says that would give State Rep. Aaron Peña of Edinburg a prime opportunity to explain to his constituents why he joined a political party that opposes the federal Voting Rights Act and wants Texas to use Arizona as the role model on immigration law.

Texas Democrats don't have Tom Craddick to kick around anymore - with the Midland Republican no longer running the state House as the speaker even though he's still a member of it. The Democrats chased Tom DeLay out of politics several years ago - and it's hard for them to get excited anymore about attacking Governor Rick Perry when they've thrown everything they have at him and failed to knock him down or out. While some Democrats outside the Capitol have taken shots at Speaker Joe Straus, his Democratic colleagues in the House have refused to play along because they like him a lot and think he's been a fair leader. The Democrats simply can't afford to take on Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst because he's so rich.

But the Democrats have a new target in the heart of their crosshairs with Peña, a five-term state lawmaker who's been public enemy number one as far as the Democratic Party is concerned since he spurned it in December and joined the GOP in a brazen act of defiance that flew in the face of conventional wisdom, local custom and Texas political culture.

At a time when Democrats were still staggered by an election that turned talk about taking the state back into a scramble for ways to simply stay relevant, Peña poured napalm into the wounds when he appeared with Perry, Dewhurst, Straus and a long list of other GOP leaders and legislators 10 days before Christmas to tell a room packed with giddy Republicans and reporters in disbelief why he no longer wanted to be associated with the only political party in town for all practical purposes back home in South Texas. The Republicans had already scheduled a press conference at the state party office in Austin that day to toast State Rep. Allan Ritter's decision to switch parties after he'd won a seventh House term as a Democrat a month earlier in Beaumont-Port Arthur area district where the GOP would have probably taken him out if it had known how big the November tsunami would be. But Peña made it a two-fer when he showed up without advance warning and hit the red carpet with the exuberance and joy of a kid on a Slip 'n Slide and essentially told the Democrats where they could stick the plans they'd been making to try to beat him in the primary election in 2012.



Ritter's shift to the GOP made perfect sense as a moderate lawmaker in a district that had become increasingly Republican since he won a House seat initially in 1998. But the defection by Peña sent shock waves through political circles from Brownsville to Pampa as an event that appeared at first blush to have all the markings of a kamikaze mission in the making if he had any desire at all to run for another term in the House without relocating to a different part of the state.

Peña - an attorney who'd planned to run for state Democratic Party chairman in 2000 before shifting his sights to the Legislature instead two years later - had been an outcast in his own party since he and a dozen other Democrats backed Craddick in a bruising re-election bid that he won in 2007. But Peña turned back a high-dollar challenge when Democratic bosses in Austin targeted him for defeat in the primary election a year later - and after running unopposed in 2010 - he'd been duly warned to expect to face another party-backed first round foe when he sought a new term next time around.

As a Democrat who'd been independent politically and openly critical about a party that he said had little or no interest in South Texas beyond the money it raised there and guaranteed votes, Peña had become an annoyance who the Democratic Party no longer trusted to toe the line. But as a newly-converted Republican who seems to be as confident about winning re-election as he's ever been if not more - assuming he doesn't run for Congress in 2012 instead - Peña represents much more to the Democratic Party that he jilted than a standard legislator with only one vote on legislation and an R by his name where the D used to be.

After watching Nueces County a few hundred miles to the northeast go Republican last fall, Peña has become symbolic in the minds of Democrats who'd have never believed that the GOP would take over in Corpus Christi if you'd told them that could happen a few years ago. Democrats have ample cause to be concerned that Peña could be a harbinger for an era they hadn't contemplated in their wildest imaginations until he bolted less than two months ago amid substantial fanfare.

If Peña wins another term in House District 40 at the polls next year, he could be kicking open a door through which younger Hispanics with the same relatively conservative views would feel less reluctant to pass as voters and prospective candidates for public office. A Peña victory in 2012 would have the potential to trigger a political chain reaction that turns the Rio Grande Valley from the Democrats' last true bastion outside the inner-cities into Republican territory. While most of the people who live in deep South Texas still vote Democrat, they tend to be just as conservative if not more so than folks in suburban areas that lean Republican.

So the Democrats will have a lot more incentive to try to oust Peña than any other Republican on the ballot in 2012 if he runs for the House again as he says he plans to do. The Democrats won't just want to oust Peña from the Legislature. They'll do everything in their power to beat him badly enough to make an example out of him.



The TDP was just warming up with the rhetorical grenades it lobbed this week at the Hispanic Republican Conference while mentioning Peña by name each time and all but ignoring the other five founding caucus members. The swing that Gutierrez took today designed to offset a counterpunch that the Texas GOP threw Monday in response to the Democratic Party's first attack on the new GOP group in the House for Hispanics.

“Aaron Peña’s new friends can protest all they want; the Hispanic Republican Conference will remain nothing more than a public relations stunt until they take a hard stand against the many discriminatory policies the Republican Party is pursuing," Gutierrez said.

Now it's the Republicans' turn.

Mike Hailey's column appears regularly in Capitol Inside