El Paso LNRC Issues Statement on Reid; Silent on Opponent...

From The Lion Star Blog

The El Paso chapter of the Latino National Republican Coalition issued a statement to the media today calling for Senator Harry Reid's (D-NV) resignation as Majority Leader in the Senate because of comments he made questioning why Latinos would be members of the Republican Party.

"The El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition finds the comments made by Harry Reid on a campaign stop in Nevada to be racialist and demeaning to the Hispanic Community. For many years Hispanics have been a part of the Republican Party not only in El Paso but nationally as well and the numbers have been steadily growing as more and more Hispanics find themselves being over taxed, don't want big government and are tired of working hard so others can live off of social programs. For Harry Reid to even think that all Hispanics should think a certain way only feeds into the stereotype that all Hispanics should also all look a certain way and should all talk a certain way. His comments should not be taken lightly as Mr. Reid has a history of making racially charged statements. We ask that the Senate Majority Leader step down as his actions are not those of someone who should be leading. "

Reid is running for re-election in Nevada, a state that has one of the fastest growing Latino populations in the United States.

Many have critiqued Senator Reid's push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform as political pandering to the Latino electorate of Nevada. Others in the Latino community of Nevada have pressured Reid's office saying the Senate Majority Leader hasn't done enough for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Interestingly, Senator Reid's opponent has also come under fire from the Latino community recently for issueing a media black-out to the Spanish language media of Nevada.

Nevada CBS affiliate 8 News Now, reports: "While Democrat Harry Reid's campaign actively pursues Hispanic media interviews, Spanish language broadcasters and newspapers say they're getting shut out by Republican Sharron Angle's campaign.

Hispanic media journalists are tracking the Senate campaign alongside their English language colleagues. But the editor of Spanish language newspaper El Tiempo says in 30 years, he's never experienced such a shutout as his team is getting from Angle's campaign.

"We never receive information, press releases, information on the place for talking with the community. Nothing," said Editor in Chief Hernando Amaya."

They also got comment from Spanish language radio as well.

"Miguel Barrientos with KLAV-AM says calls to the Angle campaign go unanswered for weeks, leaving Hispanic media outlets at a loss to inform the community about the issues that affect them.

In contrast, Angle campaign spokespeople give statements and issue press releases to English language reporters. Amaya feels ignored by the campaign.

"For us, it's very important that a candidate, Sharron Angle, and other candidates talk with our reporters," he said.

Hispanic voters in Clark County trend to the Democrats. But 7,000 out of 24,000 Hispanic voters went Republican in the last off-year election. Keeping them informed and willing to turn out on election day could be the key, something Senator Reid has on his mind."

Senator Reid says his campaign office has a different position from that of his Republican opponent. Again, from 8 News Now: ""I do a call with Hispanic media every three or four weeks, just with Hispanic media. I include Hispanic media in every event that I do. Why? Because they're a part of modern day media. Why shouldn't I," he said."

The Angle campaign now says that they want her message out to all Nevada voters and will being reaching out to all media outlets, English and Spanish language.

Angle's last media event was Monday, and Hispanic media outlets were not invited.

Sammy Carrejo, El Paso LNRC Chairman was surprised by his party's candidate's exclusion of Hispanic media.

"Why would she want to do that? That's not a smart move. You would think she's embrace the Spanish speaking community...there's good strategy and bad strategy and each candidate has a right to choose which one they use. A good strategy would be to be more inclusive rather than exclusive."

When asked if his organization would be issueing a statement critical of Angle's posture towards Hispanic media, Carrejo

"I don't see a statement coming, but we'll take a look at the rest of the facts and issue a statement if we see one is necessary."