Latino Republicans Respond to Texas Democrats

Democrats claim to be Voting Rights champions in court but in reality jockey for partisan advantage By Artemio Muiz Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Having read Rebecca Acuas article in the San Antonio Express-News entitled A response from Democrats to State Rep. John V. Garza" I was reminded of why Texas Democrats are out of touch with Latino Voters.  Acuas outrageous claim that Republicans sought to remove Latinos from House District 117 is typical Democratic fact twisting. They put out half-truths in hope that readers do not research the facts.  Let us look at the facts.   The Republican" Legislative map increased the percent of Latino voting age population in district 117 from 58.7 to 62.7.  However Democrats sued and reduced the Latino voting strength down to 58.8. Democrats talk about the need to protect minority candidates of choice" but hypocritically turn away from those same candidates as soon as they are no longer controlled by their bully machine.   Last week State Representative J.M. Lozano of Kingsville was a Democrat and the minority candidate of choice" that Democrats argued vehemently to protect.   Today Representative Lozano is a Republican and according to the same Democrats no longer qualified to represent Latinos in his district. This example illustrates how Democrats are speaking out of both sides of their mouths when they publicly claim to be championing voting rights in the courts but in reality are just jockeying for partisan advantage. While engaging in racial politics has proven to be a moderately successful strategy for Democrats it has severe internal limitations.  Democrats elected more Latinos to public office in 2010 than Republicans but it is crucial to understand that none of them were statewide officials.  Only Texas Republicans are electing Latinos to statewide office which requires broad support from Texans of all races and backgrounds. The Democrat strategy of promoting racially identified candidates in minority districts is resulting in political self-segregation.  In contrast the Texas GOP is advancing the civil rights movement by running Latinos as mainstream candidates where they are vetted on individual character leadership ability and policy ideas and not by race.  Texas Latino voters are eager to place the era of political segregation behind them and in 2012 the only group advocating for political segregation based on race is the Democratic Party. Unfortunately Democratic support of outdated public policies does do not end there.  Despite their rhetoric about supporting education the Democratic Party continues to defend the status quo in our failing public schools.  Democratic-led minority school districts continue to fail at educating young minds capable of excelling in Texas highly competitive economy. It angers parents when Democrats are more interested in bloated budgets patronage and contracts than focusing on raising the quality of public education. These Democrat controlled school districts perpetuate generational poverty and even immigrant parents must now worry that their children might not surpass them at making a living. Texas Republicans like State Rep. John V. Garza embrace real solutions such as promoting charter schools parental choice and competition in education so that Latino children can receive a quality education and compete in the Texas workforce. The Democratic attack on the Latino family does not end there and Democrats will have to answer to Latino voters:

1. Why there are still no answers to the fast and furious debacle
2. Why there are a record number of deportations by the Obama Administration
3. Why there is an 11 national unemployment rate among Latinos
4. Why they support an abortion industry that terminates the lives of 10s of 1000s of Latino babies every year
5. Why the price of gas is skyrocketing and
6. Why they attack our religious institutions

Racial arguments can only distract from the consequences of failed Democratic policies for so long. Artemio Muniz is chairman of the Latino National Republican Coalition of Texas. He may be contacted for verification or comment at (713) 67908548 or temomuniz@lnrctexas.org.  He is based in Houston Texas. Ms. Acuas opinion piece to which this is a reply can be found BY CLICKING HERE. The Latino National Republican Coalition (LNRC) of Texas has local chapters in Houston North Texas Bexar County San Patricio County & El Paso with startup groups in Travis County Cameron County Bee County Nueces County & Del Rio.