Los Angeles Times
By Michael A. Memoli
March 18, 2014
WASHINGTON
-- A year after Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus
commissioned a report that suggested sweeping changes in how the party
operates, he touted
progress on many fronts -- but distanced himself from a key
recommendation to increase its appeal to the Latino community: support
for comprehensive immigration reform.
In
a breakfast with reporters Tuesday tied to the anniversary of the
release of the "Growth and Opportunity Project," Priebus detailed
structural changes he said have
"fundamentally reshaped the way we do business at the RNC." They
include a major investment to eliminate a technology gap Democrats have
enjoyed, largely because of the sophisticated data operation of
President Obama's reelection campaign, as well as the deployment
of a "permanent, coast-to-coast, year-round ground game" intended to
spread the Republican message in communities Priebus said the party had
long ignored.
Appealing
to growing demographic groups, such as the Latino community, was a
major component of the 100-page document, with its authors noting how
"precarious" the party's
position has become. Its first recommendation was for Republicans to
engage with ethnic minority voters and "show our sincerity." Second was
to "embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform."
"If we do not, our Party's appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only," the authors stated.
Asked
about that recommendation at the breakfast hosted by the Christian
Science Monitor, Priebus said he "generally" supports the idea but that
there were disagreements
in both parties about exactly what comprehensive reform should look
like. He also noted that leading GOP figures have talked about the need
for immigration reform, as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky did in a speech to
the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
"I
think we do need to tackle this issue. And I think there's general
agreement in the party that that needs to happen. But I would say that
there's not agreement as to
what exactly that package looks like," he said.
He
downplayed the role of immigration reform as a gateway issue for Latino
voters, saying it was more important for the party to simply engage
with the community to share
its message on other key issues.
"Showing
up is a big part of the battle," he said. "Actually 37% of Hispanics
identify themselves as conservatives. But if we don't go into Hispanic
communities on a year-round
basis and explain what it is that we believe as a party, then those
dots can never be connected."
Asked
by a reporter after the breakfast to discuss when immigration reform
ought to be taken up, Priebus said it was a question better posed to
congressional leadership.
And when challenged on the issue, he went further in seeming to
distance himself from the recommendation.
"This
is not the RNC's report," he said. "It was a report that the RNC asked
these people to put together. … And the report speaks to an array of
issues that partly affect
us and partly affect other people. And you're asking me about a
particular issue in the report that speaks to the legislature."
Indeed,
the RNC's primary role is to support Republican candidates tactically
across the country. Priebus in particular has focused on ending what he
has called a "tale
of two parties" – one GOP that thrives in midterm years but struggles
in national presidential years.
This
year promises to be a "tsunami-type" year for the GOP, Priebus said,
primarily because Obamacare has become so "poisonous" for Democrats.
"But
I need to – and we need to at the RNC – make sure that we can capture
the positives and the benefits that we've been able to provide in 2014
and build on that to
have success in 2016, which is a very different type of election with
different issues that move the electorate at play," he said.
The
Democratic National Committee put out its own report tied to the
anniversary of what has been called the GOP's post-2012 "autopsy,"
saying the GOP is actually the
"Same Old Party."
"What
changes we have seen from the Republican Party are superficial and
tactical, but do little to address their core problem – that they have
an out-of-touch agenda,"
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chair of the DNC, said at a
separate news conference Tuesday. "They've hired outreach staff and
placed them in communities they've never been in before. But how
effective is outreach when your agenda keeps alienating
the communities you are trying to reach?"
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