CNN
By Chris Moody
May 29, 2015
Victory for both parties in 2016 could hinge on mobilizing Latino voters -- and the battle for their support is already fierce.
The
epicenter is here in the American southwest, where the Libre
Initiative, a conservative group, is spending millions on outreach to
Latino voters, an effort that has
sparked a backlash from Democrats worried about Libre's potential.
In
anticipation of the upcoming election cycle, Libre is undertaking one
of the most ambitious and expensive Latino outreach programs by any
conservative organization
yet. It will have a $14 million operating budget in 2015, according to a
source with knowledge of the group's fiances who requested anonymity to
speak freely. Libre now has field staff in ten states, with plans to
expand further in 2016. Most of Libre's funding
comes from a network of conservative donors organized by billionaire
businessmen Charles and David Koch.
Since
Libre's inception four years ago, the group has built a presence in
states with high Latino populations by providing classes and free social
services.
In
Nevada, Libre sponsored a program to help people receive driver's
licenses. In Florida, they partnered with H&R Block for tax
preparation. Later this year, Libre plans
to launch an education initiative that will pay for GED courses. The
effort aims to build goodwill within the Latino community, while
allowing Libre to collect data that will be instrumental in coordinating
political ad campaigns and voter targeting efforts
next year.
Libre
also supports granting immigrants living in the country illegally a
pathway to citizenship, a position that, while controversial on the
right, allows them a gateway
to increasing Latino support. The group does not, however, approve of
President Barack Obama's use of executive orders to implement
immigration policy--a tactic currently tied up in federal courts--which
separates them from Latino outreach groups on the left.
"The
Libre Initiative exists primarily to advance the principles of economic
freedom to the Latino community," Libre Executive Director Daniel
Garza, a former aide to
George W. Bush and the son of migrant workers from Mexico, told CNN.
"It is about driving a narrative, a conversation within the Latino
community. If we're not helping to drive that agenda, somebody else is,
and it's usually the left."
Last
week, Libre's non-profit armed hosted a conference for about 100
Hispanic business leaders from seven states in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
as part of the group's multi-million
dollar effort to promote conservative ideas within the Latino community
and, they hope, convince them to vote for Republicans in 2016. Set
inside the ballrooms of the Crowne Plaza hotel just off the intersection
of one highway that streches coast-to-coast
across the United States and another that slopes southward to the
Mexico border, business leaders sat through presentations and panels on
energy, over-regulation and trade. Panels included titles such as
"Regulations Stranglehold on Economic Prosperity" led
by Libre operatives and talks about how to increase energy production
in the state. Politics made a brief appearances when New Mexico
Republican Lt. Gov. John Sanchez spoke on the power of the Latino vote.
"No
president will be elected ever again unless they have the right message
when it comes to how do they attract Hispanic voters," Sanchez said.
Indeed,
in key battleground states, securing the Latino vote has been
incredibly important in recent election cycles. In 2012, Obama received
71 percent of the vote. But
in the 2014 mid-term elections, when the electorate is often more
conservative than during presidential years, the GOP made gains within
the community in states like Colorado, Texas and Florida.
Libre
operated relatively quietly until last year's mid-term election, when
the group's advocacy arm—called the Libre Initiative—ran paid political
ads in English and
Spanish in close races around the country. Libre's campaign helped
remove Pete Gallego in Texas, Joe Garcia in Florida and Ron Barber in
Arizona--all Democrats.
"It's
been kind of a wake-up call," said Angie Kelly, an immigration reform
advocate who works with liberal groups on Latino engagement. "Their
message is intentionally
fuzzy, but yet it's delivered with flawlessly competent clarity. That's
a pretty brilliant combination. Those who disagree with Libre and the
Koch brothers are really going to need to muscle up."
Now,
a massive coalition of liberal groups are planning to strike back.
Representatives from several organizations on the left met in the
Washington office of the Latino
Victory Project in early May to discuss a plan for how to counter
Libre's efforts. Attendees included represenatives from labor unions,
American Bridge, Mi Familia Vota, Media Matters and People For The
American Way, according to attendees.
Initial
plans have been made to sound an alarm against Libre by highlighting
their ties to the Koch donor network and relay a message that Libre
supports policies liberals
say are against Latino interests. They also plan to release a report
about Koch industries that digs into the company's record on workplace
safety and the environment, Latino Victory Project President Cristobal
Alex told CNN.
"While
I admire the rapid growth of this organization, I'm afraid it's for
disingenuous purposes," Alex said. "It's important for us to begin
having some very serious
conversations with our allies to counter what Libre is doing. No one
has really pushed back. So far they've had free reign."
Earlier
this month, BuzzFeed News revealed that the Democratic National
Committee had put together an internal presentation warning about
Libre's strength that called
on Democrats to increase voter engagement with Latinos.
"It
has changed our calculus," Alex told CNN. "Those on the left are
starting to see, because Latinos can change their mind about who to vote
for, they're going to start
to pay attention to that and really investing in the Latino community."
Groups
on the left also point to the fact that the same donors who support
Libre—which is vocally supportive of comprehensive immigration reform
that includes a pathway
to citizenship--also help bankroll Republican congressional and
presidential campaigns that oppose it.
"Libre's
Achilles heel is exposure," said John Loredo, the former Democratic
Minority Leader in the Arizona state House. "They align themselves with
people who are openly
anti-Latino. Exposing them, however it may happen, that's a killer for
Libre."
Efforts
against Libre are already underway. Last week — on the same day of the
business conference in Albuquerque — a liberal research organization
called the Bridge Project
released a 48-page research document that outlined Libre's priorities
and some of their funding sources. The group released the paper online,
along with a Spanish-language video attacking Libre.
Representatives
from liberal groups The Latino Victory Project, Open Society Foundation
and Mi Familia Vota plan to hold a roundtable discussion with reporters
to outline
their plans to counter Libre. Next Monday, People for the American Way
will host its own press call to announce an offensive against the group.
"The
irony here is that the Latino left had criticized the conservative
movement for years that they were not doing outreach to the Latino
community," Garza told CNN.
"Now that the conservative movement is doing outreach and engaging in
the Latino community on a national scale, they're criticizing us for
that too. You can't have it both ways."
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