ARTICLES POSTED DECEMBER 1997 Welfare Reform and Farm Labor Enforcement: Child Labor, TIPP Southeast: Hispanics, Tobacco Census Bureau Releases Estimates for States & Countries by Race President Clinton will hold race meeting in Phoenix (Administration officials site Chandler roundup as impetus) Hispanics Outnumber Blacks in NYC (from the Associated Press) Larry King interviews President Zedillo Word for Word:Republicans and the Latino vote Welfare Reform and Farm Labor California. A welfare reform and farmworkers conference, the CAL-Work Summit, was held December 5, 1997 in Fresno, California. There were many presentations on how to move welfare recipients into farm jobs, including discussion of the need to make women with children competitive with the solo immigrant men who fill most of the easy-entry jobs in agriculture--80 percent of welfare recipients have children under 12, while over 90 percent of the field workers are immigrants. Among the options discussed were state agencies verifying employees' legal status, and then referring workers to a series of farm labor jobs, meaning that state agencies would act in a FLC-type recruitment and labor management role. The conference ended with subcommittees of grower representatives and state and local agencies established to try to match welfare recipients with farm jobs; a second summit is planned for June 1998. Jim Holt, a prominent grower lobbyist, asserted that whether welfare-to-work programs succeed or fail, there will be farm labor shortages that require new guest worker programs. There are three key challenges in the circle of farm labor, immigration, poverty and welfare. First, agriculture is the port of entry for some of the least-educated immigrants entering the US; many of the immigrants arriving from Oaxaca have less than eight years of schooling, and are not literate in Spanish. Second, changes in both the US and Mexico have encouraged more seasonal immigrant farm workers to settle in the agricultural areas of California with their families, but these areas typically have ill-defined and financed economic development strategies, so that immigrants and their children have a hard time struggling up the US job ladder. Third, as a result of federal welfare reforms and states handing over responsibility for many activities to local governments, both the costs and benefits of immigration may become much more localized. Without federal and state assistance, many agricultural areas may get population growth without job growth, as immigrants continue to arrive because even relatively low wages and high unemployment in the San Joaquin Valley may be better than conditions at home. As a result, the supply of unskilled labor is likely to increase even as welfare reforms begin. Immigration and welfare reform add to the supply of labor, not necessarily the demand; requiring welfare recipients to work, including in seasonal agriculture and ignores the fact that there is often competition even for hand-harvest jobs. Thus, plans to move workers from job-to-job, or to have FLCs and employer associations organize crews of workers and move them from job-to-job, may need to be sensitive to the fact that crews often compete with each other to win the right to harvest crops. Poverty Amid Prosperity. The October 1997 release of "Poverty Amid Prosperity: Immigration and the Changing Face of Rural California" prompted several stories on immigration, welfare and economic development in the San Joaquin Valley. The San Jose Mercury News on October 26, 1997 profiled the city of Parlier, and emphasized that the number of poor residents is increasing despite the state's economic boom, evidence of a "new rural poverty" in the San Joaquin Valley. Parlier, a fast-growing city about 20 miles southeast of Fresno is, according to city officials, 97 percent Hispanic. Hispanics, elected to city government in the early 1970s, paved streets and installed sidewalks in Latino neighborhoods, and obtained federal funds to build housing. Success in finding jobs and housing encourages more friends and relatives in Mexico to migrate to Parlier, adding residents who need services; their arrival also holds down wages and makes it hard for farm workers to earn above poverty-level incomes. The current mayor, Luis Patlan, is optimistic that Parlier can attract job-creating businesses with its low crime rate and "sound street system." Unemployment in Fresno County averages 15 percent, and hit 32 percent in Parlier in 1996, but area growers are pushing for a guest worker program, saying that local residents do not want to do farm work. Mendota, an 8,000-resident farm worker town in northwestern Fresno County, is due to get the one type of public investment which has been creating jobs in the San Joaquin Valley-a $50-million 1,000-bed federal detention facility for illegal immigrants that will employ 400. The unemployment rate in Mendota tops 40 percent in winter. In Tulare county, just south of Fresno, a "U-Haul development strategy" is reportedly in effect: the Salvation Army helped 37 poor families leave for the midwest, including some who are seeking "factory work where you don't have to speak English." Southeast Asians are among those most likely to leave Tulare County; about 40 percent of the 1,000 Hmong in the area have reportedly left, with many going to North Carolina. The Fresno County government offers $2,000 grants to families leaving the county for jobs elsewhere. Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA) welcomed the exodus, saying that Tulare County had the lowest living costs in California, so that welfare recipients moved there to "live at a comfortable level on public assistance." They are now making "economic decisions" to move out of Tulare County. The number of welfare cases in Tulare County dropped from 16,000 in December 1996 to 14,200 in November 1997. An immigration attorney predicted that many of the Mexican men legalized in 1987-88 will send their unauthorized family members back to Mexico to avoid a 10-year bar on re-entry to the US as legal immigrants. School attendance in Tulare in November 1997 was 400 students lower than expected. The Chicago Tribune on November 2, 1997 interviewed Mexican-born farm workers in Guadalupe in northern Santa Barbara County, and reported that tougher border controls are encouraging more unauthorized Mexicans to remain in the US rather than commute across the border. Most of the unauthorized farm workers interviewed reported earning $5,000 to $6,000 a year. McFarland, a San Joaquin Valley city of 8,000 that is 90 percent Hispanic, a third of whom are from Huanusco, a village in Zacatecas. San Joaquin Valley Latino Vote is a nonpartisan group formed in October 1997 to encourage Latinos in Kern, Kings, Tulare, Fresno, Madera and Merced counties to vote for candidates who promote economic and job growth in the Hispanic-majority cities and towns of the San Joaquin Valley. According to executive director Victor Moheno, the group will encourage legal immigrants to naturalize and non-voting US citizens to register and vote. California has about 86 job programs run by 32 different state agencies, and the state is considering a proposal to spend $5 million on a job program coordinating agency. Other States. The Wall Street Journal on November 4, 1997 reported that rural residents moving from welfare to work sometimes face long commutes for jobs that pay little more than the minimum wage. Several rural residents were profiled who drove three hours round trip, and then waited until others in their car pool finished work, receiving $31 for six paid hours of a 15-hour commute and waiting time. About 8.3 million, or 16 percent of the 52 million US rural residents, had incomes in 1996 below the poverty line, compared to 13 percent of urban residents. Isolation, lack of education, and long commutes for better jobs make it hard to work up the US job ladder for residents in many of rural areas. Dennis Pollock, "Cal-Work Summit called a first step," Fresno Bee, December 6, 1997. Tony Hurwitz, "Paring welfare rolls proves a huge grind for everyone involved," Wall Street Journal, November 4, 1997. Vincent J. Schodolski, "Migrants feel trapped in US," Chicago Tribune, November 2, 1997. "While California's economy booms, Central Valley farming towns feel sharpening pangs of poverty," San Jose Mercury News, October 26, 1997. Ben Stocking and Ariana Cha, "California's Appalachia foreseen in valley towns," San Jose Mercury News, October 10, 1997. Mike Lewis, "'Rural ghettos' offer window to Valley's future, report says," Fresno Bee, October 10, 1997. Poverty Amid Prosperity: Immigration and the Changing Face of Rural California. Washington, DC. Urban Institute Press. Available from 800-462-6420 or http://www.urban.org (back to the top) Enforcement: Child Labor, TIPP The Associated Press ran a series of stories on child labor in December, locating 165 children working illegally in 16 states, from the chili fields of New Mexico to the sweatshops of New York City. A team of 30 AP reporters tracked the products on which the children worked to US companies that included Campbell Soup Co., Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurants, ConAgra and Costco. The Associated Press estimated that 290,200 children were employed unlawfully in 1996, including 59,600 children under age 14. Children were prohibited from working by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Under FLSA, children under 18 (16 on farms) are barred from most factory and other hazardous jobs, children under 16 may not work during school hours and children under 14 are barred from most paid employment except in farming. DOL may confiscate the products made from child labor, including the salsa made from chili peppers picked by children. "It was on farms that the AP most often found illegal child labor, including the most extreme cases: the youngest workers toiling the longest hours for the least pay." AP reporters found 104 children working illegally in agriculture in five months in 1997; DOL inspectors found 35 in the past year. According to the NAWS, there were 123,000 children aged 14 to 17 employed in agriculture in 1996, including 61,000 not living with their parents. The garment industry, by contrast, had 13,100 child workers. In FY97, DOL's 942 wage and hour inspectors found 6,735 child labor violations at 1,546 establishments. One-fourth of the establishments were fast food restaurants and the most typical violation was a high school student working later than the law allows on school nights. AP reporters found children as young as four picking chili peppers in New Mexico for a processor that makes Old El Paso salsa for Pillsbury. Pillsbury checked with its supplier, and was told that "children had been in the New Mexico chili fields with their families, but were not working." One mother said that she wanted her 10-year old to pick chilis so that he learns that farm work is "hard, hot and laborious. I want him to hate this, to stay in school and to study hard so he doesn't have to do this work." AP reporters discovered an unauthorized 15-year old Guatemalan girl working in a chicken processing plant; she paid $500 to be smuggled into the US, and used false documents to get a job at Chestertown Foods in Maryland. Five of the 40 unauthorized workers apprehended at the plant in September 1997 were under 16. Several employers told the AP that "My job isn't to police for the INS." DOL announced that it was launching "Operation Salad Bowl" in Spring 1998, sending 50 strike forces to lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and garlic fields as part of a crackdown on the use of child labor in the U.S. agricultural sector in cooperation with USDA. DOL promises to use the "hot goods" provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which prohibits the shipment of any goods produced in violation of the FLSA's child labor provisions. The AP also criticized DOL's failure to levy and collect civil money penalties on employers who hired child labor. The maximum penalty is $10,000; the average CMP assessed in FY97 was $887. According to the AP, DOL guidelines call for $275 in CMPs for poor record-keeping and $500 for a farmer who employs a 12- or 13-year-old during school hours. Fines are reduced 30 percent for businesses with 20 or fewer employees. Repeat offenders of child labor laws can be sentenced to jail. In 1990, an employer was sentenced for the last time to jail for employing child labor. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) promised hearings on a bill to toughen penalties on employers of children and a doubling of the DOL budget for child labor enforcement to $15 million. The DOL report on child labor is available at: www.dol.gov/dol/ilab/public/media/reports/childnew.htm An ILO report on labeling products to guarantee that they are not made with child labor is available at: www.ilo.org/public/english/90ipec/others/report/labrep/index.htm On December 21, 1997, the Los Angeles Times profiled Jose Millan, 43, the first Hispanic to be California Labor Commissioner in 50 years. Millan said that his top priority is to make the agency accessible to immigrant workers and to reach out to immigrant employers in garments and other industries. The Labor Commissioner has been criticized for not processing wage complaints from workers within 90 days; delays and lack of translators reportedly discourages many workers from filing complaints. Millan permits workers to participate in hearings on their complaints by telephone. Millan announced that the Targeted Industries Partnership Program (TIPP), launched to improve enforcement in agriculture and garments, may be expanded to construction and restaurants. The California Labor Commissioner issued 833 citations for child labor violations in 1990, and 310 citations in 1995. Under California law, anyone under age 18 holding a job must have a work permit, and permits are issued only in special instances to children younger than 14. Miguel Flores, the Mexican farm labor contractor who pleaded guilty in May 1997 to coercing migrant workers in South Carolina to harvest cucumbers against their will, was sentenced in November 1997 to 15 years in prison. Flores, who provided labor to South Carolina cucumber growers and to Florida orange growers, was charged with recruiting farm workers and smuggling them across the U.S.-Mexico border to labor camps in South Carolina where they were subjected to physical abuse and death threats to prevent them from leaving. Sandra Hernandez, "Jose Millan On Enforcing the State Labor Code--and Keeping Business Happy," Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1997. Martha Mendoza, "Toughest Labor Laws Not Enforced," Associated Press, December 18, 1997. David Foster and Farrell Kramer, "America's Secret Child Labor Force," Associated Press, December 14-15, 1997. (back to the top) Southeast: Hispanics, Tobacco Hispanics in North Carolina/Georgia. In November 1997, 10 farm workers were murdered in North Carolina and Tennessee. As Hispanics move into the southeast, they are becoming targets for criminals who learn that many keep their cash at home rather than establish bank accounts. Robbery was the motive for several of the murders. The North Carolina city of Durham recently formed a three-member task force that deals only with crimes against Hispanics. Between 1990 and 1996, the census estimated that the North Carolina population of Hispanics increased 73 percent to 134,400. State health officials estimated that there were 205,000 Hispanics, and El Pueblo Inc., a statewide Latino advocacy group, says there are 250,000 to 300,000 Hispanics in the state. In Durham county, for example, the state estimated 8,000 Hispanics; the census, 3,500. The North Carolina Department of Labor reported that 19,000 mostly Latino migrant farm workers lived in 1,600 houses that it has inspected in 80 of North Carolina's 100 counties in 1997. The census estimated that in Dalton, Georgia, a city of 40,000 located one hour southeast of Chattanooga, about 40 percent of the residents and K-12 students are Hispanic, up from virtually none in 1990. Dalton has also grown; in 1990, it had 22,000 residents. Dalton's carpet industry employs 30,000 workers. In 1969, Mexican workers were brought from Texas to help build a dam and some workers found jobs in the carpet mills after the dam was constructed. One plant manager says the Hispanics "work twice as hard as Americans for the same wages." The carpet industry is sponsoring the production of a video entitled "Dalton: A City Unafraid to Change," that highlights the contributions of Hispanics to the industry and area. The INS estimates that up to 75 percent of the Hispanics in the area may be unauthorized. Tobacco. Tobacco farmers are pressing for $7 to $20 billion of the proposed $368 billion tobacco settlement arguing that, without an infusion of settlement money, towns and cities in North Carolina and Kentucky would die as tobacco production shrinks. Most proposals provide at least two percent of the settlement for tobacco farmers, $7 billion, or about what the lawyers who negotiated the settlement are expected to receive. Under one plan, tobacco farmers would receive compensation for the lower prices and reduced demand for tobacco leaf and keep farming, or accept a lump-sum buy out. Another plan offered by Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Wendell Ford would create a $17 billion assistance fund out of the settlement and provide up to $250 million a year to help rural tobacco-dependent communities; $100 million a year would go to retrain displaced tobacco workers. Tobacco production was up in 1997, to 1.6 billion pounds, with two-thirds of US tobacco produced in North Carolina (flue-cured--leaves cured under heat) and Kentucky (burley--the entire stalk is hung in a barn to dry without heat). Tobacco farmers request about 40 percent of the H-2A workers brought to the US. In many areas of North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia, H-2A pioneers were able to move farm to nonfarm work, usually by returning to the US as unauthorized workers. A North Carolina reporter interviewed workers who followed many paths to southeastern North Carolina and all shared the goal of moving up from the typically seasonal harvest job that first brought them to North Carolina. Kentucky has a four percent unemployment rate, but many unemployed residents are in the rural counties of eastern Kentucky, where coal fields once offered employment. Rather than move or travel far from home, many survive on support payments. United Parcel Service, with 14,000 employees in Kentucky, is the state's largest employer. UPS operates its largest distribution center at the airport in Louisville, where it employs 7,500 part-time workers who start at $8 per hour. Knight Chamberlain, "N. Carolina police grapple with rising anti-Latino crime," Atlanta Journal, January 2, 1998. Hayes Ferguson, "Changing Faces," Times-Picayune, December 29, 1997. "DWI ads in Spanish are just a start," Sunday Star-News, December 28, 1997. (back to the top) Census Bureau Releases Estimates for States & Countries by Race The Commerce Department's Census Bureau today released annual population estimates for individual states and counties from 1990 through 1996, by age, gender, race and Hispanic origin. These data are available on the Census Bureau's Internet site <http://www.census.gov/population/www/ estimates. The data for states include cross-tabulations by single year of age (to age 85 and over), by race (White; African American; American Indian, Eskimo and Aleut; Asian and Pacific Islander), by Hispanic origin (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) and by gender. In addition to Internet, these state tables are available on floppy diskette (PE-57). The state estimates also are summarized in tables showing a limited race/Hispanic-origin breakdown; and these are available as paper listings (PPL-78). The county estimates, available on the Internet and floppy diskette (PE-58), are presented in three data sets corresponding to the following cross-tabulations: - single year of age by gender - race by Hispanic origin - five-year age groups by gender by limited race/Hispanic-origin breakdown. In addition, these estimates are summarized in two sets of tables: one with a limited race/Hispanic-origin breakdown and a second showing age categories. These tables also are available as paper listings (PPL-79 for race/Hispanic origin and PPL-80 for age). The estimates presented in these products were produced by a method still in a developmental stage. They should be used with caution since individual data cells may not be accurate in every case. The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions. (back to the top) President Clinton will hold race meeting in Phoenix (Administration officials site Chandler roundup as impetus) PHOENIX -- As Latino activists call for the firing of all Chandler officialsbehind last summer's controversial immigration roundup, the Clintonadministration has announced that Phoenix will be the site of the next townhall meeting on race.The Chandler Coalition for Civil and Human rights last week demanded that theChandler city manager, city attorney and chief of police all be fired. "At thevery least, these officials should be suspended during any investigation" ofthe roundup, said spokesman Manuel Ortega. A report released by ArizonaAttorney General Office Grant Wood Nov. 25 "validates all the allegations ofcivil and human rights violations by the Chandler Police and the U.S. BorderPatrol," Ortega told reporters during a Phoenix press conference.More than 400 illegal immigrants were arrested in the July roundup, whilehundreds more Latinos who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants were alsoarrested, questioned or detained, according to Woods' report. The U.S. JusticeDepartment is considering whether to conduct its own investigation. And latelast month, incoming U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gus De La Vina pledged to revisehis agency's policies to prevent a repeat of the Chandler incident.President Clinton, meanwhile, fresh from a trip to Akron, Ohio and a meetingon the state of race relations in the U.S. has announced that Phoenix willhost a similar meeting in January. According to the Arizona Republic, the Jan.13-14 meeting will focus on "employment discrimination, reverse discriminationand racial disparities in income. Clinton is not expected to attend thePhoenix gathering, though a cabinet official will be present. In a related development, a $35 million civil lawsuit against the INS andChandler police was expanded to include several more border patrol agents andChandler police. Stephen Montoya, chief attorney for the plaintiffs, told theArizona Republic, "The city of Chandler and its police officers were theprimary organizers of the sweep. The Border Patrol were subsidiary players." "The result of the various law enforcement officials actions has resulted inthe Hispanic community of Chandler being unfairly singled out for selectiveenforcement of the immigration laws based solely on the color of their skinand the language they speak. This is simply unacceptable," said Gregory Vega,president of the Hispanic National Bar Association."We haven't done anything unlawful," said Chandler Police Sgt. Ken Phillips. (back to the top) Hispanics Outnumber Blacks in NYC (from the Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) -- Hispanics have overtaken blacks as the second-largest racial or ethnic group in New York City. A report Monday by the Taub Urban Research Center of New York University said the city's white population, still the largest category, continued to decline. Asian-Americans showed the most rapid growth. The study also said about 34 percent of the city's residents are immigrants. The report put the city's population in 1996 at 7.23 million, a decline of 85,000 since the 1990 census. Of that number, 38.5 percent were non-Hispanic white; 26.6 percent Hispanic; 26.2 percent non-Hispanic black; and 8.7 percent Asian. In 1990, the city was 43.4 percent white, 25.4 percent black, 24.5 percent Hispanic and 6.7 percent Asian. The center estimated the figures based on a survey conducted for New York City last year by the U.S. Census Bureau. (back to the top) Larry King interviews President Zedillo WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo traveled to Washingtonin November to meet with President Clinton. On Nov. 15, Zedillo appeared onCNN's Larry King Weekend. Here are some excerpts from that interview.KING: How do you react to those who say (that) in the world of drugs there hasto be a willing partner, the user, and as you have that willing partner, youhave an unsolvable problem?ZEDILLO: We used to blame each other, to say whoever produces drugs is guilty,and other voices say whoever consumes drugs is guilty.KING: Who is guilty?ZEDILLO: We don't have to speak about guilt. We have to recognize the problem,to recognize that everybody has a responsibility to solve it.KING: But it does get down to one user on the streets.ZEDILLO: Yes, but that user probably is a sick person, an addict. So you'renot going to solve the problem by saying the user is guilty.KING: A little while back, you told reporters the United States should paycompensation for all the garbage they leave (in Mexico).ZEDILLO: You are not quoting me. What I said in Guadalajara ... was thatcertification in this country...KING: We certify other countries.ZEDILLO: ... right, was (as) absurd as (the U.S.) paying reparations for thedamage that drugs leave in our country when it goes through Mexico and comesto the United States.KING: So you were making a satirical comparison.ZEDILLO: That's right.KING: Why is certification meaningless?ZEDILLO: Nobody has the moral or legal authority to oversee what (othercountries) are doing.KING: Do you feel in danger? Because it's logical that the drug (cartels)don't like you.ZEDILLO: I hope they don't like me.KING: The relationship between Mexico and the U.S., today, how would youdescribe it?ZEDILLO: Good. Our economic sectors, the people, are working together, doingjoint ventures, going to world markets. Unfortunately, in some sectorsrelationships are not as good.KING : Congress...ZEDILLO: Sometimes we go through periods of Mexico (bashing). I think a numberof misrepresentations about the Mexican situation are spelled out in thiscountry.KING: Do you think it's a racial context?ZEDILLO: Not at all. Basically, we need to have closer contact, betterinformation (about Mexico) available.KING: Are you sorry your ran for this job?ZEDILLO: What?KING: Are you ever sorry you wanted to be president?ZEDILLO: No, never sorry. It's a great honor.KING: Did you feel hurt during the NAFTA debate when many who were opposedmade it seem anti-Mexican? Are you angry at that?ZEDILLO: I never get angry, Larry. I think many wrong things were said. I feelsome of them were a bit offensive, but facts have proven those guys wrong.Everything that Mr. (Ross) Perot said was going to happen (because of) NAFTA... has been proven absolutely wrong.KING: A federal judge stuck down California's Proposition 187. Do you have anythoughts?ZEDILLO: Well, that judge must be very intelligent. We claim at all times thatthe human and labor rights of Mexicans in the United States should berespected. Our problem with 187 is some (services), like education, would be(unavailable) to our human beings. A person who is in Mexico, irrespective ofmigratory condition, has a right to a free basic education.KING: No matter how they got in?ZEDILLO: That's right.KING: Are you upset that so many Americans are angry over the concept ofillegal immigration?ZEDILLO: We understand that you have to enforce your laws, but let's not makeillegal immigrants equal to criminals.KING: They're not criminals?ZEDILLO: They're not criminals.KING: Two Mexican immigrants (have been) put to death in the U.S. for capitalcrimes. Mexico does not have a death penalty. Is this an issue?ZEDILLO: As a matter of principle, we reject that penalty.KING: Do you think people have died who shouldn't have?ZEDILLO: Nobody should die because of the death penalty.KING: Tell me where it stands now with you and Mr. Salinas?ZEDILLO: Mr. Salinas is former president of Mexico. I am the presentpresident.KING: Are you friends?ZEDILLO: No.KING: Where is he now?ZEDILLO: He's not in Mexico. That's all I know.KING: Where you a supporter prior to this?ZEDILLO: I worked in his cabinet.KING: Did he disappoint you?ZEDILLO: A good moral and political practice in Mexico is for a president notto judge his predecessors.KING: Mr. President, a lot of reforms happened in your administration. One ofthe things you called for was elections for (mayor of Mexico City). The mayorturns out not to be from your party. Do you feel you're between a rock and ahard place?ZEDILLO: Not at all. I promoted political reforms irrespective of the results.We needed a stronger democracy. I sought it, and we got it. KING: You cannot run again, right?ZEDILLO: No re-election in Mexico. And that's quite good, very wise.KING: You're president till 2000?ZEDILLO: Dec. 1, 2000.KING: You sound like you can't wait.ZEDILLO: No, no. One thing is for sure, I will abandon politics forever. KING: Thank you for coming.ZEDILLO: It's a pleasure, Larry.KING: Good luck. You're leaving politics?ZEDILLO: In the year 2000.KING: Who gets a better job than president, right?ZEDILLO: That's right. (back to the top) Word for Word:Republicans and the Latino vote We had a horrible election cycle. We allowed the Democrats to demagogue us todeath:" U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, commenting on the struggle by theGOP to lure Latinos to his party.Editor's note: In 1996, 72 percent of Latino voters backed President Clintonand House Democrats. In a report titled, "The GOP Anti-Latino Congress," Houseminority leader (and likely presidential candidate in 2000) Dick Gephardt, D-MO, said the Latino vote ``will have a significant impact on the outcome'' ofnext year's elections. Republicans, meanwhile, have created the New MajorityCouncil, a $1 million campaign to attract minority voters. (back to the top) JSRI Community Connections | JSRI Home