Governor Rick Perry is #1 Hispanic-friendly U.S. Politician of 2010 Elections

MEDIA ADVISORY

Texas Governor Rick Perry the #1 Hispanic-friendly Politician of 2010 Elections

Phoenix, AZ – Somos Republicans would like to congratulate Governor Rick Perry for winning his 2010 gubernatorial election.  Our organization is announcing the designation of the Texas Governor as the #1 Hispanic-friendly U.S. politician of the year.  Governor Rick Perry has proven his executive leadership as he had to confront the slow economic growth during the great recession much like the rest of the nation; however, Texas’ decline has been milder than the rest of the country.   More importantly, when asked about the harsh Arizona anti-immigration law, Governor Rick Perry said such a law “would not be the right direction for Texas” and would distract law enforcement from fighting other crimes.

We believe Governor Perry should be recognized for making a courageous statement with regard to the controversial immigration law during a time in which extreme anti-immigrant messaging has been on the rise.  We encourage the rest of the GOP to embrace and emulate such a courageous position.

Harsh immigration rhetoric has been counterproductive to the growth of our GOP tent; however, we continue to cling to GOP leaders such as George W. Bush, Jeb Bush and Karl Rove.  In 2004, former President George W. Bush received approximately 44% of the Hispanic vote, but we saw much of that dwindle due to what we coin as the “Tom Tancredo Club”.  In fact,  it was Tom Tancredo who was known for being extremely vocal to opposing Bush’s immigration policy.

That said, we  strongly believe Governor Perry should receive recognition for being the #1 Hispanic-friendly 2010 politician in the nation in our view, because he did not cave in to perceived popular sentiment.  Latinos who have remained as registered Republicans have been worried as we have watched Hispanic support for the Republican Party decline by almost 15 points.  And it is during times like these  when we have to try to find that silver lining in the clouds – and we believe Governor Perry can be that silver lining.

As such, and if  he continues to take courageous and Hispanic-friendly views,  Somos Republicans could only hope that Governor Rick Perry would consider running for President of the United States on the strength of his strong executive and economic leadership, and  his avoidance of supporting issues that are perceived as anti-Hispanic within our community.  We are confident that Governor Perry would do very well with the Hispanic voter in the Southwestern and Midwestern part of the United States because of his strong outreach towards Latinos that created a sense of trust.

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