Democracia & Allies Help Stop Florida’s

“Show Me Your Papers” Bill

Last week, the Florida legislature adjourned before it could pass either of the controversial anti-immigrant bills being pushed in both chambers, S.B. 2040 and H.B. 7089. Just one month ago, it would have been difficult to predict the bills’ demise given the fact that two of the legislature’s more prominent Hispanic members, House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, and Senator Anitere Flores (author of SB2040) were championing the bills in both houses. In recent weeks, however, that dynamic began to shift, as a result of a multi-station Spanish language ad cam-paign organized by Democracia, America’s Voice Edu-cation Fund, and SEIU that targeted Flores and Lopez-

Cantera and flooded South Florida airwaves.

May 2011 DEMOCRACIA

IN THIS ISSUE:

Democracia & Allies

Help Stop Florida’s

“Show Me Your

Papers” Bill

Timeline: The

Evolution and Demise of

SB2040

Social Security: ¡Tu

Futura Cuenta! Event

PA and FL Trying to

suppress your vote?

Democracia’s New

Nevada State Director

Timeline: The Evolution and Demise of SB2040

Latinos and Social

Security: ¡Tu Futura

Cuenta!

Hispanic seniors from the Philadelphia area

gathered at Congreso de Latinos Unidos

office earlier this month (May 3, 2011) to dis-

cuss potential cuts to Social Security—a pro-

gram many of them rely on as the primary

source of income. The event, organized by

Congreso, National Council of La Raza (NCLR),

Latinos for a Secure Retirement, and

Democracia U.S.A., featured a panel dis-

cussion about the impact cuts would have on our communities most vulnerable.

Many elderly Latinos count on Social Security as their sole source of income, making

them particularly than vulnerable to any proposed cuts. Not only does the program

provide an important social safety net, it contributes to local economies. In

Pictured at podium is Democracia U.S.A.

National Deputy Director,

To hear the Spanish language ad: Click Here

The campaign urged the community to mobilize against Flores’ sponsorship and Lopez-Cantera’s support of the anti-immigrant bills; eventually leading Lopez-Cantera to take a more public position against the measures and Flores to vote against her own pro-posal. “The people of the State of Florida certainly made their voices heard throughout this process. It is clear that these bills would have been devastating to the state’s economy and would have marginalized entire communities of people,” said Jorge Mursuli, Presi-dent of Democracia Inc. “Had the bills passed with the backing and sponsorship of two high ranking Hispanic legislators, it would have sent the wrong message and created a dangerous precedent, fueling similar efforts in other states,” added Mursuli.

“We cannot continue to allow immigration to be used as a political wedge issue; politi-cians know full well that most of these bills don’t pass the legal litmus test and will be challenged. If they are interested in finding real solutions to the immigration issue they should join efforts to support our federal government and our nationally elected leadership to pass comprehensive reform,” concluded Mursuli.

Democracia & Allies

Help Stop Florida’s “Show Me Your Papers” Bill (Cont.)

Latinos and Social

Security: ¡Tu Futura

Cuenta!

Philadelphia, Social Security contributes more than $2.9 billion to the city’s economy by

paying benefits to more than 243,000 residents. Social Security also has powerful anti-

poverty effects. Of Latino who currently receive Social Security, 19.2% are considered

poor; without it, that percentage would sharply rise to 50% of elderly Latinos.

For more information on the impact of Social Security on Latinos, visit

NCLR: www.NCLR.org

Florida and Pennsylvania politicians are conspiring to keep you from the voting booth. How? Just last week, the Florida state legislature approved HB 1355, a bill that serves to disenfranchise Florida voters and discourages their participation in the democratic process. The provisions contained in the bill shorten the period available for early voting in the State, making it more difficult for residents to update new addresses, and require a 48 hour turn around for groups conducting third party voter registration.

Policymakers are attempting to find ways to cut voters out of the process, particu-larly young people and members of our military who are very mobile and change ad-dresses with more frequency. The attempt to narrow down the turn-around window for third party voter registration groups, and the provisions aimed to drastically cut the early voting period, are surely targeted at keeping minority voters out of the process. Why? So that incumbents can keep themselves in office. The bill is await-ing Governor Rick Scott’s signature and Democracia urges its members to call the Governor and tell him not to sign the bill into law. You can reach Governor Scott at: 850-488-7146

In Pennsylvania, this week, the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee passed House Bill 934, which would suppress the votes of Pennsylvania citizens. The committee voted in support of requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification in order to cast a ballot, something that a substantial number of Penn-sylvania citizens do not possess.

In a letter sent to Committee Chairman Rep. Daryl D. Metcalfe before the vote, Fer-nando Trevino-Martinez, Democracia’s Northeast Regional Director, expressed: “Democracia, Inc. believes that voting is a fundamental right of every U.S. citizen and that the freedom to participate in electing our leaders lies at the very foundation of our democracy. We support reducing barriers to voter participation and a strong and ac-tive citizenry, and we oppose any efforts that would hinder an individual from exercis-ing his or her right to vote”.

Are politicians trying

to keep you from the

ballot box? In Florida

and Pennsylvania

they are.

Trevino-Martinez added “Democracia Inc. believes that in the midst of a seri-ous budget crisis, Pennsylvania law-makers should not create a new multi-million dollar program which also sad-dles local governments with additional administrative obligations and ex-penses”.

States that have passed similar voter suppression legislation have needed to increase spending on elections by as much as 50 percent as a result. The state of Indiana has spent over $10 million dollars since 2007 to pro-vide free photo IDs to citizens and an additional $2 million to educate vot-ers about the change in the law.

"With Pennsylvania facing a $4 billion budget deficit for 2011-2012, now is not the time to create a costly, new government program, especially one that will make it diffi-cult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to vote," said Trevino-Martinez. "This, despite the fact that the bill's advocates have provided no evidence that voter impersonation is a problem."

A similar letter was sent to State Rep. Angel Cruz, co-sponsor of the bill and the only Hispanic member of the PA legislature. Even when Rep. Cruz argues that this bill would “protect the Latino vote from election fraud”, at a hearing in March supporters of HB 934 failed to provide any proof of the kind of election fraud that the bill would supposedly prevent.

Democracia, Inc. calls on State Rep. Angel Cruz, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and all their col-leagues in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, to reject HB 934 as an unnec-essary and financially wasteful piece of legislation that will suppress the right of Pennsylvania citizens to participate in electing their leaders. Call Rep. Angel Cruz: 215-291-5643 and Rep. Metcalfe: (717) 783-1707

Pictured from left to

right, Pennsylvania

State representatives

Daryl Metcalfe (R)

and Angel Cruz (D)

Democracia is Honored to Introduce

Our Nevada State Director:

Fernando Romero

Fernando Romero, is a native of El Paso, Texas and a 44-year resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, where for forty-two of those years he has ac-tively participated in numerous education, so-cial and political organizations with the goal of informing, educating and empowering the Hispanic community. Fernando is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where in 1969 he co-founded the UNLV Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and one year later, founded the Student Organization of Latinos. His active community involvement started in 1969 when he volunteered to direct the Nevada Association of Latin Americans' social service and employment agency. That same year, his involvement in politics commenced when he joined a corps of volunteers who worked feverishly on behalf of Harry Reid, candidate for Lt. Gover-nor (and presently Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate). Fernando has also worked on two presidential, three federal senatorial and three gubernatorial election campaigns. He has received numerous honors and awards that include the following: “Outstanding Young Men of America”, Jaycees (1975) “Public Service Award” Latin Chamber of Commerce “Arturo Cambeiro Hispanic of the Year Award”, Latin Chamber of Commerce

“Distinguished Service Award”, Probono Project, Clark County Bar Association Fernando is married to Maria Guadalupe and have a son, Erick. Fernando has three other children, Miguel, Eva and Anthony.