Republican Party in El Paso is not Anti-Immigrant

By Joe Olvera ©, 2010

“Democrats say they’re for the poor, if that is true, then they have been very successful in El Paso…it’s one of the poorest cities in the United States,” so said Michael Moore, Chairman of the Republican Party in El Paso in an interview about the upcoming city, state and national elections.
“Think about it,” Moore said, “people have to understand that if a Democrat gets rich, then he won’t be a Democrat any longer. The Democratic Party will try to keep you poor, but, Republicans want to give you the opportunity to be a success. People appreciate opportunities to succeed, whenever they receive them.”
Moore said that despite the fact that Republican candidates for Texas Governor incumbent Rick Perry and main challenger Kay Bailey Hutchison won’t be spending money for ads in El Paso shouldn’t be interpreted as Republicans abandoning El Paso, or giving up on the city’s voters.
Both candidates for Governor have basically announced that they will be spending their campaign millions elsewhere, even money that has been donated by El Pasoans will be spent in other Texas cities, but not in the Sun City. A third Republican candidate for Governor, Brenda Medina is virtually unknown in El Paso. “Spending money in El Paso will have no impact,” Moore said. “Just look at the demographics and the political climate in El Paso.” According to Moore, Republicans still dominate this city in something as important as the Governor’s race.
“The Governor has a good lead, so he’ll probably keep it.” As for his preference, Moore said that, as chairman, he must remain neutral, but, at the once, he wouldn’t want to change an incumbent that’s been doing a good job. “We’re not giving up on El Paso. Governor Perry has done good for the city. He has appointed more El Paso citizens to top level committees than any other Governor in history. He will continue doing that.”
In El Paso, out of more than 370,000 voters, at least 30 percent are Republican. A figure that has been increasing steadily, and a number which Moore anticipates will increase as El Pasoans become more aware of what the Party is striving to do. “More people will join our Party and will become Republicans because of the way the Democrats are handling the economy, the war, and immigration.
On immigration, Moore has written in the Party’s website that there should be no immigrant bashing. “In framing the discussion over immigration numbers and their effect on health care, education, and other issues, we must refrain from ascribing the bad characteristics of a few to whole groups of people based on their ethnicity or foreign-born status. That is immigrant bashing and we will not participate in it.”
Moore said that the way to express displeasure with the status of illegal immigration is to do a better job of communicating to legal immigrants, and especially to citizens (voters) of Mexican ethnicity that the Republican Party is not immigrant bashing, but is, instead, trying to maintain the best economic and social system in the world.
“We must begin to educate the average El Paso voter that Republican does not mean anti-immigrant, or anti-Hispanic,” Moore said. “We have to do it with our words, by speaking to people one-on-one at every opportunity. So, I say NO on immigrant bashing, but, do confront our elected officials with the poor results of their policies. In other words, let’s hold Congressman Silvestre Reyes’s feet to the fire.”