Latino GOP Group in San Diego to Boycott Meeting With Bush Son

The San Diego Republican Hispanic Assembly will boycott a GOP meeting today on Latino issues with Vice President George Bush’s son Jeb. The chairman of the 75-member group said Tuesday that the boycott is to protest organizers’ “inexcusable mistake” of excluding Latinos from the planning of the meeting.

“To not have Hispanics involved in putting together an Hispanic event is ridiculous,” said Nicholas Britto, who is also president of the Cuban-American Political Assn. “If Republicans want Hispanic votes to help them win the White House, they’d better start waking up.”

The invitation to the hourlong meeting, sent out to more than 500 Latino leaders, was signed by three San Diego businessmen--all non-Latinos--and the meeting is being sponsored by the Golden Eagle Club, an organization consisting of major GOP donors.

A press release announcing the meeting says that Jeb Bush, who is fluent in Spanish, married to a Latina and has a master’s degree in Latin American studies, has “given Vice President Bush a direct link to the Mexican-American community.”

Tom Stickel, Bush’s San Diego County chairman, accepted blame for the dispute, saying that he “should have had the intelligence or instinct . . . to bring in Hispanic leaders at an earlier stage.”

The gaffe, Britto said, exacerbated local Latinos’ displeasure over the fact that no Latinos were selected from San Diego to attend next week’s Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

An estimated 450,000 Latinos reside in San Diego County.