New Latino PAC Sets Fast Fund-Raising Pace

In the three months since it was formed, a political action committee aimed at increasing Latino representation in public office has raised more money than any other Latino PAC in history.

Hispanic Unity USA, gaining strength from the growing Latino political muscle nationwide, has raised $500,000 since May under its new leader, Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

The Garden Grove Democrat said Wednesday that the committee will provide financial assistance to local, state and federal candidates who are Latino or who support Latino agendas. Sanchez said the committee also will raise money for voter education projects and voter registration drives.

“We will select strategic areas for education,” she said. “We will be assisting any candidate who is going to be good for Hispanics.

“We do not favor candidates who want to kick our children out of schools because they look different or come from a different place. Or candidates who want to stop certain segments of the populations from using our hospitals,” she said. “I don’t want to see those candidates in office, and we will work toward keeping them out.”

Sanchez hopes to raise $2 million to $4 million in the next two years. The committee is sponsoring a short cruise today from Newport Beach, with Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante aboard, as part of its aggressive campaign to meet Sanchez’s ambitious goal.

“I think she’s going to go beyond her goal because I have every confidence in the world in her,” said Ray Cordova, treasurer of the California Chicano/Latino Caucus of the Democratic Party. “There are other PACs around but we don’t raise money to that degree. Without a doubt, it would be the largest.”

Sanchez said she agreed to lead the committee because she is a skillful fund-raiser who loves “this kind of thing.”

“I realize that there are very good candidates out there who don’t have the money it takes to make them viable,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez herself benefited from a similar group in 1997. The now defunct Hispanic Democratic Political Action Committee, which was founded in the 1980s, contributed $5,000 to Sanchez’s campaign. In the 1997-1998 election cycle, that committee donated a total of $34,000 to 10 federal candidates.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Steven Ybarra, chairman of the Chicano/Latino Caucus. “We’ve been waiting to get to the point where we could have influence in real numbers. Now you’ve got [not only] the numerical support in a lot of districts but also the financial capability to be able to get the job done. It’s all good.”

The only growing electorate in the nation is the Latino community, Ybarra said. The nine states with the largest Latino populations, including Florida, account for 184 of the 538 electoral votes in a presidential election.

Latinos, who represented 9% of the country’s population in the 1990 census, now make up more than 11% of the population. By 2005, Latinos are expected to surpass African Americans as the country’s largest minority group. As the population goes up, so will the number of registered voters, Cordova said.

“Loretta Sanchez has a lot of influence in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas,” Ybarra said. “California is going to be the decider in the presidential race.”