DNC aide decries Hispanic ‘disconnect’

The chairman of the Hispanic caucus of the Democratic National Committee said yesterday that there is a “disconnect” in the party regarding the minority vote and accused it of scrapping a $1.5 million plan to attract Hispanics.

Alvaro Cifuentes, who also chastised the DNC leadership for failure to hire Hispanics, announced a three-day summit for party Hispanics in September that will be “completely funded on our own, separate from the DNC.”

“There is obviously a problem in the party with Hispanic and Latino issues,” Mr. Cifuentes said. “We’ve been trying for the past two years to address them.”

The DNC did not return calls for comment.

The $1.5 million “Hispanic Project” was to be a vast, annual effort that included a get-out-the-vote campaign, recruitment of Hispanic candidates and establishment of satellite offices in key states.

Some caucus members insist the plan is still being put together, although they declined to offer details.

The summit is a result of indifference from the party’s leadership, Mr. Cifuentes said. It is to be held in Albuquerque, N.M.

“We aren’t waiting around for anybody to put an agenda together anymore,” he said.

The dilemma is “an interesting problem,” said Steven Ybarra, a caucus member who leads the Pacific region for the DNC.

“Terry McAuliffe made a pledge to make sure that the voters who were critical were turned out and that we would have the proper resources to make that happen in 2004,” Mr. Ybarra said, in reference to the DNC chairman. “And none of that happened.”

“It will make the job in 2004 all the tougher,” Mr. Ybarra added.

The “job” entails overtaking Republican gains in luring the Hispanic vote, which has become a Republican Party mandate. Republicans were further encouraged by a May 2002 poll sponsored by the Democratic Party that found allegiance waning among Hispanics.

“This is a situation that will be and needs to be monitored,” said Rep. Ciro D. Rodriguez, the Texas Democrat who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The rancor from the DNC’s Hispanic caucus follows the revelation last week that the national committee planned to terminate 10 black employees as part of a financial retooling to take on the Republican money machine in the 2004 elections.

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