GOP Hispanics see Maryland clout rising

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ANNAPOLIS -- The Hispanic population in Maryland has almost doubled in the past 10 years, but leaders acknowledge their clout in the State House has yet to match the growth.

Hispanics hold two of the 141 House seats, just one of the 47 in the Senate and no Cabinet-level posts in Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s Republican administration.

Still, Luis Borunda, 45, chairman of the Hispanic Republicans of Maryland, predicts that significant change will begin soon and continue over the next two decades.

"It would not surprise me to see a Hispanic appointment at a Cabinet-level position later on this term," said Mr. Borunda, whose group is the official outreach arm of the state's Republican Party. "And we will have [more] Hispanics running for the General Assembly in 2006."

However, he thinks it will take 15 to 20 years before Maryland elects a Hispanic governor.

Right now, Sen. Alexander X. Mooney, Frederick Republican, is considered the leading voice for Hispanics in the state.

The outspoken, 32-year-old lawmaker trounced 16-year incumbent Republican Jack Derr in 1998 in a voting district that is 85 percent white. The victory made him the state's first Hispanic legislator.

"I worked hard," Mr. Mooney said. "I just happen to Cuban, and I just happened to get elected."

Mr. Mooney credits his mother, Eulalia "Lala" Mooney, who he says came to the United States from Cuba after President Fidel Castro's regime took her home and put her in jail because she was not a communist.