Javier Bustamante,
Editor

Editoriales

Maryland Republicans a shambles

Perhaps, Republicans in Maryland are naive and inexperienced, having been out of government for 36 years. Perhaps they, deep down, don't know or care about minorities. At any rate the brouhaha over the Maryland Hispanic Republican Caucus has given some interesting news fodder to the press for the last several weeks and appears to be poised to give some more. The Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Montgomery County Gazzette and the Baltimore Sun, not to mention us at coloquio.com and a host of other Hispanic papers in the Washington Metropolitan area have followed the fights and reported them extensively to the great embarrasment of the Governor and his GOP designees.

Jose Ribas is a gutsy fighter, though. Having had the "cojones" to publicly critize the Guv, and having broken the 11th Republican commandment: "Thou shall not speak ill of your fellow Republicans", he has maintained his position, circled the wagons with a gaggle of fellow caucus members, and has refused to resign. Having been thrown out of the GOP "tent" by the party leadership he persists in going ahead with his agenda. His agenda is correct, though. Placing Hispanics in positions of responsibility thoughout the Maryland government should be the party's goal as well as Ribas'. Helping Hispanic businesses grow and get a piece of government contracting should also be the GOP's goal.

So, what's the problem? Ribas went public. So, what does the party leadership do? They go public. Now the whole affair is public.

John Kane and Eric Sutton, the GOP bosses, have botched the whole affair by appearing to run roughshod over a Hispanic group and forcing it to dump its chairman. Instead of taking Ribas to lunch and gently calling him to the carpet, Kane shows up uninvited at a meeting and gives them an ultimatum to dump Ribas. This is not a very good political move and shows disrespect for the Hispanic group and Hispanics in general. They would not have done this to another group or to a dissenting fellow Republican. By doing so, Kane and Sutton, not to mention the Governor, who apparently is supporting both unconditionally, have now weakend the new Hispanic group they are creating to replace the caucus.

Already the divisions between the Hispanic Republicans are wide and deep. With time they will probably heal and life will go on; it always does. Ribas', gutsy approach has shown a weakness in the Republican structure as serious as in the previous Democratic administrations. Either the Republicans shape up or they will not get the Hispanics in the numbers they need to continue in power. There is still time till the next election. Let's see what they can do.

By having chosen Luis Borunda for the leadership of the second group, the GOP has at least made a right decision this time. Luis' approach is as smooth and as consensus seeking as Ribas' is confrontational and divisive. He is the right candidate at this stage to heal the wounds. We wish Luis luck in putting the pieces together and getting Hispanics placed in higher positions in Maryland and Hispanic businesses share of the wealth available to them.

As for Ribas, if the Republicans don't want them I am sure the Democrats could use him and would be happy to have him.