La Raza Officially Sells Out: Joins Pro-Torture Right Wing
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at 11:05AM
TheSpook
The National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil
rights organization, embraced Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales at
an awards ceremony last night, breaking with other civil rights
organizations that have denounced Gonzales for his role in producing
the administration memo that allowed harsh treatment of detainees
overseas. Although La Raza supported Gonzales's appointment as attorney
general, last night's ceremony marked a first, highly public step in
the group's effort to alter its image as a left-leaning organization,
said Janet Murguia, its president and chief executive. Gonzales's
appearance at the ceremony was his first before a large Hispanic civil
rights group since he was confirmed last month by the Senate. La Raza
hopes the warm reception will show the Bush administration that it
seeks to move to the center politically and gain more access to the
White House. President Bush declined to attend all of La Raza's annual
conferences during his first term, citing the group's criticism of his
policies. "We want to make sure that people understand that we are
reaching out to this administration," Murguia said. "We think it is a
unique opportunity when a president is in his second term . . . to get
things done. "I know there are some folks who've said maybe NCLR is
leaning left in the past or choosing sides," said Murguia, who served
as deputy director for legislative affairs for the Clinton White House
and as a liaison between the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign and
constituent groups in 2000. "I want to make a clear point: We are
reaching out to all sides, we're going to build coalitions, build
bridges and put our people first." La Raza is not the only Hispanic
civil rights organization employing that strategy. Another leading
Hispanic rights organization, the League of United Latin American
Citizens, strongly supports Gonzales. [more]
Pictured above: Attorney
General Alberto R. Gonzales, left, gave brief comments at the National
Council of La Raza's awards ceremony. He thanked the nation's largest
Hispanic civil rights organization for supporting his nomination to the
top post at Justice.
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