Latin Chamber reviews mission

Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2001 | 9:16 a.m.

As the Latin Chamber of Commerce tallies votes in its annual elections today, the direction the 25-year-old Las Vegas organization will take in leading the nation's fastest-growing Hispanic community is uncertain.

Whether the chamber becomes a stronger political voice or focuses more on the Hispanic business community could be determined by who becomes the next president and who joins the board.

At issue is how the organization's growing political voice should be used as Clark County's Hispanic population approaches 25 percent and the Hispanic vote gains importance.

The future leadership will decide whether the chamber should engage in activities that grease the wheels of politics -- endorsing candidates and trying to deliver votes.

Recently the chamber's influence mattered in the debate over raising the minimum GPA for entering the state university system, drawing maps for new political districts after Census 2000 and making recommendations to state commissions.

"I often ask them for input, whether it be names for a commission, stands on issues or help getting the word out on programs like children's health care," Gov. Kenny Guinn said.

Today, votes from the chamber's nearly 1,000 members will elect a president and 18 board members.

At 35, Tony Sanchez is the younger candidate for president, a lawyer and legislative lobbyist and currently head of the chamber's government affairs committee.

Horacio Lopez has been living in Las Vegas for 38 years, is a businessman and one of the chamber's founders. Both are Democrats.

"I've always said business is politics, and politics is business," Sanchez said.

"Can you think of any political issue of importance that doesn't affect business?"

Up to 1991, the Latin Chamber of Commerce served as an umbrella to a political organization called Hispanics in Politics, which endorsed candidates and did voter registration drives.

Then the political organization broke off from the business organization, and the Latin Chamber of Commerce hasn't participated actively in a campaign for 10 years.

However, candidates for local and state offices still look to the Latin Chamber for support in their campaigns.

"During the last five years, as they see the growth in the Hispanic electorate, more candidates seek exposure to the Hispanic community through our luncheons and other forums," Sanchez said.

Hispanics now represent 18.7 percent of the county's voting age population, with 191,000 of slightly more than 1 million total.

But Sanchez also said that offering advice or exposure is different from offering money or endorsement.

"I think supporting candidates has its pitfalls, and one of them could be losing the bipartisan reputation the Latin Chamber has been able to build," he said.

No one has raised the issue of endorsing candidates with Sanchez during his two years as head of the chamber's government affairs committee.

"But if I'm elected president, and there is support for the idea, then I'll listen to it," he said.

Lopez said veteran members of the Latin Chamber would not support "going partisan," or endorsing candidates.

"This could be divisive and takes away from our main mission of developing the Hispanic business community. Plus, if you support the wrong candidate, then the winner in a race could do damage to your organization afterward," Lopez said.

But others within the organization think the issue's time has come.

"It makes sense for the board to revisit the idea of not supporting candidates and to get involved more aggressively in the political realm," said Aldo Aguirre, candidate for the one of the chamber's open seats on the board of directors.

Aguirre said that national Hispanic organizations such as the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund already look to the Latin Chamber of Commerce for contacts with Southern Nevada's Hispanic community and stepping up its political activities would be a natural outgrowth of its leadership role.

"Whether it wants to or not, the Latin Chamber has taken on a political role," said political consultant and Latin Chamber of Commerce member Andres Ramirez.

"At this stage, with the growth of the Hispanic community, endorsing candidates is absolutely necessary. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce does this, and it's going to happen with the Latin Chamber of Commerce, regardless of who's elected president," Ramirez said.

Otto Merida, executive director of the Latin Chamber and one of its founders, said the Hispanic community needs to raise its political profile, and the organization could play a role.

"Until you can say this person won or lost an election and Hispanics made the difference, we won't get the respect we deserve as a community," Merida said.