Reid reaches out to Hispanic electorate

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, May 9, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

In another example of the growing importance of the Hispanic electorate in Nevada and nationally, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has formed a "Hispanic Affairs Team."

The team consists of Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli, Hispanic media specialist and Marcela Urrutia, Hispanic policy specialist, both of whom will be based in Washington, and Ruben Kihuen, a regional representative based in Las Vegas.

And though other members of Nevada's congressional delegation haven't taken the same step -- and also aren't as highly placed as Reid, Senate minority leader -- they all have staff who focus on Hispanic outreach and others who work on issues of importance to the Hispanic community as part of their daily routine, staffers said.

Reid's total staff is 110, compared with a staff of 40 for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Rodriguez-Ciampoli, director of Hispanic media for Reid, said the decision to form the new team was "important (for Reid) as the leader of the (Democratic) party and (because of) the growing Hispanic population."

Statewide, the Hispanic population was estimated at 491,000, or 22 percent of the total population, in 2003, according to the Census Bureau.

Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Reid, said that in some instances the issues that the team and other staff members who are bilingual focus on are the same issues that concern other communities -- the importance is being able to address them in Spanish.

Marcela Urrutia, senior policy director in the new team, said that "many Latino issues are American issues -- such as health care, jobs and education."

Sonia Joya and Kathie Ambrosio are the two staffers for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who focus largely on Hispanic issues.

Still, she said, "Everyone in the office contributes to Hispanic outreach -- a large amount of casework comes from the Hispanic community, and many of them speak English."

Joya said she doesn't "ask about immigration status" when Hispanic constituents seek help from Ensign's office.

"They're constituents of the state of Nevada. All we need is permission to help them," she said.

Wes Lopez, regional representative for Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said part of his job is to "lower the barrier of language and culture, as a community of immigrants," for many of the valley's Hispanics.

Lopez, who is from Nicaragua, sees part of his job description as "somebody who speaks Spanish fluently and understands the educational and cultural mores of the Latin American community."

He said a large part of his daily work is dealing with immigration issues.

At the same time, he said, working with the Hispanic community "is not my only function -- I don't ask people for their last name, as long as they're part of the district and if they have some issue, we look to help."

Lopez, who is one of 15 staff members in Porter's office, said about 16 percent of his district is Hispanic.

David Cherry, spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said his office has one staff member whose duties include a focus on Hispanic outreach.

Berkley's District 1, which includes parts of North Las Vegas, is about 25 percent Hispanic. She has 17 staff members, Cherry said.

Cherry echoed others who said that it isn't always possible to separate Hispanics from others when it comes to naming issues of importance.

"You can get in trouble when you divide things along racial and ethnic lines," he said.

"You can slice the pie in a million ways -- a lot of problems that touch Hispanics also touch seniors, low-income families, African-Americans or Asians."

"It's tough to get your arms around what you should be talking about when it comes to the Hispanic community ... (and) you don't want to assume only certain things are important."