The Scoop: Harrop Blasts RI GOP Over Failure to Attract Hispanics

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Anthony Faccenda, The Scoop

 

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Welcome to The Scoop, the 4 p.m. report on everything politics in Rhode Island – the inside daily report exclusively on GoLocalProv.com.

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Harrop Blasts RI GOP Over Failure to Attract Hispanics

Republican candidate for mayor of Providence Daniel Harrop is criticizing the RI GOP over its ineffective attempts to court the Hispanic vote and it’s poor handling of immigration reform.

“The RI GOP has not addressed this constituency successfully,” Harrop told GoLocal. “The RI GOP is going to make no significant headway in the General Assembly without picking up some seats in the urban core in Rhode Island.”

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According to Harrop, the RI GOP has been particularly ineffective in appealing to Rhode Island’s Hispanic popular due to its stance on immigration reform.

“The Democrats have been successful because they have supported immigration reform. And why not? Who is going to deport 12 million plus people immigrants? The Democrats have also continually stood with the Hispanic community while the RI GOP has continued to insist on little to no contact until the borders are sealed and the immigration issues are settled,” said Harrop.

As for Harrop, he supports the Dream Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), which was first proposed in the U.S. Senate in 2001.

“As a candidate several times in Providence, I have specifically supported the Dream Act, immigration reform leading to a pathway to citizenship, and in-state tuition fees for high school graduates who may not have appropriate residency documentation,” Harrop said.

“We are losing generations of new voters in failing to support immigration reform, as Ronald Reagan did,” added Harrop.

In order to address this gap, Harrop is encouraging Republican candidates, staff and supporters to attend the Roosevelt Society’s upcoming “Engaging Latinos in Your Community & Political Organizations” event, which will address ways to effectively and respectfully engage the Hispanic population in community and/or political efforts.

The RI GOP currently has a Hispanic Assembly tasked with reaching out to Hispanic voters, but the group has been largely unsuccessful attracting the state’s more than 54,000 eligible Hispanic voters.

Michael Napolitano, RI GOP Communications Director, told GoLocal that he acknowledges the party could be doing more to attract Hispanic voters and stated that they’re currently “working on messaging.”

In regard to immigration reform, Napolitano told GoLocal that the RI GOP does support a pathway to citizenship as long as it includes sealing the country’s borders and implementing an e-verification system.

Interestingly, former Rhode Island Republican Hispanic Assembly chairman Ivan Marte resigned his post and quit the GOP in 2009 following South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst during a President Obama address to Congress in which he shouted “You lie,” while the President was speaking.

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