Adventures of the Coconut Caucus

For those of us who have been covering the Hispanic Caucus since the days when there were like 10 members and Esteban Torres was still in the House, way before Linda or Loretta or Joe were elected, it was with great interest to find out that a media outlet that didn’t even exist 5 minutes ago, is actually the one who discovered us.

Today we were notified very politely that we should give credit where credit is due:

Subject: Loretta Sanchez story
From: “Josephine Hearn”
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 16:24:40 -0500
To: [Redacted]

Hi all,

If you are working on a story about Loretta Sanchez and the CHC, please credit Politico.com for breaking the story.

Below I am including stories I have written over the past year on the CHC rift. They may be of use to you.

Thanks,
Josephine Hearn

In the email, she highlights her byline in red and Hispanic Caucus in red also and gives a list of stories she wrote for The Hill…

Well,

Querida Miss Josefina:

Even this blog, which only comments on the work that others do, and claims credit for nothing, was well aware of the Sánchez vs Baca affair way back when it happened last year.

You can find more on the issue here in the work done by real reporters, other than yourself in the archives of the Capitol Standard (November 06)

And a December story here in Hispanic Business

I have only included stories in English, because why bother with the ones in Spanish that you obviously cannot read.

I would also add, that you might send this email to Loretta herself, who apparently did not consult you before sending out her press release announcing her split from the Caucus.

We have posted the statement here in case you didn´t get it, (notice the date) and as a bonus we have added a picture of her non exclusive xmas card, which we also posted last year.

But querida Josefina, do not worry too much, you are not the first to make such a mistake, Christopher Columbus also thought he “discovered” us after we had been living in America for several thousand years and some people still think that Taco Bell is authentic Mexican food.

The full exchange…

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The other man in Hillary Clinton’s life, Terry McAuliffe, has been giving interviews EVERYWHERE because he is on a book/Hillary tour.

OF course we were paying no attention at all until he said this:

“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, we all agree you’ve gotta shut the borders down. People who are coming into this nation and taking our jobs.”

He also said a bunch of stuff about closing “the borders” and about those “people who shouldn’t be here” and about a plan to get them back to the countries they came from”.

And here I thought that was Tancredo’s job.

You can hear it all here (real audio, and skip the whole first part, his quotes after the first caller)

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Can’t we all just get along?

Electoral fraud can appear even in the most unlikely places, (like Congress) and you don´t even need electronic voting to do it.

All you need is about 21, presumably adult, Hispanic legislators participating in a nonbinding election among themselves.

So now, months after Joe Machista Baca was elected as the fearless leader of the Hispanic Caucus, Loretta Sánchez has decided to quit the caucus over some cryptic technicality that she doesn´t explain in her press release reacting to herself.

I wonder if the ballot was in Spanglish, because if not, that would be a great reason to contest the election.

And to EVERYBODY who thinks that Loretta´s secession from the caucus has ANYTHING to do with the fact that Baca called her a woman with that oldest profession, she wants you to know that you are WRONG and that she has no intention of standing up for womens’ rights and against machista bosses. (except to yell at him directly and make him “turn white”)

So far no comment from sister Linda.

But no need to worry, she will still be included in this blog, because as she points out, she is still on some banking committee, and besides we don´t let something like voting get in our way.

Office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez

47th District, California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 31, 2007

Sanchez Resigns From Congressional Hispanic Caucus

WASHINGTON— Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) issued the following statement in response to her resignation from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“Today, I resign from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, chaired by Mr. Baca.

Last year, I and other Members of the Caucus voiced our strong opposition to Mr. Baca’s chairmanship due to a violation of election rules. An official response to our inquiry is still in question.

I will continue to be a strong and vocal advocate for the Hispanic community and serve as the Chairwoman of the Banking and Finance Committee for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a non-profit organization.”

And in case you really wanted to know here is Baca’s nonbinding response:

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