Message Man

Amy Keller | 6/1/2007

Immigration focus

This isn't the first time Bush has turned to Martinez for help with Hispanics. Martinez's 2001-03 stint as HUD secretary saw him talking up the Bush administration's message on everything from the war on terrorism to his budget ["The President's Voice -- En Español," September 2002, FloridaTrend.com]. Then, in 2003, reportedly at the urging of Bush political adviser Karl Rove, Martinez left HUD to run for retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham's U.S. Senate seat, a move calculated to torpedo Katherine Harris and help Bush with his own re-election bid by energizing Hispanic voters.

Getting Personal Family: Wife of 36 years, Kitty; son Andrew, 13, going into the eighth grade, active in Boy Scouts, football, lacrosse, basketball; son John, 26, married to Helen Owens; daughter Lauren Shea, 29, lawyer, married to Jim Shea, mother of two, Kaley, 5, and Jack, 3. Hobbies: Biking, hunting, coaching Andrew's basketball team, fishing, snorkeling and boating. Staying Fit: Daily early morning workouts. Recommended Reading: "John Adams" by David McCullough; "Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulag" by Armando Valladares Musical Tastes: '60s Motown, beach music, including Jimmy Buffett, and Gloria Estefan [Photo: Peter Cosgrove / AP]

Martinez says he accepted the RNC post out of a sense of duty. "It wasn't my idea, nor did I particularly want it, but the president asked me earnestly if I would consider doing it, and I found it difficult to say no to the president, any president."

Six months into the RNC job, Martinez is evolving a two-pronged strategy to repair the GOP's relationship with Latinos. Publicly, he's hitting the hustings with Bush and spearheading Latino-focused fund-raising events. A recent Cuban/Hispanic fund-raising event Martinez hosted in Los Angeles was such a success, an aide said, that the RNC had to move it to a larger venue.

Behind the scenes, Martinez is focusing on crafting an approach to immigration reform. "The stance of House Republicans in the previous Congress in favor of border security and against a path for legislating a work program has clearly hurt the Republican Party in its quest for the Hispanic vote. I believe that Sen. Martinez thinks that," says Rollins College political science professor Rick Foglesong, who's writing a biography of Martinez.

Along with Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, and several Senate Republicans, including Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Arizona Sens. John Kyl and John McCain, Martinez has met regularly with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to try to work out a compromise on immigration reform that would establish a temporary worker program while also beefing up border security. Martinez envisions the establishment of a "Z visa" that would provide current undocumented workers the chance to seek citizenship. Future "guest workers," however, wouldn't have that option. Martinez says he is optimistic that Congress can have a bill ready for the president by the August recess.

Instantly animated whenever he speaks about immigration issues, Martinez has more than a partisan interest in the debate. Born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, in 1946, he immigrated to the United States in 1962 through Operation Pedro Pan, an effort led by the Catholic Welfare Bureau in Miami to airlift children out of Cuba after Fidel Castro took over. Unlike many Pedro Pan children who lived in south Florida, often with relatives, Martinez lived with foster families in Orlando for four years until his parents and siblings were able to immigrate.

"As the only immigrant in the Senate, I felt like I had a special responsibility to get involved in the debate," Martinez says. "I've always been a great believer in the transforming nature of what an immigrant goes through in America -- to take someone from another land and mold them into what it is to be an American."

Campaigning in Florida, he says, also shaped his thinking on the issue. Citrus farmers in Polk County, vegetable growers in south Florida, members of the hotel and tourism industry and the construction trades all described how much they rely on immigrant labor. "They were insistent that we do something to ... keep a flow of workers coming to our country in a legal way."

Tags: Politics & Law, Government/Politics & Law