Tom Corbett Says He Can't Find Any Qualified Latinos to Serve in His Administration

Impact

In a roundtable with The Union League in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Corbett tongue-in-cheek replied to the moderator when asked of any Latino staffers employed in his office saying "No…but if you can find us one, please, let me know."

Corbett isn't the first of late to fumble with the ever-growing minority. The Heritage Foundation published a widely criticized thesis on the low IQ of Hispanics. Even the RNC Florida director of outreach resigned and publicized his change of affiliation to the Democratic Party citing a "culture of intolerance surrounding the Republican Party." Mind you, this was not two political seconds after the RNC announced a massive, multi-million dollar promotion to improve outreach towards and relations with Hispanic voters.

Is it a shock to anybody that the GOP has such problems reaching Hispanic voters, given all this vitriol?

In Governor Corbett's case, if we judge a man by his actions then we will never be fooled by his words, right?

Corbett might not have a single Hispanic working in his Harrisburg offices, but he did create the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs (GACLA). They make policy recommendations on behalf of the Latino community as well as make sure the governor is both accessible and accountable to them. Surely, they can recommend somebody … a binder full of Latinos, anybody?

Last year, however, hundreds of protesters took to the streets against Governor Corbett and Republican Pennsylvania state legislators for Arizona-style immigration reform proposals which included "measures that would add provisions forcing local police to act as immigration agents, deny public benefits to certain Pennsylvanians by requiring them to show government-issued ID, mandate the use of an E-Verify database, and deny children born to undocumented immigrants their constitutionally guaranteed citizenship."

It seems that any activity on the three bills containing these recommendations has died away in 2011 and 2012, and Corbett has been relatively mum on Latino issues ever since, leaving little else of his sentiments to speculate on.

The point here is that Corbett and other far-right GOP leadership are sinking on the Titanic but rearranging the furniture.

The GOP is losing on policy, but losing even worse so on the hope of a future thriving, empowered, Latino-supported Grand Ol' Party through obtuse and insensitive public remarks such as these.