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Roy M. Perez |
SACRAMENTO, CA -- California’s
Latino population will become the majority within a couple of years and their
growth can be seen in schools, businesses and local elected offices in nearly
every community across the state. But
being 40 percent of the state’s population, Latinos have limited statewide
public policy influence due to comprising only one-fourth of all California’s
voters and having too few elected legislators.
As a result, Latino organizations, public and private, have been leaning
on lobbyists and advocates to assist them in fighting or supporting public
policy being considered in the legislature, the governor’s office, the
constitutional offices, and among the dozens of boards, departments and
commissions.
Among
the many lobbyists and advocates working in Sacramento, California’s State
Capitol, there are only a handful of successful Latino owned and operated firms
that are making a difference in representing the Latino communities. One such successful government advocacy firm
is RMP Strategies, whose CEO, Roy M. Perez, has been referred to as “perhaps
the most powerful non-elected Latino in California.”
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Roy at State Capitol |
As Special Assistant, Roy honed his diplomatic and community activism skills by
establishing collaborations among the state’s Democratic and Republican leaders
as well as between African American, Women, Asian, Latino and Native American
groups. But in 1987, tragedy struck
Roy’s family that left him and Gloriamalia to care for and raise his sister’s
five children along with their own.
Together, they worked at building their own ranch house where the seven
children were raised, and where more recently, one of them married. Their success in raising the children was
recognized by the first ladies of the California governor and the President of
the United States, awarding them the distinguished “Hispanic Family of the
Year.”
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Roy and Gloriamalia Perez |
The
Journal On Latino Americans (JOLA) had the pleasure of interviewing Roy and ask
his perspective on key issues facing California:
JOLA: Roy, you were recently described by a couple
of key Latino leaders as being “Perhaps the most powerful non-elected Latino in
the State,” how do you react to that?
Roy: Well, I don’t know who said that, but I am
humbled by that distinction. I have
always seen my role as being a facilitator and have strived to connect people
or at least share information that would help someone connect with the person
that may be able to help them, and perhaps that’s what they are referring
to. I have to admit I do know a lot of
people and enjoy being able to help our community as best I can.
JOLA: As a former Capitol insider, lobbyist and now
advocate, your perspective on politics is unique. Do you think Latinos in California have made
any political gains? Or, have we lost
ground since we have decreased representation in the legislature?
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Receiving the "Lifetime Achievement Award" |
JOLA: Do you believe, as Democrats and Republicans
have stated, that Latinos are born Democrats?
Roy: What I have learned is that I don’t want to
give ‘blind loyalty.’ That’s the worst
thing a citizen can do, particularly a Latino who wants to be a leader, because
blind loyalty will destroy you. It
destroys because you don’t question authority or question your colleagues who
are leading you down that path. For
example, the Republican far right and the Democrat far left have their own
agenda and their job is to recruit you to follow their agenda. To me, it’s ok for the parties to have their
own agenda as long as we don’t get sucked into their agenda. A leader leads and doesn’t follow and we
should not get ourselves trapped into following someone else’s, or a political
party’s agenda. During the Chicano
movement there were very liberal Marxist and socialist Democrats who were
pushing their ideological beliefs on Raza, which some followed and as a result,
we lost out since these were wealthy individuals that took us down this path and
when the movement was over, these people drove off on their luxury cars back to
Beverly Hills leaving us in the same position. That’s why I say we cannot to give blind
loyalty to any person or party.
JOLA: Two years ago, there were 7 Latinos running
for statewide office, but none received their party’s endorsement. Do you believe the party’s are using our
vote, but don’t want to see us in office?
Roy: Well, are we electing someone because they are Latino or Latina? Or, are we electing a super qualified individual that can articulate issues and be a leader that happens to be a Latino or Latina? I’ve seen pretty bad candidates in both parties. If we’re talking about the GOP party, it has a very, very serious challenge within their own party. One we have the far right GOP that is a demagogic arm that deals mainly with social issues, while we also have a more moderate Republican that, to their credit, are trying to do what is best for California that can work with the moderate Democrats. On the other, we have the far left in the Democratic Party that is nearly identical to the far right of the GOP, but at the complete opposite end. The problem the GOP has because of the right wings demagogic view is that when we talk about Latinos they begin to talk about immigration and use it as a political tool to whip their opponent. They stir frenzy in their community that destroys a moderate opponent, and at the same time, they throw gasoline in the entire field, burning everybody and now they have lost the Latino voter and they burn themselves out, and now they have no power. And, the Democrats do the same thing, using immigration and social security as the political tools. What this does is make it difficult for moderates on either party to gain traction, and most Latinos are moderate.
JOLA: Do you think the GOP can regain Latino
support like they once had under Ronald Reagan, or have they become irrelevant
among Latino voters?
Roy: I was invited to attend a private meeting in DC with House
Speaker John Boehner and several Congressional leaders, by U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce past Chairman David Lizarraga, to discuss Latino issues including immigration. I was asked to take the lead on the immigration issue. We were asked by the GOP leadership on how they could resolve this issue. I explained to them that they
created their own situation by politicizing the immigration issue to get elected. Now that they see there is a
bigger calling and realize that they have a responsibility to our nation and the human
beings that live in this country, they can’t responsibly resolve the immigration issue because its so politicized. They have created such a monster out there (with
immigration) that if they try to take the logical and humane position, a good
public policy position, their opponents will kill them in reelection. Because
they created that monster and now they’re asking us to come and support them
and give them advice on gaining Latino voter support, with us risking taking a
bullet for them, there’s no way we can put ourselves in that position. There’s nothing we can do. I shared with them that they need to rectify, remedy
this within their own ranks because this already took off and has it’s own life
and I gave them the example of Governor Pete Wilson. I shared that Wilson was pro affirmative
action and had top Latinos around him when he was Mayor (of San Diego), but
when Proposition 187 came around and he was running for reelection as governor,
his campaign politicized the immigration issue. The
way they framed it (immigration) is what created the anti-republican attitude, especially among Latinos. Then, other Republican candidates took this as
a way they could win an election in other parts of the nation. As a result, the GOP is now in a real politically challenged position. And, until they fix that, they
will not be able to elect moderate Republicans in their ranks that can relate to Latino
voters, especially in California.
JOLA: You’ve been a leader in the Latino and
general business community for many years and have seen the demographic changes
in the state, should the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce build
coalitions?
Roy: Before we build coalitions, we need to build ourselves first. You can’t save the world until you take care of your family. We shouldn’t worry about that until we take care of our own backyard and build a solid foundation to collaborate with others, like the African American, Slavic American, Cambodian American and Vietnamese Americans chambers. Then we'll be in a position to share resources and expertise with others. Through collaboration we will turn the economy around in California.
JOLA: We want to thank you for taking time to talk
to us Dr. Perez and look forward to your continued leadership.
Roy: The pleasure is all mine and we need to
continue fighting to move all of us forward.
Roy accepting his Honorary Doctorate Degree from San Jose State
Roy is a great American who is truly a role model and leader for all of us. Great article! Hope one day he does get elected to a top political position.
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