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Roberto Torres elected new president of the Hispanic/Latino Democratic Caucus

With interwoven Rico-commentary

Robert Torres, the director for Toledo’s Office of Latino Affairs, was elected to a two-year term as president of the Hispanic/Latino Democratic Caucus (Lucas County ), which held its elections last Saturday at the Democrat Party headquarters.

¡Felicidades, Roberto!  

Retiring president, attorney Angelita Cruz Bridges, presided, assisted by retiring recording secretary, attorney Arturo Quintero.

Robert Torres

Nominated for president were Cindy Arredondo Geronimo and Torres; Danny Contreras and Catherine Hernández for vice president; Marisol Ibarra and Barbara Cruz for recording secretary;  Connie Treviño Eason for corresponding secretary, and John Martínez for treasurer.  

After discussion, the members voted and Torres was elected president; Contreras, vice president; Barbara Cruz, recording secretary; Eason, corresponding secretary; and Martínez, treasurer. Was this effervescence?  

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An interlude

Torres, who graciously took a hit from the TPS Board, was not daunted by either the Party’s or the Toledo Public School Board’s lack of faith in Latinos, when both failed to fill Anita López’s seat on the Board with Torres or Latina candidates Eva Vindas or Denise Alvarado Haack. [Or Steve Steel, who is married to caucus member, Catherine Hernández.]

López, a Democrat and a Latina, left her seat to become Lucas County recorder, a position she handily won last November.  

Cindy Geronimo

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While the ultimate appointment, Democrat Steven Thomas of Local 500, is more than competent, both the Party and the TPS Board missed the boat by not appointing a Latino/a, all of whom were highly qualified.  

[I was impressed with the credentials of Thomas after reading a cover-story on him in last week’s edition of Sojourner’s Truth.]  

Is it any wonder that President Bush received 41 percent of the Latino vote in last November’s election (up by 6 percent from his 2000 election)? Take note, Democrats, and “harken!” à la mode of a Shakespearean tragedy.  

TPS Board President Larry Sykes and the Board were criticized in several circles for not conducting interviews of all the candidates—such as Torres and Vindas—and for not conducting the interviews in public. The Board was also reproved for not selecting a Latino/a. But that’s another saga!

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At last week’s TPS Board’s swearing-in ceremony of Mr. Thomas, Sykes blamed the non-appointment of a Latino/a on Ms. López herself, for ‘abandoning her education-post to run for recorder.’

Ergo, does this follow? I think not. I submit that this is a non sequitur.

Anita, we are proud of you and your race (a double-entendre intended—your election and ethnicity)!  

Arturo Quintero, Marisol Ibarra and 
Angelita Cruz Bridges

Back to business

Brief business was conducted and caucus member Lourdes Santiago, a staff attorney for the City of Toledo’s Law Department, informed the group that she was intending to ask the Party for an endorsement to run for a judgeship in Toledo Municipal Court—in one of the vacancies created when Judges Denise Dartt and Thomas Osowik were elected to the Common Pleas bench (Lucas County) last November.

Ms. Santiago would be seeking the endorsement for either the Osowik or Dartt six-year seat in the November-aught-5 election.  

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On Jan. 27, Ohio governor Bob Taft appointed attorney Tim Kuhlman to the Dartt seat. Since 1999, Kuhlman, a Republican, has run twice unsuccessfully for Toledo Municipal Court and once for Common Pleas Court.

Taft will also be appointing a judge to fill the Osowik seat in municipal court, the 6^th District Court of Appeals seat vacated by Judge Judith Lanzinger after her successful election to the Ohio Supreme Court, and to the Court of Common Pleas, after Judge William Skow’s successful election to the appellate bench.    

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Connie Eason, Lucy Weaver and 
John Martinez.

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The meeting closed with kudos to Angelita Cruz Bridges and retiring officers, for jobs well done. I second that!

The next caucus meeting will be on Saturday, February 12, 2005 , at El Camino Real restaurant on Douglas and Sylvania Avenues, commencing at 11:00AM , for meeting, followed by celebration of the incoming and outgoing officers.