Democratic Party of Georgia

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Rep. Pedro Marin – Georgia Democrats Walk the Walk with Engagement

The following is an op-ed published in the AJC by DPG Vice Chair of Constituency Groups Rep. Pedro Marin.

 

Georgia Democrats Walk the Walk with Engagement

 

Georgia Republicans have a serious problem—they continue to alienate huge swaths of the electorate. This alienation has been so intense that after the 2012 election cycle specialists were brought in to help them reexamine the Republican platform and reframe their messaging. But rather than take the advice they were given and change their offensive policies toward women, people of color and young people, Republicans have continued their pattern of superficial changes, hiring a few minority outreach staff and holding trainings to teach candidates how to appear politically correct.

 

If the Georgia GOP’s “new” engagement plan sounds familiar, that’s because Republicans promised to listen to key constituencies and change their ways in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012. Sure it sounds good on the campaign trail, but Georgians are smart enough to know this maneuvering is merely window dressing.

 

Just this year, Republican lawmakers authored and passed a bill to further restrict women’s health care decisions. Rather than trust women, Republicans chose to strip away their privacy rights.

 

Immigrants remain a favorite target of Republican intolerance. This year, a majority of Senate Republicans pushed legislation that would deny driver’s licenses to immigrants who have been granted legal presence under deferred action, or who held temporary drivers licenses. Senate Republicans also proposed an amendment to Georgia’s Constitution that would mandate the written portion of the driven exam to be printed only in English. Not only is this kind of fear-based legislation mean-spirited—it’s an assault on free speech, one affects hundreds of immigrant families legally in the United States.

 

There’s also the matter of disenfranchisement at the ballot box. Over the last several years, the Georgia GOP has continuously eroded one of our most fundamental rights—our right to vote. In 2005, Republicans led the charge to pass discriminatory voter ID legislation. Just this year, Republicans tried to shorten early voting time for everyone from 21 days to six days.

 

My party—the Democratic Party—is one of inclusion.

 

Democrats trust women to make their own decisions.

 

Furthermore, this year, 10 of our 15 candidates for the state’s executive branch are women. Roughly half of my Democratic colleagues in the state House are women. Seven of 18 Democrats in the Senate are women, compared to just one Republican woman the GOP caucus. Many of these Democratic women are in positions of leadership.

 

Democrats have fought and will continue to fight to expand ballot access. We believe that voter restrictions disproportionately harm African-Americans, Latinos, elderly, women, the poor and young people.

 

Democrats have learned that inclusion and diversity are not boxes to be checked off, and they certainly aren’t marketing programs to be handled by a few hired specialists. Appealing to a diverse citizenry means you stand up for and respect the things they believe in. Trying to retrofit diversity into a stale and exclusionary agenda will not work. Only through meaningful dialogue and a party platform that looks like 2014, not 1914, will the GOP be successful in their experiment with diversity.

 

This essay was originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution May 8, 2014

 

Representative Pedro Marin serves as the Democratic Party of Georgia’s Vice Chair for Constituency Groups and represents the citizens of State House District 96, which includes portions of the cities of Duluth & Norcross in Gwinnett County. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2002, and currently serves on the Banks & Banking, Economic Development & Tourism, and Industry and Labor committees.

 

Democrats open new Georgia headquarters with Debbie Wasserman Schultz

(Article found at the Washington Examiner.)

Democrats aren’t conceding any region of the country in their quest to re-elect President Barack Obama in 2012, the party’s chairwoman told Georgia Democrats on Wednesday at the opening of their new state party headquarters.

Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that includes Georgia, a state Obama lost three years ago by five percentage points.

“We are planting a flag in the South,” Schultz told a crowd of about 300. “We need to make sure we explain to voters that 2012 is personal.”

Schultz’s visit comes as Obama makes a three-day swing through the South touting his jobs plan, which failed to pass the Senate last week. Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, said there is a growing groundswell of Democratic momentum in the state and region, bolstered by the area’s changing demographics.

“We’re just building off the momentum we started in 2008,” she said, noting that the Obama campaign pulled out of Georgia several weeks before the general election. “It just became clear that it would be political malpractice to assume that the South is assumed to just be red.”

Schultz highlighted the growth of the country’s Latino population, in Georgia in particular, and said those voters could be key to an Obama victory.

“We are going to continue to quietly organize, slowly but surely,” she said. “I know the perception is that Georgia is a red state, but we’re slowly turning it purple around the edges.”

State Rep. Pedro Marin, a Georgia Democrat who was the first Latino elected to the state legislature, said he has heard frustration from Latinos about what they perceive to be a hostile attitude from Republicans. Marin said about 100,000 Latinos are registered Georgia voters, but another 100,000 are unregistered. The goal is to get them signed up and at the polls in November, and to convince them that Obama is still their best choice, Marin said.

“The resentment of Latinos is strong in Georgia,” he said, citing the state’s immigration law passed earlier this year by the Legislature. “It’s a big goal, but we have some groups out here doing voter registration. It’s working.”

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who also spoke at the opening, said he was encouraged by the packed building and cheering crowd, and urged them to rest up over the holidays ahead of a busy 2012 election season.

“We have a new energy, we have a new sense of purpose and a sense of mission,” Reed said. “This is exactly the kind of energy we’re going to need to re-elect Barack Obama.”

Reed added that the choice for voters is becoming clearer as the Republican presidential field continues to campaign and debate.

“They’ve been comparing [Obama] to the Almighty since the day he got in office,” Reed said. “Last night … you saw their alternative.”