AZ/DC

Sen. John McCain's Latino supporters want apology for 'taco stop' charge

Dan Nowicki
The Republic | azcentral.com

After Sen. John McCain unveiled a Hispanic coalition supporting his 2016 campaign for a sixth term, the liberal organization Emily's List blasted the veteran Arizona Republican for putting "on his Hispanic sombrero to pander to the nearly two million Latinos in his state" in a political game.

The group, which has endorsed Democratic Senate candidate Ann Kirkpatrick, said McCain's Hispanic coalition, announced Thursday at a Latino-oriented marketplace in west Phoenix, was "fake."

And Tuesday, five days after the McCain event at Mercado de Los Cielos at Desert Sky Mall, the group renewed the attack.

In a news release, the group said, "McCain’s coalition is no more than the customary politico 'taco stop' where out-of-touch politicians visit Latino businesses for a photo op, say some nice words, eat a taco, and ignore Latino voters until the next re-election cycle."

If McCain had a sincere interest in representing Latinos, "a Hispanic coalition should have already been established as part of his agenda," Sonia Melendez Reyes, Emily's List deputy communications director, said in the written statement.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., shakes hands with a vendor at his store at Mercado de Los Cielos inside Desert Sky Mall in Phoenix on Oct. 15, 2015.

Now some of McCain's Latino supporters are pushing back, saying Emily's List's use of terms such as "taco stop" to describe McCain's coalition is offensive and that Kirkpatrick should insist that the group apologize.

"I really do find it offensive as a Latino because it says if you're a prominent Latino in business or in the community or whatever you might do, if you become a Republican or support a Republican, then that's 'fake,' " said Jaime Molera, a Phoenix political consultant and longtime McCain booster who is a member of the coalition. "And it's a kind of racist, stereotypical comeback."

Montini: Group uses lame Latino cliches to trash McCain

One can disagree with Latinos who support McCain over the issues without having to impugn their ethnic authenticity, said Molera, a Republican former state superintendent of public instruction. The Arizona Hispanic community is big enough and broad enough to accommodate many points of view, he said.

"Don't discount me as being part of a 'taco stop,' because I really find that to be repugnant," Molera said. "Folks always talk about the kind of mudslinging that doesn't belong in politics; well, that was the worst kind."

Emily's List, which backs Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights, endorsed Kirkpatrick on Sept. 22 and on Tuesday announced that McCain had been added to its "On Notice" list of incumbent Republicans who the Washington, D.C.-based organization says "will be held accountable for their anti-woman, anti-family records in the 2016 elections."

Asked for a response to the criticism, Melendez Reyes of Emily's List launched another broadside against McCain.

“Sen. McCain’s political tactics are even more insulting coming from someone whose rhetoric mirrors (Republican presidential front-runner) Donald Trump and policies block families from opportunity," she said in an e-mail to The Republic. "... But I guess it is still more convenient to give in to partisan politics rather than support opportunities like making college affordable, fixing that Latinas are paid 55 cents for the same work as a white man, and creating a livable wage for all Arizona workers.”

John McCain: GOP brand won't hurt me with Latinos

A spokesman for Kirkpatrick also dismissed the McCain camp's complaints.

"This is just another example of Senator McCain trying to distract voters from his real record," spokesman D.B. Mitchell said. "No matter how hard he tries, he can't hide from his history of blaming undocumented immigrants for 'home invasions and murders,' his vote against the Dream Act, or his efforts to block Dreamers from serving in the military."

Nowicki is The Arizona Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.