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The Contested LULAC Elections:
A National Latino
Organization in Turmoil
The NiLP Network on Latino Issues (July 21, 2014)

The election of Maggie Rivera and her slate at the July 12th election of officers
by the membership of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) at
their annual convention in New York is being contested.

As evidenced by the large turnout and the type of corporate and other support
their 85th annual convention had, LULAC is a key player in national Latino
politics. However, it is interesting that given that a major leadership change in
the organization could have important implications for Latinos nationally, this
controversial election received little media attention. At the same time, largely
contradictory information about what happened and whether or not the
organization has a new leadership has created much confusion in the Latino
community.

On the afternoon of Saturday, July 12th, the last day of the LULAC Convention,
the 1,623 certified delegates were assembled to vote for the organization's
officers. The candidates for President were Roger Rocha of Texas and Maggie
Rivera of Chicago. Rocha was representing what some refer to as the status quo
"Machine" from Texas led by LULAC's current president, Margaret Moran, along
with Luis Vera, Manuel Escobar and Rosa Rosales. The elections were to be
overseen by Moran, Vera as the Election Judge, and Manuel Escobar as Legal
Advisor..

In a move to prevent Moran and Escobar from utilizing technicalities to
influence or postpone the election since it appeared that their slate of officers
did not have the votes to be elected, Eduardo Laguerre, LULAC's New York State
President and a Maggie Rivera supporter, obtained a temporary restraining
order from a New York judge to stop them from interfering with the election.
However, it was reported that Luis Vera, who was presiding over the meeting
as Election Judge first delayed the election and when the delegates
reassembled, he inaccurately presented the TRO to the body as a court order
canceling the elections. Then, most accounts had the Rocha delegates leaving
and the Maggie Rivera delegates remaining to carry on the elections.

Because the delegates wore white and yellow t-shirts indicating who they
planned to vote for, it became evident that most of the delegates were dressed
in yellow, indicating their support for Rivera. It was also widely acknowledge
that the remaining delegates constituted a quorum and, on this basis, continued
with the elections. The Rocha Texas group apparently underestimated Rivera's
level of support and, according to their detractors, tried to "steal the election"
with this maneuver going around the TRO that was directed at them. As of
today, a press release by LULAC on their website dated July 12th provides the
following account of the election:

On the final day of the convention, the elections were postponed due to a court
order. While the organization vigorously disputes the plaintiff's tactic in
obtaining such an order without prior notice to LULAC, the organization's
leadership had no choice but to comply with the order and to pursue legal
remedies moving forward.

However, on that same day, the LULAC chapter in Puerto Rico issued a press
release in Spanish from Manuel Hernndez-Gonzlez announcing that Maggie
Rivera was elected to be the new National President of LULAC. Another press
release was issued announcing Rivera's election by the LULAC Aurora Council
#5218 in Illinois, using the organization's national letterhead.

At the first meeting of the LULAC National Board following the Convention, held
on July 18th in Washington, DC, the old officers met since they didn't recognize
that a legitimate election was held at the Convention. This also created the
possible problem that four of its members --- Margaret Moran, Rosa Rosales,
Manuel Rendon and Mickie Luna --- attended, some argue, in violation of the
organization's by-laws limiting their terms to four years.

Luis Vera, upon returning to Texas from the Convention, filed a court complaint
against Eduardo Laguerre, Magdalena, Rivera, Ralina Cordona, Enrique
Dovalina, Baldomar Garza, Ray Mancera and other un-named Defendants "for
committing law fraud, tortuous interference, declaratory judgment and civil
conspiracy." The complaint asks the court to have the defendants "be
preliminarily and permanently enjoined from engaging in the acts of officers of
LULAC to which they believe they may have been elected on July 12, 2014" and
ordering that "pending the court's decision on the issues in the complaint that
all national officers of LULAC holding office prior to July 12, 2014 remain in the
status quo as provided in Article VIII, Section 6, Paragraph b of the LULAC
constitution, By-laws and Protocol." This resulted in a temporary restraining
order barring Maggie Rivera and her slate from taking office until a
determination is made at an August 1st court date.

As LULAC goes to court over the legitimacy of their elections, the leadership
vacuum this creates will no doubt affect the group's effectiveness and the
morale of its staff. Besides the obvious internal power struggle that is going on,
largely focused on the control that the Texas contingent has had for a long time
over the organization, there were other issues that have arisen as a result of
this contested election. One is the role of statehood advocates from Puerto Rico
who have, since the Puerto Rico Governor Rossello Administration in the early
1990s, have sought to influence LULAC on this status issue by creating a large
number of LULAC Councils in Puerto Rico and within mostly the Northeast and
Midwest, each one of which has a vote at their annual conventions. At one point
allies of the Texas contingent, in this election they sided with the Maggie Rivera
opposition.

There were also complaints about the role that the controversial Herbalife
corporation played by sponsoring multiple LULAC Councils, ghost writing
letters and op-eds for LULAC members to Congresspersons and the press,
hiring the predecessor of LULAC's Executive Director to lobby LULAC members
to overturn the LULAC National Board's position on this issue, passing out
flyers and documents highly critical LULAC's director, Brent Wilkes, during
their New York convention and taking out a full page add in the New York
newspaper, El Diario. On the other hand, there were also concerns that hedge
fund manager Bill Ackman, the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital
who is promoting the destabilization of Herbalife, also funded a number of
LULAC Councils from Puerto Rico and elsewhere to influence the vote.

Given the important role that LULAC plays in advocating on immigration and
other issues affecting the Latino community nationally, one would expect better
coverage of this election controversy by the media. The outcome could affect
the group's agenda in significant ways that should be of deep concern to the
Latino community since they purport to speak on this community's behalf in
Washington, DC and elsewhere.

The NiLP Network on Latino Issues
is an online information service provided by the National Institute for Latino
Policy (NiLP). For further information, visit our website, www.latinopolicy.org.


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