McCain’s $25 million dollar man

San Antonio Current ^ | 3/5/2008 | Joe Solis

[SwinneySwitch]

The Say-Town Lowdown

MATT.org, Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, is based in the Alamo City where Tejanos and Mexicanos once fought against each other. The non-profit describes its mission in the following manner: “To encourage Mexicans and Americans to come together to bridge the gaps in understanding and quality of life so that we may truly prosper together.” Legendary marketer and advisor to GOP presidents Lionel Sosa enthusiastically leads the organization.

The group is passionate about immigration reform; the issue is at the center of everything it does. The organization launched a massive billboard and PR blitz during the 2006 comprehensive-immigration-reform battle centered around the Kennedy-McCain bill that went down in flames. At a July 26, 2007, international business luncheon, Sosa said that pro-immigration groups “can’t get their act together.” He also lamented that there is “no clear voice on immigration.” The recent failure of comprehensive immigration reform has convinced Sosa that we need a “clear message for the next time.” MATT.org is Sosa’s marketing response to this national challenge.

The group religiously tells the world it is nonpartisan and non-profit. Yet, when Mr. Sosa walks the halls of Congress advocating, on behalf of MATT.org for immigration reform, it is my belief that he is performing the role of a lobbyist. The same applies to the massive media campaign that now involves television commercials. It is clear political advocacy.

Sosa even talks like a lobbyist. “In the end, [the] solution is breaking down the laws and slipping them in with other legislation,” he said at the July 27 meeting. MATT.org is not a political-action committee, but based on its activities, it should be.

In 2007, Sosa sponsored a campaign fundraiser at the swanky Plaza Club on Houston Street for then-presidential-candidate Bill Richardson. He recently told CandidatoUsa.com, “I, for one, am back with my party and with John McCain.” The non-profit leader continues to be a political activist at a very high level.

On January 16, 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported the following: “Mr. Sosa says he has raised $25 million for the campaign from one group he didn’t identify.” This massive donation concerns me and it should trouble every American during a presidential year. I’m all for political activism and free speech, but I want to know who is bankrolling efforts to alter our immigration laws.

Was it a foreign government? A foreign citizen? Was it a billionaire with a special interest in helping a specific candidate who advocates comprehensive immigration reform? Why the mystery? Think about it: Who has that kind of money to throw around?

Speaking of mysteries, at that July 26 meeting, Sosa claimed that his organization has 1.3 million members. “Membership” to MATT.org simply involves going to their website and entering your personal password. They don’t need your name or your address. You do not have to agree to any set of values or beliefs. There is no need to donate money to the cause. It is my belief that MATT’s “members” are made up of 1.3 million individuals who have simply visited his website.

Where are the chapter meetings a la LULAC? Where are the grassroots leaders a la César Chávez, on the ground advocating for reform? Where are the legions of MATT.org supporters at rallies and political meetings? The MATT.org board of directors is made up of the same corporate elites who sit on every other board in San Antonio.

Sosa is essentially creating an illusion of massive political power and influence based on creative marketing. Martin Luther King, Willie Velasquez, and César Chávez changed our world by bringing the grassroots together and empowering them. They never had a $25-million piggy bank endowed by an anonymous donor. Where are the MATT.org activists? They don’t exist in the real world if you ask me.

Sosa should be commended and applauded for taking on such a difficult subject with endless points of view. He has put himself in the center of a challenging storm. But in an open democracy, we deserve transparency and honesty when it comes to political activities and the resources used to fund it. This is even more relevant when Sosa, a McCain supporter, takes in $25 million for his organization and openly claims it will be using those resources to advocate for the same immigration reforms backed by his presidential candidate. This one really stinks if you ask me.

MATT.org should do the right thing. It should disclose the name of the $25-million donor and they should also come clean about their membership base. The Tejanos and the Mexicanos it claims to represent deserve the truth and not a mystery.

[SwinneySwitch]

Follow the money.

[SwinneySwitch]

Ping!

If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.

[humblegunner]

come together to bridge the gaps in understanding and quality of life

First item:

Quit throwing used toilet paper on the bathroom floor.
This is a prime quality of life issue that I just can't get past.

[bpjam]

My guess: George Soros or Carlos Slim.

[Travis McGee]

Benedict Arnold was a big war hero too. Before he became a traitor.

This is the man John McCain chose to be his "Hispanic Outreach Director." Hernandez is a certified traitor. Born in Dallas, he decided as an adult to become a dual-national Mexican citizen. His last "real" job was serving on Mexican President Vicente Fox's cabinet as his "American Reconquista Director." After that gig ran out, he worked (sic) for George Soros funded internationalist foundations, like the one that published his new book.

The "New American Pioneers" proclaimed in his book are the illegal alien invaders he urges to become settlers in the USA. Hernandez believes all Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the USA should become dual citizens and consider themselves Mexicans first, "to the 8th generation." He believes there should be no border at all between Mexico and the USA, ever.

And this is the man McCain chose for his "Hispanic Outreach Director." In the past week McCain was asked about this choice, and he said he chose Hernandez because he agrees with his positions. If so, McCain is supporting invasion and reconquista.

Then I read our Constitution, Article 4 Section 4, where it says the federal government MUST protect the states from invasion, and I can only conclude one thing: John McCain is our new Benedict Arnold.

"In his own words: McCain’s radical Hispanic outreach director Juan Hernandez on youtube"

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/01/27/in-his-own-words-mccains-hispanic-outreach-director-preaches-open-borders/

[AuntB]

humblegunner, I just heard a local news item about a guy they arrested for killing someone, stabbed, I think. Any way he’s a gang member and goes by the name ‘Alien Boy’. Some of them are proud of their status.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

>>“In the end, [the] solution is breaking down the laws and slipping them in with other legislation,” he said at the July 27 meeting. MATT.org is not a political-action committee, but based on its activities, it should be.<<

The US public rejected the kind of “comprehensive immigration reform” pushed last year, even though they tried to get the mysterious bill (created behind closed doors, with the US Chamber of Commerce and “ethnocentric groups” invited but not anyone representing the US public) voted on before Senate members had even read it. But that was not sneaky or sleazy enough.

McCain has some real real patriots in his corner. But not patriots of this country.

[Kimberly GG]

“McCain has some real real patriots in his corner. But not patriots of this country.”

Having just taken the FR Poll, I am absolutely amazed at the number of Freepers who will vote for such a despicable man.

[Cyropaedia]

Probably the Mexican government.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

>>Having just taken the FR Poll, I am absolutely amazed at the number of Freepers who will vote for such a despicable man.<<

I am surprised too, but by "Not patriots of this country" I didn't mean people who plan to vote for McCain. Many of them don't really like McCain but think he might be better than the Dems. I think it's the Scylla or the Charybdis (from Homer's Odyssey, where the ship would have go near the Scylla, a multi-headed monster that ate sailors, or Charybdis, a whirlpool that destroyed entire ships). In the Odyssey, they avoided the Charybdis but the Scylla ate half of the crew.

[wolfcreek]

On the surface, MATT.org appears to be of the right frame of mind...attempting to prop up opportunities in Mexico so they won’t come here.

I’m all for that but, if they’re bankrolling McCain, it would seem counterproductive to their supposed goal. McCain along with his brethren over at the CFR just want the cheap labor. Fixxing problems with the Mexican economy is most likely secondary in their thinking.

[wolfcreek]

Yes, if CFR is involved, Soros is the likely source of funding.

[SwinneySwitch]

The Mexican economy is dependent on the Billions of US dollars sent back home by Mexicans living in the United States.