Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 9:21 AM Good morning!

Hispanic, black biz leaders like Bush's politics and policies

Wednesday, March 28, 2001

By TARA COPP Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON -- Hispanic business owners, who are growing in numbers and affluence, are comfortable with President Bush's fiscally oriented politics and feel more welcome at the economic table now than they did in the Clinton administration, leaders and analysts say.

If Democrats want to keep their traditional support from Hispanics, business leaders say, they are going to have to change.

"There is enormous clout right now," said Robert Deposada, executive director of the Hispanic Business Roundtable. "I don't recall anything like this ... the intensity, the levels of the people involved."

When White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey was working on the administration's proposed tax cut during the campaign last year, he invited the Roundtable and other Hispanic business groups to meet with him, Deposada said. And when the legislation was ready for the public, Bush introduced it at a Rose Garden ceremony that included 75 Hispanic business leaders.

"With the (Census) numbers that just came out, we've seen a major transformation," said George Herrera, CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "So we're looking more at issues that impact us - one issue is taxes, issues like the death tax and others that pertain to our businesses. They are issues that have become a lot more pressing to the community than they have been in the past."

What about social activism and poverty issues, long associated with Democrats?

"We'll support issues that empower us," Herrera said. "One of the true ways to deal with social ills is with Hispanic economic empowerment."

Last week the Commerce Department reported that 1.1 million businesses nationwide are owned by Hispanics and about 800,000 by African Americans. According to the latest figures available, 1997, Hispanic-owned businesses employed 1.3 million people and generated $186.3 billion in revenues; African American owned businesses employed 718,300 people and generated $71.2 billion in revenues.

Hispanic business interests say they have a bigger seat at the table than they did in the Clinton administration, even though the general view was that the Democratic White House would be more minority-friendly.

And it's not just the Hispanics who feel this way; so does the African American business community.

"The Black Chamber of Commerce is definitely in line with the Bush administration," said chamber president Harry Alford. "The Clinton administration ignored us. And when you look at the product from the small business perspective, the Bush administration is much more in line."

Politically, though, African Americans are still far more loyal to the Democratic ticket. Last November African Americans supported Al Gore 90 percent to Bush's 8 percent, according to Voter News Service, whereas Hispanics gave Bush 31 percent of their support, compared to 67 percent for Gore.

In a publicized White House outreach meeting with Bush in January, the Black Caucus once again voiced its opposition to the election outcome, strengthening the Hispanic's playing hand, according to Deposada.

"The tone and arrogance was such, that I think they did shoot themselves in the foot," Deposada said. "You should see the footage of that meeting, it's just embarrassing. When the hand is extended you, don't spit in it. When he reached out to Hispanics, there were an enormous amount of Hispanics who wanted to shake that hand and have become partners."

But there's a difference in business-oriented and politically oriented African Americans, said Harry Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. And the pro-business African Americans will be one more group that Democrats stand to lose.

"Please don't assume all black groups are Jesse Jackson," Alford said. "We won the civil rights movement. We can sue anyone that discriminates against us. But this country is based on capital and in order to be a part of this country, we must be capitalistic. And African Americans are finally starting to wake up to that, thank god."

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001