Delegate Diversity Celebrated at New York Republican National Convention
By Kevin Fobbs
August 18, 2004

When the Republican Party hosts its first-ever national convention in New York City next month, it will embrace the most diverse group of delegates in party history. It is fitting that 150 years after the birth of the Republican Party, this party of Lincoln is led under the steady optimistic leadership of another historic leader for our times of war in able hands of President George W. Bush.

As a delegate to my fourth Republican National Convention, I consider this a true milestone achievement in our party's connection with America's minorities. With the successful launch of the National Rollout for African Americans and Urban America for President Bush last month in the city of Detroit and the President's challenge to minorities, and especially Americans of African descent, he asked,

"Does the Democratic party take African American voters for granted?" It's a fair question. I know plenty of politicians assume they have our vote. But do they earn it and do they deserve it? Is it a good thing for the African American community to be represented mainly by one political party? That's a legitimate question," said the President. The President went on to emphasize, "How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete? Have the traditional solutions of the Democratic Party truly served the African American community?"

Well, the growing number of minority delegates to the 2004 GOP Convention in New York City are a partial answer to his question and represent a turning point for all minorities who in the past have embraced Democratic rhetoric over reality, and empty, unfulfilled liberal dreams over proof and substance.

As a delegate at the 2000 GOP National Convention I must say that all of us who have been both party leaders and national public policy experts knew that if we were going to have another convention that reflected the promises of Lincoln combined with the integrity of a new President, the results had to be clear and convincing. It was clear from the beginning of the President's focus on the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and the No Child Left Behind legislation which focused on the soft bigotry of low expectations, that this President and this Administration were beginning to produce and earn and win over the loyalty of skeptical minority and urban American residents.

The President's focus on substance has made a dramatic difference. Since the 2000 convention there has been an estimated 70 percent increase among minority delegates.

With President George W. Bush leading the ticket, the Republican Party has experienced historic growth in minority delegate representation.

This year, nationally, African-American representation is up an estimated 65 percent and Asian-American representation is up nearly 40 percent. In New York, Hispanic delegates will be the largest minority group represented, adding another 15 percent to the 100 percent surge Republicans saw between 1996 and 2000.

Unlike the Democrat's quota system, the Republican Party's open process has garnered a percentage increase four times greater than the percentage increase of minorities at the Democratic Convention since 2000. As a Michigan GOP state party official, I can assure you that the goal under Betsy DeVos, our state party leader, was to encourage our state and district leaders to find the best delegates to represent our party at the national convention and not be forced into a mandatory numbers game.

In order to truly appreciate the remarkable historic nature of what we will be witnessing in New York, there has to be a certain appreciation of our GOP roots and the framework that created our party and allowed for its historic celebration in working to re-elect another visionary leader of faith, freedom and family values President.

As a leader in our state party I feel a special and unique kinship to that hearty band of heartland leaders who gathered in Jackson, Michigan and decided to coalesce and infuse America with an energy and purpose that had not been seen since the times before the Revolutionary War. Their formation of the GOP was more than the noble goal to abolish the system of slavery. These party founders who came from backgrounds that encompassed farmers, small-business owners, city laborers, immigrants as well as abolitionists and suffragists, all believed and embraced the belief that our country had a common destiny.

At the national convention one of the benefactors of the Republican Party's heritage hails from the birthplace of the Republican Party in Jackson, Michigan. You don't have to look far in Jackson or inquire much to find another modern times Lion of the GOP in the fashion of historic abolitionist Republican Frederick Douglass. Bishop Ira Combs is an American of African descent and has provided faith counsel to a governor and a president, has embarked upon the great mission of our Grand Old Party to help re-energize, refocus and reclaim the great pillars of our nation upon which faith--an unshakable grip on our belief in God--and a tenacity to preserve traditional marriage as the great bastion of and defining quality for our nation as it was 150 years ago.

Bishop Combs of Michigan, as do the growing numbers of delegates who will be attending the national convention, fully understand that President Bush's policies are producing results for all Americans and that is why minority voters are joining the ranks of Republicans across the nation working to re-elect our president. Republican minorities make up a record 17 percent of total delegates and alternates, up from 10 percent just four years ago. Bishop Combs, Muskegon County Clerk Karen Buie, and congressional candidate Myrah Kirkwood make up part of Michigan's more than 1/5 (22 percent) of Michigan minority delegates in the state national convention delegation.

Numbers count. And the clear-cut proof of the diversity of the nearly 5,000 delegates and alternates represents the growing excitement across America and throughout all races in support of our president and our party is the bottom line. Additional increases in female representation indicate party gains across the board as well.

Here are the numbers: In 2004, minorities make up 17 percent of total delegates and women make up 44 percent. In 2000, minorities made up 10 percent of total delegates and women made up 36 percent.

If we go back a little further, in 1996 minorities made up 6.3 percent of total delegates and women made up 33 percent.

The 2004 Republican National Convention will host record numbers of female delegates. In fact, in 12 states (Washington, California, Ohio, Idaho, the District of Columbia, Montana, Delaware, Oregon, Georgia, Hawaii, New York, and North Dakota), women represent 50 percent of their delegations. Again we are not just talking the talk; we are walking the walk.

National convention delegations in states considered critical in this election are more diverse than ever. Just take a look! Reporting record numbers, 43 percent of the New Mexico delegation are minorities. A quarter, 24 percent, of Florida's delegation is minorities, and nearly 20 percent of Louisiana's delegation are minorities. Minnesota will send the state's first-ever Hispanic delegate to a Republican National Convention.

But sheer numbers only tell part of the story. The rest of the story is equally important. When the President asked for the vote of minorities at the National Urban League Convention in Detroit last month, he based his request on a clear and convincing record of accomplishments for America's minorities

President Bush has been an inclusive leader who has set a positive tone for this country. He has a proven record of working to enhance the quality of life for all Americans and a proven record of reaching out to all Americans as he has done on numerous occasions across the nation.

For both African-Americans and Latinos, the unemployment rate is down by 1.5 percentage points. Minority-owned small businesses are thriving. The Small Business Administration reports that loans to African-Americans are up by 75 percent from last year.

Minority homeownership is at an all-time high. In June 2002, the President announced the goal of increasing the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million families before the end of the decade. Only 18 months later, the U.S. Census estimates a remarkable increase of 1.53 million minority homeowners. In cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte and others this represents a true opportunity for minorities to take part in the American Dream.

Proof over fiction does matter. In the fourth quarter of 2003 - for the first time ever - the majority of minority households are now homeowners. The minority homeownership rate set a new quarterly record of 50.6%, up 1.3 percentage points from the third quarter. This is why minorities across the nation have come to gradually embrace the solid colorblind solutions this administration offers.

This is why when the President signed the American Dream Downpayment Act in December 2003, which is expected to help approximately 40,000 low-income families a year, many minorities who may have been suspect of the President's intentions, were beginning to see the light.

As these facts were slowly seeping into the publications, airwaves, public discussions in minority households, and amongst faith leaders in urban areas, they gradually began to understand President Bush's belief that every child can learn and his challenge to our nation to ensure that every child is equipped with the skills needed to succeed in life as well as compete in the new economy meant for all children--including and especially children in urban communities.

The delegates who are attending the New York GOP convention understand that this is a president who believes in action and results. When the President increased federal funding for grades K -12 by 49 percent from 2001, the test scores were dramatic!

Recent test scores show that African-American fourth graders are catching up to their non-minority counterparts. Equally important, the achievement gap in mathematics between white and black students is closing for both fourth- and eighth-graders. The Hispanic achievement gap for fourth-graders is also narrowing.

The President has not had to rely upon a subjective "wink and a nod" to achieve results. Since taking office the President has increased the Department of Education's funding by 36 percent; support for teachers by 39 percent, Title I funding for low-income students by $4.6 billion (52 percent), and special education funding by $4.7 billion (75 percent). I have worked with school systems and I can tell you categorically that this dramatic increase in results-oriented resources makes a difference.

According to a study by the Council of the Great City Schools reviewed test scores from 61 urban school districts in 37 states and found significant improvement in reading and math in the first year under NCLB. Again results matter.

Minority parents who have had a hardship in helping to send their children to college saw, under the President's leadership, a growing number of their sons and daughters receiving Pell Grants. This has grown to nearly one million. Under the President's budget funding for historically black colleges is at an all-time high.

Lastly, as a member of three previous delegations going to the national convention dating back to 1992, the national media--and invariably the minority media outlets--will state how our conventions are just a "dog and pony show" on stage to over-compensate for the lack of minority representation in the delegations from the states. This year the single-most pressing question has been: well, what about President Bush's few token appointments? After all it was commonly informally regarded in minority communities across the nation that President Clinton was the first "black president".

Again, facts are far more interesting than liberal fiction.

The media would have those who live in urban cities across the country feel that President Bush, unlike former President Clinton, could only find two or three minorities and women to reflect his administration's commitment to a fair and balanced administration--especially since President Clinton focused on quota goals for filling slots in his administration. Well, without the assist of quotas but with the focus on quality this president has appointed one of the most diverse cabinets in the history of America.

His cabinet includes several firsts, including the appointments of Colin Powell, the first African-American Secretary of State; Condoleezza Rice, the first African-American woman to serve as National Security Advisory Advisor. These two highly skilled administration leaders form the one/two punch that sets our administration's foreign policy as well as crafts our successful War on Terrorism initiatives.

Elaine Chao is the first Chinese American to serve as Secretary of Labor; Gale Norton, the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Interior; and Secretary Ann M. Veneman, the first woman Secretary of Agriculture.

Also holding key cabinet posts are: HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson who recently visited Detroit for the National African Americans for Bush Rollout (and former HUD Secretary Mel Martinez); Secretary of Education Rod Paige; Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta; and Michigan's own Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Do you see a pattern of inclusion here? But the President didn't stop there.

President Bush has appointed a number of minorities to high-level positions throughout his administration including SBA Administrator Hector Barreto; GSA Administrator Steve Perry; Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona; NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni; White House Counsel Judge Alberto Gonzales; Roger Ferguson, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve; Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; Kay James, Director of the Office of Personnel Management; and Steve Perry, Administrator of General Services (GSA).

So you see when minority delegates gather in historic numbers at the upcoming 2004 Republican National Convention, they will celebrate the President's record of improving the quality of life for all Americans because they have seen the proof as well as have knowledge of the results. They understand that real lives and real communities are being helped and empowered under the steady leadership of President Bush. This national convention allows the Republican Party to celebrate diversity and its strengthened ties to ethnic communities throughout the nation.

In conclusion as President Bush completed his remarks to the attendees to his National Urban League Convention speech in Detroit, he said proudly, "You see, I believe in my heart that the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, is not complete without the perspective and support and contribution of African Americans."

As national delegates we concur with the President. We are proud to be a historic part of this momentous event 150 years after our party's inception under an oak tree in Jackson Michigan, President Lincoln and Frederick Douglass would be proud.

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Kevin Fobbs is President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. Kevin Fobbs is also Second Vice Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and National African Americans for President Bush Steering Committee member as well as host of the weekly NuPac Urban News and Views radio show on WQBH - 1400 AM as well as co-founder of the Jackson, MI-based American Conservative Values Television Network.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.