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THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Puerto Rican Influence Large In Presidential Nominations
by Sean Scully
January 2, 2000
Copyright © 2000 THE WASHINGTON TIMES. All Rights Reserved.
The residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote in the presidential
election, but they will have more influence over who is on the
ballot than residents of 27 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
The 3.8 million residents of the Caribbean island are U.S.
citizens, but they do not pay income taxes and do not vote for
president. But both parties give Puerto Ricans some representation
at their national nominating conventions - 59 delegates at the
Democratic convention and 14 at the Republican.
On the Democratic side, that gives Puerto Rico more influence
than 27 states and the District. On the Republican side, that
gives the island as much or more influence as five states and
only slightly less than the District, which gets 15 delegates.
"I didn't know the Puerto Ricans had as many as they do,"
said Phoebe Bollin, executive director of the Wyoming Democratic
Party, with a tone of resignation as she rustled through her papers
to confirm the discrepancy.
"We're always at the bottom of the list," she said,
noting that Wyoming has only 18 delegates at the Democratic convention.
"We're last alphabetically, we're last in size . . . you
have to be tough to live in Wyoming and be a Democrat."
National party spokesmen said they were unaware of any past
complaints from states that lose out to Puerto Rico in influence.
"I think the important thing is that, from sea to shining
sea, if you consider yourself a Republican voter, you have a voice
in our convention," said Tim Fitzpatrick, spokesman for the
Republican convention organizers.
Puerto Ricans "play an active part of the Republican National
Committee on the national level, so it seems logical they would
participate" in the convention, said Joan Quick, chairwoman
of the Rhode Island Republican Party, which also sends 14 delegates
to the Republican convention.
The Washington spokesman for the Puerto Rican government did
not return a telephone call.
University of Maryland government professor James Gimpel said
the size of the Puerto Rican delegation is probably fairly harmless
- conventions are rarely so evenly split that a dozen or so votes
make a difference.
But, he said, "it does seem to be an erosion of the power
of states that wasn't intended to be there at the founding. At
least some of the Founders would be irate if they found out about
it."
Then again, there is much about the party system they might
object to, because "the Founders didn't anticipate the kind
of political parties we have now."
Although the parties are reluctant to say so, there are some
fairly compelling practical reasons to give the Puerto Ricans
influence at the conventions.
Although the island's residents themselves cannot vote for
president, ethnic Puerto Ricans form important voting blocs in
key states, particularly New York, Illinois and Florida. There
are 2.7 million Puerto Ricans living in the 50 states, where they
are free to vote for president.
That alone could explain the greater weight given to Puerto
Rico than to the District, which has only about 523,000 residents.
"I'm troubled by many things, but - it hurts to say this
- [the size of the convention delegations] is not one of them,"
said Mark Plotkin, WAMU radio political commentator and an outspoken
critic of anything that smacks of discrimination against the District.
Because of the huge Puerto Rican community in the 50 states,
both parties tend to give Puerto Rican issues far more attention
than affairs in other territories. The recent dispute over the
use of live ammunition in Navy training at Puerto Rico, for example,
has consumed considerable time and energy on Capitol Hill and
the national media.
The president recently agreed to end training at the base despite
warnings from military officials that the move could hurt the
combat readiness of troops and ships abroad.
Last year, the House narrowly passed a bill calling for a major
plebiscite in Puerto Rico, allowing voters to decide whether to
apply for statehood or seek independence. The bill died in the
Senate.
Sources: Democratic National Committee (Final delegate count
is subject to slight change.) Republican National Committee
| |
DEMOCRATIC
NATIONAL CONVENTION |
REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION |
| TOTAL DELEGATES: |
4,336 |
2,065 |
| Delegates
from Puerto Rico: |
59 (1.3 percent) |
14 (0.68 percent) |
| |
U.S. states
and territories with 59 or fewer delegates:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, District
of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine,
Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, American Samoa,
Guam, Virgin Islands. |
U.S.
states and territories with 14 or fewer delegates:
DeHawaii, Maine, Rhode Island,
Vermont, American Samoa, Guam, Virgin Islands. |
| |
|
Delegates
from the District of Columbia: 15 (0.73 percent) |
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