Obama picks La Raza executive to head his Domestic Policy Council

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Obama picks immigration reform advocate to lead domestic policy


By Amie Parnes and Erik Wasson - 01/10/12 03:30 PM ET



President Obama has picked a strong advocate of immigration reform to head his Domestic Policy Council.

The White House announced Tuesday that Cecilia Muñoz, a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, would replace Melody Barnes at the top of the council. White House press secretary Jay Carney announced the appointment during his press briefing.

Muñoz is now serving as the White House's director of intergovernmental affairs and is in charge of outreach to state and local governments. "The president has asked, she has accepted," Carney said.

Muñoz is an immigration expert who worked for the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, until she joined the administration in 2009. The group works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans and advocates legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Obama has frequently been criticized by pro-immigration reform advocates for not pressing harder for changes to the country's immigration laws.

Hispanic groups also have complained that the administration has stepped up deportations of illegal aliens.

All of this has led to questions about whether Obama will garner strong support from Hispanics in his 2012 reelection bid. It is crucial to Obama's reelection that he win a large majority of the Hispanic vote, particularly in critical swing states such as Florida, New Mexico and Colorado.

Carney called Muñoz "the best person for the job."

In her new role, Muñoz will become the president’s senior adviser on domestic affairs that fall outside the strict purview of the National Economic Council, which is headed by Gene Sperling.

“Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted advisor who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” the president said. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”

A senior administration official credited Munoz's work on immigration and disaster relief and said she has successfully brought the voices of local and state officials into the White House through her work at the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

"She's the perfect fit for this job," the official told The Hill. "This is someone who is very much ready for the position."

On immigration, she has been the president's "key person" on the issue "working to fix the system that's broken" the official said, adding that she brings 20 years of immigration policy with her to the post.

While her new post will continue to give Hispanics a "strong voice," administration officials said she wasn't given the position to pander to that community. "She's immensely qualified for this position. She's someone who is very much respected by her colleagues."

At the same time, "she's not afraid to make her viewpoints known," the official said.

The National Immigration Forum, which supports providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, applauded the Muñoz appointment while saying it underlined the need for Obama to take action.

"With this move, the pressure is on the president to move forward with an aggressive domestic policy agenda" on immigration," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. He said this agenda should include focusing enforcement on security threats and not on immigrant workers and families "caught up in a broken system."

The group later amended Noorani's statement to call on action by Congress as well.

"While Ms. Muñoz’s appointment is a positive step, at the end of the day, Democrats and Republicans in Congress need to come together to pass comprehensive immigration reform," Noorani said in the amended statement.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) praised the appointment, saying Muñoz "has developed strong relationships with members of Congress in Washington and activists nationwide, and a sterling reputation as a powerful voice on behalf of comprehensive, compassionate immigration reform."

She said the appointment reflected Obama's "strong and ongoing commitment to diversity across his administration."

Barnes left her position at the end of last month and is looking for work in the private sector. On Monday the White House announced that Chief of Staff Bill Daley will soon step down and be replaced by Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew.

Carney said there is no word yet on who will replace Lew as Budget director. In the briefing he offered praise for congressional liaison Rob Nabors, a man insiders think has the best shot at the job.

[Malsua]

While her new post will continue to give Hispanics a "strong voice," administration officials said she wasn't given the position to pander to that community.

And there's the whopper.

It's all about getting as many latinos in here as possible to vote for more democrats. This is not about the good of the country and the people already here.

[American Patriot]

This administration NEVER lies. What are you talking about?

LOL

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Former La Raza VP Cecilia Munoz Named White House Domestic Policy Director

• Posted on January 10, 2012 at 5:21pm by Christopher Santarelli

• Comments (284)

President Obama announced Tuesday that Cecilia Munoz, current White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, will be the new White House Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Munoz replaces Melody Barnes, who stepped down last month.

“Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted advisor who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” President Obama said in a statement. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”

At the new position Munoz will coordinate the policy-making process and supervise the execution of domestic policy in the White House.

The Wall Street Journal notes that the selection elevates a high-profile and well-respected advocate for the Hispanic community at the start of an election year where President Obama is counting on strong support from Hispanic voters. Munoz has been a strong and outspoken advocate for immigration reform.

“Ms. Muñoz also leads the Administration’s efforts to fix the broken immigration system so that it meets America’s 21st century economic and security needs,” reads a statement from the Office of the White House Press Secretary.

That said, her support of the administration’s deportation policies have drawn criticism from some latino groups in past, who say she has made an about-face from stances she took at her job before entering the administration.

In a petition to Munoz to “Set the Record Straight,” the group Presente writes:

“In 2008, you left your job as an advocate for the Latino community to work in the White House. Ms. Muñoz, it is time for you to come home to your community. It is time to tell the truth and stop defending the indefensible.”

What did Munoz do exactly before joining the Obama White House? She was a vice president at the National Council of La Raza, “The Race.”

The NCLR is a tax-exempt nonprofit that describes themselves as “the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.” The organization most recently lead in vocal opposition against Arizona SB 1070, and received $1,000,000 in earkmarks during fiscal year 2010 “to be used for nationwide community development activities.”

Munoz’s hire to the White House straight from the NCLR was met with immediate criticism for it violated Obama’s own stance against Obama-Biden administration political appointees working on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. Munoz has been described as having served as the Obama Administration’s point person on immigration since joining the White House staff.

Aside from the hire’s violation of political appointee rules on connections to lobbying interests, critics have raised eyebrows about the actual intentions of the NCLR.

The late Rep. Charlie Norwood wrote in 2006:

“The Council of La Raza succeeded in having itself added to congressional hearings by Republican House and Senate leaders. And an anonymous senator even gave the Council of La Raza an extra $4 million in earmarked taxpayer money, supposedly for ‘housing reform,’ while La Raza continues to lobby the Senate for virtual open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.

Behind the respectable front of the National Council of La Raza lies the real agenda of the La Raza movement, the agenda that led to those thousands of illegal immigrants in the streets of American cities, waving Mexican flags, brazenly defying our laws, and demanding concessions.

Key among the secondary organizations is the radical racist group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MEChA), one of the most anti-American groups in the country, which has permeated U.S. campuses since the 1960s, and continues its push to carve a racist nation out of the American West.”

In 2008 Michelle Malkin wrote a list of 15 “La Raza Facts” which included demands for in-state tuition discounts for illegal alien students that are not available to law-abiding U.S. citizens and law-abiding legal immigrants, support for driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, and calls for the the removal of immigration enforcement proponents from TV and cable news.

White House press secretary Jay Carney told POLITICO Tuesday that “Cecilia is the best person for the job,” and declined to say whether Muñoz’s ties to the Hispanic community played any role in her selection.