Second Cuban senator elates Miami friends

The U.S. Senate will get its second Cuban-American member with the elevation of a New Jersey congressman, a Democrat who's a welcome figure in Miami's Cuban-American community.

BY LESLEY CLARK

lclark@herald.com


U.S. Rep. Robert Menendez will become the second Cuban-American in the U.S. Senate, with New Jersey governor-elect Jon Corzine expected to name the Democrat today to fill his remaining term in office.

The selection of the former mayor of Union City, N.J. -- the second-largest Cuban stronghold in the United States -- carries major significance for Cuban-Americans in Miami. Menendez is a frequent visitor to South Florida, raising money, campaigning for Democrats -- and proving a stalwart voice in efforts to oust Fidel Castro.

Said Menendez's Agustin ''Gus'' Garcia, a Miami Democrat who has known Menendez since they were teens in New Jersey, ``For a little island to produce two U.S. senators, for those who work factories and clean floors, it's a great honor.''

Garcia, his voice breaking, said he got a phone call late Tuesday from Menendez, who didn't confirm his selection, telling him only that ''the news'' would probably be announced today. Democratic congressional aides, speaking anonymously because Corzine has not publicly tipped his hand, told the Associated Press that the decision to select Menendez had been expected to be announced as early as Tuesday.

Hispanic Democrats across the United States had launched a full-court press on Mendendez's behalf, contending that the party would miss a major opportunity to prove to Hispanics that the party had their best interests at heart if Menendez was passed over.

Menendez's selection, Democratic strategist Joe Garcia said, would ``speak volumes about Gov. Corzine and the party's commitment to the future of the party.''

Menendez would be New Jersey's first minority senator and the third current Hispanic in the Senate, along with Republican Mel Martinez of Florida and Democrat Ken Salazar of Colorado.

Menendez will have to defend the seat in November against a potential Democratic challenger and what is expected to be an aggressive, well-funded challenge from Republican state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., the son of former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean.

But Menendez's supporters note he has amassed more than $4 million for the effort -- and is scheduled to add to the tally Saturday with a fundraiser at the Biltmore hotel in Coral Gables. According to federal campaign reports, Floridians make up the third largest group of contributors to Menendez, after contributors in New Jersey and New York.

Those present are likely to include as many Republicans as Democrats because of Menendez's strong anti-Castro stance, said Miami Republican political consultant Ana Navarro.

In 1995 when his fellow Democrat, President Clinton, repatriated several Cuban rafters, Menendez was among a handful of Democrats to protest vociferously. ''On the subject of Cuba, Cuba comes first and then the party,'' Menendez said at the time.

BROKERED DEAL

In the mid 1990s, Menendez was Clinton's unofficial advisor on Cuba. In 1996, he brokered a deal on the Helms-Burton bill, sweeping legislation that seeks to punish foreign investors in Cuba. Shuttling between the National Security Council and congressional Republicans, Menendez struck a compromise that the once-reluctant president agreed to sign.

The efforts earned Menendez praise across the aisle.

''I am convinced that Bob Menendez will go down in Cuban history as one of the great patriots,'' U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, said at the time.

The two often joined forces with U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, another Miami Republican, to hold the line on Cuban issues. In 1999, the three fasted for a day to show solidarity with Cuban dissidents engaged in a hunger strike in Havana.

And in 2000, Menendez was among several lawmakers to push legislation that would have granted Cuban rafter Elián González permanent residency in the U.S.

LIBERAL RECORD

Cuba aside, Menendez is generally strongly aligned with liberals in Congress. He voted against going to war in Iraq and against drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

And his supporters note he has been a team player. After endorsing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination for president last year -- the two men shared an early aversion for the war in Iraq -- Menendez campaigned hard for the eventual nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

In a visit to Miami, Menendez bashed the Bush administration's crackdown on travel to Cuba and said Kerry would pursue more effective strategies to take down Castro.

Menendez was born in New York City on New Year's Day in 1954 -- five years before Castro's rise to power -- to parents who had already left Cuba. He grew up in a tenement in New Jersey's Cuban-rich Union City, and first entered politics when he was elected to the local school board at age 20.

''Bob is one of the few men in American political history who have earned the right to be a senator,'' said Gus Garcia, who has a grandson named after him. ``Bobby did it the American way. He did it from the bottom up. No blessing, no godfathers, no king makers, and that's a hard story to top. He's done it little by little with a grass roots, street organization.''

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