government. we don't want collectivism. we don't want liberal policies that lean more toward dependency instead of self-reliance. we don't want bigger government. that's the idea, the battle we're having so let's have that conversation. i'm not going to play the game, i'm going to back away from latino policies. i think conservative principles is better for our community. i'll drive that regardless. >> express the sentiments towards non-latino candidates. there are probably a lot of candidates that ideas you don't want to see that you can go after. if you think of people in florida like representative garcia they're doing a tremendous job father our community. to go after them i think -- >> i want to get into the issue of immigration now. and vicky, i want to start with you. your capacity working with

latino decisions, you've been doing some, i think, really excellent polling of the latino electorate and latinos overall about this issue. and seeing this issue really rise on the agenda of latino voters. something we haven't seen before. it's been an important issue for the community but not for the latinos who show up at the polls until more recently. >> yes. >> right? talk to us about that and then we're going to go to our two friends here to see what it all means. >> so immigration -- and arturo, you mentioned this at the very beginning of your comments -- is not the all-encompassing issue for latinos. we care about education. we care about income. however, what immigration has become is a gateway issue for latinos. because what we have seen is that latinos in the middle, moderate conservatives are pushing back against the tenor of the rhetoric toward

immigration. even though they're second, third, fourth generation, they're moving away from those candidates who speak of immigration in such a way. so, you know, my little shortcut for thinking about what's the effect of immigration on politics, it's a gateway issue. and the republican party is split down the middle. there's the george w. bush school of thought that back in the 1990's got it and said, you know what, immigration is part of this country and we need to put it inside of the big tent and this is how we are going to court latino voters as part of a larger agenda. the problem with immigration and the republican party is in selling it to the non-hispanic base.

and that was what george w. bush was very good at. he was able to sell it to conservative evangelical groups and say this is part of our christian view. i don't know if the republican party has come to that fork in the road. if they do in fact come to that fork in the road and say, you know what, we're going to tone down the tenor and try to figure out a solution, latinos will support this. because one thing we've been finding from our work in latino decision is that latinos don't hold a grudge. we ask in survey after survey, if the g.o.p. were to turn strategy and embrace immigration reform -- and not even necessarily comprehensive but some sort of substantive immigration reform, latinos would say, hey, i'd give the g.o.p. a shot. we're talking about 40% to 50% of latinos. the question is in immigration, is the g.o.p. going to pursue that vote?

>> so daniel, question to you. as a reminder to all of us, also a year ago, the chairman of the republican national committee sat on this stage endorsing immigration reform. yet here we are a year later, the senate passed it. it passed it during the naleo conference last year. but the house refused to move immigration reform. the house, controlled by republican leadership, given vicky's comments, what do you think? >> look, without question, how a candidate or a party or an individual who's running for elected office speaks about minorities in the political narrative, the impression given is how you speak about them then translates what will be your policy remedy to those folks? so the republican party has not done a good job on that when it comes to immigration issues. that doesn't mean that hispanics should run away from the republican party. that means we should flood it and change it from within. that's what we're doing. we want to have a conversation

within the conservative movement to say, hey, immigration is positive for america. america was built on the waves of poor immigrants who created new wealth, new opportunities and made us strong because of our economic system. we should be fighting for an economic system that absorbs those immigrants. and not resisting, you know, the new waves of poor immigrants. it is good for our economy. it is good for our families and it is good for our future. that's the conversation we should be having. >> being able to sell it to the non-hispanics in the republican party? >> i've been invited by the pea -- by the tea party. we need to have a pathway to citizenship. i state that publicly. we are for that. but we also understand the political realities of things that the democratic party doesn't get to define what immigration reform is. it needs to be both the republican party and the democratic party in a true bipartisan spirit and then, you know, fixing the differences. while the republican party wants a visa reform, legalization. the democrat party, because of pure

political interests, wants to get a path to citizenship because the votes are there. as of this moment. i don't feel that. i feel if we can inform the hispanic community with those principles, we can win those percentages back. they need to come to the middle and reconcile those differences. we want to be a bridge to that. hopefully we can work together to make that happen. >> cristobal. >> and do what's best for our community. >> i said at the beginning that the reason the right doesn't pass immigration reform is because they don't want us to vote. now, when you look at these conservative principles that you espouse -- he worked hard, i think. we have a bill that won't pass because the right won't let us to pass. >> the republican party for not advancing immigration reform, can you say the -- >> at this point -- here's what we have to do to build political power which is hold these folks accountable.

the ones that are stopping immigration reform now, hold them accountable and those are the ones running in november on the right. let's increase the latino votes and let's get them out of office and hopefully we can have immigration reform and work together to make that happen. now, the conservative principle problem, though, it's not just around immigration reform and not moving that because they don't want to expand our democracy to allow latinos in, it is things we hold dear. if you think about the environment, we want to have a clean environment that we can give to our children and grandchildren. jobs, protections and regular laces that allow us to work and get paid a good living wage. not just on immigration but across the board on these conservative right-leaning principles, you will not get latino voters. you have great value within your organization to try them move -- to move them toward these things but it's not going to work in our community. >> vicky. >> oh, where to begin? [laughter]

>> what has happened with regards to immigration has been -- as these two gentlemen pointed out, a stalemate. it's a stalemate that we're seeing at the federal level between the executive and congress. and i fear that it's not going to budge in the short term. namely the next two to three years. so i want to train the spotlight on something else, which is state and local level politics with regards to immigration. because we are stuck in d.c. nothing is happening in d.c. but at the end of the day, people carry out their lives on a day-to-day basis in their neighborhoods, in their cities, in their counties and we see a lot of the most effect happening to folks who are getting picked up and deported. noncriminals. ok. the criminals we understand. you know, they're breaking the

law and they need to leave because they have a criminal record or what not. but for other folks on a day-to-day basis, we need to figure out how our state legislatures and how our county boards, how our school boards can affect the lives of immigrants and also latinos more generally. so we can go back and forth and point fingers. president obama, boehner, mitch mcconnell, harry reid, democrats, republicans, that's not going to get us anywhere. what can you do? because you here today are the ones that are going to go back to your communities and get stuff done. i believe our politics are local. that's the viewpoint i'd lead you off with. [applause] >> yes. that's what the mid term elections are really about. these are elections that are happening at the local level. 435 congressional races, state legislature races, what do you think the process will be for latino voters? >> the prospects.

this election year is trending conservative republican. i do think the way things are looking right now, if you take a look at the political map across the country, the republicans will take the senate. that's looking more and more viable. they're going to hold the house. i think folks, especially hispanics, are disillusioned with the obama administration. his favorability has dropped 23 points in the latino community. 59% of colorado hispanics are now in this favor with obamacare. there is nothing delivered on jobs. the deportation has increased. there's been a lot -- there's been inaction on immigration reform. so you're seeing i think a lot of disillusionment on the part of the american electorate that is trending republican. now, i say that because i see it just as a window for the republican party. as a political observer i'm

saying it. as a window where they need to step in and have great candidates, drive, you know, great ideas because i think hispanics are at a crossroads again. >> you talked about how swingy we are. we have swung again. we are at a fork in the road. it is not enough to stand there generalizations and platitudes. they need to be a part of the community and earn our vote. i don't think the democrats have done that. what happens in a midterm election is with have a drop-off among latino voters. is problem with the drop-off it allows for those on the right to increase their power. moving ong,

immigration reform is going to be harder to do. moving on the environment will be harder to do. i hope we can flip the grip this year. to increase latino turnout, spotlight the problems we are seeing on the right. they held up immigration reform. i think colorado is the perfect example. if we springboard from the anti-immigrant decisions into getting latinos out to vote, we can remove an obstacle and fort wart somebody from taking positions. we are in california. something happened here with prop 187. this was the first anti-immigrant initiative. it passed easily. it sparked a revolution in california. they registered and turned out in record numbers.

that won't happen. it change the state forever. to can use what has happened springboard into success for latino communities across the country. we are coming to the close of this opening session. it has put into context what this election means and what the next three days of conversation will be. we would give you each 30 seconds to make a final remark. we will let you have the worst -- last word. >> think you for allowing me to be here. the future is that this ballroom is expanding and we open up the walls because we have a record number of latinos come into elected offices. i will close with this. demographics are not destiny. what we have talked about through the left and right about the lien political power, at the

end of the day we have got to make that happen together. i want to leave you with a call to action to join us. you can join us on twitter. please don't forget to donate. that is why we -- how we have to do this. i think this election cycle is not going to be a battle of ursa maladies. it is not going to be about who speaks better. it is a battle of ideas. it is about how this country is going to look. it is about how we as a culture are going to be. we should welcome people who are driving the conversation. let's engage in a debate. let's have an honest debate. that is what we aim to do. have been some tense moments sitting here between these two gentlemen. this is great. , that isis agreement

what mobilizes you and gets you to vote area i want us to think about the importance of our maturation of from marching in the streets. we are still marching, but we are voting more. we need to give money and expand the room. >> excellent. lee's join me in welcoming and thanking our opening panel. [applause] the conference included remarks by colorado governor jerry brown. this is 20 minutes. ♪ thank you. and, i was pretty excited to be called the quarterback.

i never play football because i was short will stop i was a junior in high school and only 5'3". that was a real complex and all of the girls were taller than me. i was on the debate team. i had a good mouth. anyways, tell for you has come back and we are coming back. we are doing lots of important things. not the least of which is because of the leadership of the senator and others. we have the biggest latino delegation ever in california and i do not know about the rest of the country. bigger than texas, i hope. >> almost. a friendly competition. i was proud to sign the dream act. i had to sign it twice. the first one was resident tuition for undocumented students and the second was

eligibility for scholarships for undocumented students. [applause] then, because we are still waiting for that, whatever they call that group of people in washington. we are letting an undocumented law school graduate who passed the state bar become a lawyer. [applause] that is pretty good. you can practice law in california, even if the law does not recognize you. if we keep doing things like that, across the country, congress will get the message. we are not waiting. [applause] that is why i signed the driver's license bill. it was 10 years ago that 60% of the people were against giving undocumented californians a drivers license and that has flipped around for one big

reason will stop it is the people who participate and the sheer power of the latino community. it is felt in the town, cities, and communities -- towns, cities, and communities across the state will stop it is changing the philosophy of government. -- across the state. it is changing the philosophy of government. i did not invent most of these things. it is done by the legislature. when i sign it, everybody thinks that i did it. the legislators get jealous of the governor the case he gets all the credit will stop anyways -- the credit. anyways, you take the good and the bad. a group of employees want to organize a union and the employer calls of the immigration service to defeat the effort.

we have an anti-retaliation law that says you have to be reinstated. we made that practice illegal. if you are undocumented, you have the right to organize. and then, the school funding formula that the legislature passed is very important. it is the very first time that money is being spent not equally. there used to be equal spending for all school districts. a lot of places have not done that yet. in california, we have an equal spending based on needs. families that speak a language other than english get a special consideration and the school district gets more money based on the number of non-english-speaking families that have -- that are in our schools. by the billions.

it is not really justice to treat on equals equally -- unequals equally. you have to do more for those who do not have the same skill of speaking english as others. we have done that. we have designated english language learners and that means extra money for the school. that is about half of the students in california and it is pretty amazing. i do not know what the affluent families are doing. they are not producing, or something. half of the kids in the schools are from low income families. what can i say? there it is. we understand it and we are doing something about it. then, of course, water. these are all individual issues. what you represent is growing

and it is growing in really important ways. somebody said that our connection with mexico is so close and it was not all that long ago that carlos the third said to occupy san diego. you did not know that california started the occupy movement. carlos the third said to occupy san diego and monterey. gaspar came up with the father and the mexicans throughout the spanish in 1850. and then, of course, the gringos throughout the mexicans. -- threw out the mexicans. you never keep control for ever and there are always new waves coming. you have to stay ahead of the wave. [applause]

that is what we call brown power. but, anyways, so, i am going to mexico next month because we want to forge an agreement. i ran for president three times and did not quite make it. i won five primaries twice. you have to win 25. we have 40% of latino descent and we are forming agreements with mexico, china, british columbia on trade in joint research. scholarships -- trade and joint research. scholarships. when we focus on the western hemisphere and we focus on baja california and others, we know that we are a greater family that is working together.