Our new friend, who shall remain nameless for the moment, has made the moderately insane commitment to watch every second of the two conventions this year. Through that effort she made this great catch…
Raza Development Fund president & CEO is godfather of McCain’s son
I write this at the end of Day 3 (Wednesday) of the Republican National Convention.
As if Juan Hernandez wasn’t enough!
A new concern has arisen regarding John McCain. (At least, it’s new to me.) I caught this while watching the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.
McCain seems to have closer ties to La Raza and Raza Development Fund than I had hitherto been aware. The president and CEO of Raza Development Fund stated in his convention speech that he is the godfather of one of John and Cindy McCain’s children.
In the Republican National Convention speaker lineup yesterday (Tues. 9/2), a man named Tom Espinoza (”Tommy”) spoke.
According to the RNC website, Espinoza’s bio was given as follows:
http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/people/details.aspx?id=434Tommy Espinoza
President/CEO, Raza Development Fund, Inc.
BIOGRAPHY OF TOMMY ESPINOZA:
Of Phoenix, Arizona
The Raza Development Fund, Inc. (”RDF”) is a support corporation of the National Council of La Raza, (”NCLR”), and was established in 1998 as the community development lending arm for NCLR. The mission of RDF’s Hope Fund is to provide flexible but high-quality loans, along with technical assistance, to entities that provide services and opportunities to low-income Latino families, and is consistent and complimentary to the mission of NCLR, which is to reduce poverty and discrimination while improving life opportunities for Latinos.
An archived video of Espinoza’s speech is here.
And here is the text of his speech.
In the text, Espinoza states that he is the godfather of John & Cindy McCain’s son:
I first met John and Cindy McCain 25 years ago …
We’ve built a deep friendship, and I’m honored to be the godfather to John and Cindy’s son … JIMMIE.
This Wikipedia article on McCain gives the birth year of their son James as 1988:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCainIf McCain met Espinoza 25 years ago, McCain and Espinoza would have met in approximately 1983. At this time, McCain would have been in the U.S. House of Representatives. (McCain went to the Senate in 1986.) The rough math gives McCain and Espinoza as having known each other approximately five years when the child James was born.
The Raza Development Fund website is here:
http://www.razafund.org/It has a page of “Investors and Funders” here:
http://www.razafund.org/backing/index.htmlFounding Investors
Bank of America
State Farm Insurance Company
Fannie Mae Foundation
Investing/Lending Partners
Citibank, NA
JP Morgan Chase
Allstate Insurance Company
Prudential Social Investment
Washington Mutual
WachoviaBoard of Directors
Raul Yzaquirre Chairman of the Board, Presidential Professor of Practice in Community Development and Civil Rights, Arizona State University
Tom Espinoza President and CEO, Raza Development Fund
Janet Murguia President and CEO, National Council of la Raza
Charles Kamasaki Executive Vice President, NCLR & RDF Board Treasurer
James Feild Senior Vice President, Bank of America
Kim Latimer-Nelligan Director of National Lending, Citibank (C.D.)
Art Ruiz Federal Affairs Director, State Farm Insurance Companies
Roldan Trujillo Senior Manager, Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC)
Joseph F Reilly President and CEO, Community Development Trust
Arabella Martinez Retired President/CEO Unity Council
This could go a long way in explaning why I have not yet heard any of the convention speakers talk about SECURING OUR BORDERS…let alone ending illegal immigration!