War of Choice

Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) is surely the most prominent Hispanic Republican in America. National Republicans say openly that Sen Rubio is a top contender to be the Party’s 2012 Vice-Presidential nominee. He could, they suggest, secure victory for the party in Florida and win over Hispanic voters in other states, many of whom have been angered by the GOP Presidential candidates’ harsh positions on immigration. But Rubio’s positions on immigration are to the right of those held by most Hispanic Americans. And these views have helped lead him into a war with Univision, which is the dominant Spanish-language media outlet in the country, and which champions immigration reform.

Rubio’s fight with Univision began in early July, when Geraldo Reyes, the chief of the network’s investigative unit, called Rubio’s older sister, Barbara Cicilia, and asked about her husband, Orlando, who, two decades earlier, had been convicted as part of a drug-trafficking ring that paid off cops and sold cocaine by the kilo. Soon after, a conference call was arranged with Rubio’s communications director, Alex Burgos, and Rubio’s senior political adviser, Todd Harris. In addition to Lee, five people from Univision were on the call: Reyes; the news vice-president, Daniel Coronell; the managing editor, Maria Martinez-Henao; and two senior Univision attorneys. Rubio’s staff wanted to kill the story. Univision wanted Rubio to answer questions on camera.