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1/18/13, "Eva Longoria's Next Role: Hispanic Activist in Washington," WSJ, Monica Langley
"Her role reaches beyond fundraising and speechmaking, however, and into
policy and strategy. She helped urge Mr. Obama to make a key change in
immigration policy last year, and she is teaming with business to
explore investments in housing and retail developments in Hispanic
communities.
Along the way she has developed a rapport with the president and his
advisers. She is now planning meetings this weekend with the capital's
elite, including private receptions at the White House and vice
president's residence and a bipartisan brunch she is co-hosting at a
Georgetown eatery this weekend with Mark McKinnon, a former strategist
for George W. Bush and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. There, she
plans to begin a Republican outreach by meeting with Colin Powell, the
former secretary of state, and other attendees including Grover
Norquist.
It is part of a broader strategy to build her personal brand within the
nation's fastest-growing market. Ms. Longoria is modeling it on Bono's
celebrity-to-political-activist transformation, and has hired one of the
singer's advisers....
Ms. Longoria went to a hotel suite to dress for the Golden Globes,
where she was to announce two winners alongside actor Don Cheadle. While
a hairstylist blew out her long hair, she texted Trevor Neilson, the
political adviser who worked with Bono, to review her Washington
schedule for this weekend's inaugural.
She asked him which Republicans would be attending a Sunday brunch at
Georgetown's Café Milano that she is co-hosting. "I need to show them
that I can work with them," she texted.
Later, in the car on the way to the Golden Globes, she asked Mr.
Nielson: Would Mr. Powell, the former secretary of state, be at the
event and if so,
could she get some time to speak with him privately?...
In their occasional meetings over the past two years, Ms. Longoria
and Mr. Obama have developed a rapport. Last spring, in a private
meeting with Hispanic bigwigs, she pressed the president to move
unilaterally to protect Latino undocumented youth at risk of
deportation. According to Ms. Longoria and two others present, Mr. Obama
first blamed Congress for failing to pass the Dream Act, a bill
designed to address the problem.
To the surprise of several people present, Ms. Longoria persisted.
"But Mr. President, you have to do something," she said. As the
conversation continued, she said: "With all due respect, sir, it needs
to be delivered by you in an emotional manner."
"What do you mean?" he replied, after suggesting that the executive branch was already working on a plan.
"Show your connection to us," Ms. Longoria said. "You were raised in
an environment similar to many Latinos. Talk to us like you're talking
to family."
San Antonio businessman Henry Munoz, who sat across from the pair,
recalls, "It was a powerful moment. Eva is disarming because she's
petite and beautiful, but the president respected her forceful advice."...
After Mr. Obama's election in 2008, Ms. Longoria was named to a
commission studying a possible Latino-American museum in Washington,
D.C. When Mr. Obama, a basketball fan, occasionally saw her, she says,
he seemed more interested in whether her husband at the time, NBA star
Tony Parker, was around.
Around the time her marriage ended in 2010, Ms. Longoria launched her
own production company, perfume line, her Los Angeles restaurant called
Beso ("kiss" in Spanish) and a cookbook filled with her Tex-Mex
favorites. She also enrolled in a master's program in Chicano studies
and political science at Cal State-Northridge, for which she is writing a
dissertation. She says she didn't want to be one of "the rich
celebrities who don't know what they're talking about."
By 2011, she had become a regular in Washington, including the
screening of her documentary "Harvest" on the plight of child farm
workers. Also the Futuro group was founded and began working closely
with the Obama campaign, which asked Ms. Longoria to get involved. She
hosted successful fundraisers in Los Angeles, Miami, New York and
elsewhere, at a time when Mr. Obama's business support was dropping.
She was offered a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention.
But when the campaign sent her a draft speech, she says, she rejected it
as "too much rah-rah and too little substance." She recalls telling the
campaign's speechwriter: "I want to show that I came from the lower
middle class and why I support the president."...
The week before the election last November, Ms. Longoria spent two days
in southern Florida—home to a particularly powerful Latino electorate—to
mobilize volunteers and speak to voters on behalf of the Obama-Biden
ticket. While there, she became a visible target for hecklers that
showed up at Obama rallies in the days of the campaign. "I got booed, I
got beat up," she says, citing one incident where a woman punched her in
the arm....
Ms. Longoria has devoted a chunk of her time the past year to getting
her foundation up and running. As an adviser, she retained Global
Philanthropy Group, run by Mr. Neilson and his wife, Maggie, who have
helped myriad other stars, including Bono, Richard Branson and Madonna,
with their causes.
Ms. Longoria's foundation recently received a $2 million commitment
from Howard Buffett, Warren Buffett's son. The fund will make small
loans to Latinas in Texas to start their own businesses, according to
Ms. Longoria and Mr. Buffett. She got Mr. Buffett's donation, he says,
after cooking him an egg breakfast and riding with him on a combine at
his farm.
Mr. Turner of Canyon Capital asked Ms.
Longoria to speak last fall at his annual seminar on social-impact
investing at the Wharton School of Business, and now is negotiating with
her to collaborate on for-profit affordable housing and retail outlets
in Hispanic communities. Ms. Longoria says she wants to show that
Hispanic concerns transcend immigration. "There's not a single Latino
platform. It is about the economy, education and health care."
While her various Hollywood commitments prevent her from taking a
full-time position in Washington, she says, she declines to rule out
politics in the future. Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas
Democratic Party, says, "Would I like Eva to run for office down here?
Hell yes."" via Sharon Calvert, co-founder, Tampa Tea Party
====================================
This MoveOn.org Obama ad by Eva Longoria and others features Scarlett Johansson wagging her finger at you:
"“I want to talk to you about women… and Mitt Romney.”“Mitt Romney’s for ending funding for Planned Parenthood.”
“He said he’d overturn Roe v. Wade.”
“We have Republicans trying to redefine rape… trying to force women to undergo invasive ultrasounds.”
“If you think this election won’t affect you and your life, think again.”
Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, & Kerry
Washington want to talk to women about Mitt Romney — a new 30-second TV
ad from MoveOn.org Political Action.
Written, Directed & Produced by Rob Reiner
Produced by Michele Reiner"
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