Leaked DNC Email Shows Proposal For Outreach Strategy For Hispanic Voters

Latino Voters Referred To As “Brand Loyal” In Leaked DNC Email. WikiLeaks released nearly 20,000 internal Democratic National Committee emails, according to a CNN report. The leaked emails include ones that propose a strategy for “getting out the Latino Vote in 2016 and Beyond.” One email refers to Hispanic voters as “brand loyal,” and calls their loyalty “generational.” The email reiterates that without a “comprehensive brand strategy,” the Democratic Party will lose the Hispanic vote:

[CNN, 7/24/16; Twitter, 7/23/16]

Fox News Dubiously Blames And Shames The Democratic National Committee For “Terrible” Language In Email

Fox's Steve Doocy: “Terrible” And “Cringe-Worthy” Language In Emails Reveals “What The DNC Really Thinks About Hispanic Voters.” Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said the emails released by WikiLeaks “reveal[] what the DNC really thinks about Hispanic voters,” and called the language “terrible” and “cringe-worthy.” From the July 27 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:    

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): The Democratic Party hit with another email scandal. Not the Hillary [Clinton] one. This one from WikiLeaks revealing what the DNC really thinks about Hispanic voters. In an email sent in May titled “getting out the Latino vote in 2016 and beyond,” a party official wrote this, look at this, quote, “Hispanics are the most brand loyal consumers in the world. Known fact.” That's just one of many. So is the DNC offending one of their key voting blocks and what does it mean for Donald Trump? Let's bring in Morgan Ortega, she's a Republican strategist and national co-chair of the Maverick PAC. Good morning to you. And Chuck Rocha, he’s a Democratic strategist, good morning to you, Chuck. Chuck, this is terrible.

CHUCK ROCHA: Well look, if you're going to win a demographic by 70 percent, we've been lucky enough to win that, you don't start writing emails that are going to be leaked at the convention where you're trying to figure out how you’re going to get Latinos to be a bigger part of the election.

DOOCY: But here is the thing, they wrote those emails, they had no idea WikiLeaks was going to put them up.

ROCHA: This is true, right. So that kind of gives you a behind the scenes look into what's going on. Which makes my job harder as Latino consultant. Because we're trying to motivate Latinos to show up.

DOOCY: Yeah so, have you talked to anyone who said, “Hey Chuck, what are they doing? We're the most brand loyal people?” That is cringe-worthy.

ROCHA: We’ll I’ll tell you this, when we’re doing the Latino marketing, when we're out talking to them, they do, we do, Latinos, have a loyalty to brands, but it's how you communicate that message is what I'm really worried about. And we're not talking about the message, we’re talking about the emails today because stupid emails were wrote out there in the public now. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/27/16]

Fact Check: The Email Actually Came From An Outside Firm And “No Message Indicates” The Position Is Held By The Democratic Party

Univision: Leaked Email Is From Outside The Democratic National Committee And “No Message Indicates That This Is The Position Maintained By Members Of The Democratic Party.” Univision’s José De Bastos and Ronny Rojas explained that the leaked emails that “refer[] to Latinos as ‘the most loyal consumers in the world’ and as a ‘brand,’” actually contain “information from outside the Democratic Party.” The “Getting out the Latino Vote” document was prepared and submitted to the DNC by California entrepreneur Steve Lucero, and as De Bastos and Rojas point out, none of the leaked emails show Democratic party officials “approv[ing] of the content or indicat[ing] that they’ll used the suggested strategy.” From the July 25 fact check (emphasis original):

Various media outlets have pointed out that one of the thousands of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails leaked by WikiLeaks over the weekend shows that the Democratic Party sees Latino voters as a product that must be won in order to win the election, not as human beings.

The controversy stems from a series of emails containing a Latino voter strategy that were exchanged by senior party officials. The strategy document refers to Latinos as “the most loyal consumers in the world” and as a “brand.”

[...]

What reports haven't mentioned about the document is that it contains information from outside the Democratic Party, and that the Democratic Party didn’t commission it.

The email exchange -- between the DNC's Bridgette Gomez, Luis Miranda and Marilyn Davis -- shows the document was prepared and submitted in May 2016 by Steve Lucero, a California entrepreneur who was developing a web app to encourage young Latinos to vote in the 2016 presidential election and “beyond” and to support Hillary Clinton.

The emails don't show that Lucero's plan came from within the party. In fact, Gomez said in one of her emails that Lucero was working on his own to develop the projects and was also seeking funding from “Soros, Buffet and Steyer,” referring to billionaire philanthropists George Soros, Warren Buffet and Tom Steyer.

In the four e-mails about the proposal, none of the party members approve of the content or indicate that they'll use the suggested strategy. In the first email, Gomez says that the app creator clearly wants to work with the DNC, but had started out doing it on his own.

Davis asks if Lucero has a demo of the plan, with Gomez expected to follow up. The email exchange takes place on May 22 and 23, 2016. Since email filtering on Wikileaks is only available through May 25, there are no other emails about this issue and the existing emails don't say whether Lucero received formal support from the DNC.

[...]

The Wikileaks correspondence does not show that the Democratic National Committee believes Hispanics are a “brand” or are sensitive and “unforgiving” “consumers.” The leaked information is an external proposal made to the DNC related to Hispanics, but no message indicates that this is the position maintained by members of the Democratic Party. [Univision, 7/25/16]