ALRA’s influence growing through leadership
The Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity Foundation has named ALRA’s José Borrajero as its 2012 Grassroots Activist of the Year. José is a leader of the Rapid Response Team, which is part of the Arizona 2012 Project and the Arizona Freedom Alliance.
Borrajero has been a member of the Arizona Latino Republicans (ALRA) since June 2011. ALRA is the state’s largest Latino conservative organization. As a result of their strong presence on the political scene, Borrajero, the organization’s Communications Director, is the go-to guy for local and national media.
Borrajero has become a familiar face on both English and Spanish language television.
Borrajero has been a Republican Precinct and State committeeman for the last 19 years. He has served as District secretary for the last two years. He was voted to be an “A” delegate to the 2012 national convention.
The tireless Borrajero is the founder and current leader of a statewide network of activists whose main mission is to advance conservative legislation via citizen input. The focus is primarily the state legislature. He says that they accomplish their objective in “two manners. We contact legislators directly and we provide testimony at legislative committee hearings. The AFP (Americans For Prosperity) and the AFA (Arizona Freedom Alliance) are part of the picture both as beneficiaries of and as assistants with our efforts.”
Borrajero’s Rapid Response Team uses social media to quickly organize grassroots support for tea party legislation moving through the Arizona Legislature.
Borrajero says that his commitment to the AFP and ALRA is due to the fact that both organizations “staunchly promote conservatism and oppose excessive government intrusion into the lives of citizens. The Republican Party is not always there, although it is closer than the Democrat Party.”
Borrajero and his fellow team members are committed to electing as many conservatives as possible to all levels of government. Borrajero says that “after November we will turn our attention to the task of helping enact popular conservative state legislation that this year was successfully suppressed by some members of the state legislature’s leadership.”
Borrajero immigrated to the United Sates from Cuba when he was 16 years old. “I witnessed the destruction of a thriving economy within a period of 24 months. In 1958 Cuba had a free market, capitalist economy. Prices were stable and supplies plentiful, in spite of numerous attempts by Castro terrorists to disrupt the economy. From New Year’s Day 1959 to the end of 1960 the Castro regime had succeeded in fundamentally changing Cuba’s economy into a communist model in which all means of production were owned by the state. Rationing, shortages, and long lines became the rule for everything, including basic staples. I did not have to read a book on this or have someone tell me. I saw it happen. I do not know of any country in which communism has led to prosperity. It certainly did not happen in Cuba.”
That experience has driven Borrajero to become a force around Arizona in and out of conservative circles. The vast experience he has gained over the past 20 years has taught him a few things about people and politics. “First one must recognize that there are segments of our population, including Latinos, that are so enamored with handouts that they could never be brought into the fold. Pandering to them should be left to the liberals, who after all are experts at pandering.
The rest of the population, again including Latinos, have hopes and aspirations that will be best fulfilled via hard work and self improvement within a system of capitalistic market forces, with minimum interference from the government. In my opinion, this is a message that both ALRA and AFP have in common. I do not perceive much difference between a hard-working, self-reliant “Anglo” and a hard-working, self-reliant “Latino”. Therefore there should not be too much difference in the message.”
To visit ALRA’s website click here.
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