By Geraldine Baum, Times Staff Writer.
Los Angeles Times.December 21, 2000
WASHINGTON--When George W. Bush announced Mel Martinez as his choice
for Housing and Urban Development secretary, the president-elect managed to
satisfy many needs--both political and practical.
In one fell swoop, Bush effectively paid a debt to Cuban Americans who
supported him during the postelection debacle in Florida, was able to elevate a
Latino with a dramatic immigrant story and succeeded in promoting someone
who--although he lacks experience in the public housing arena--has been in the
thick of governing the fastest-growing community in the country.
The 53-year-old Martinez, a longtime civic leader in Orlando, Fla., is
the elected chairman of the county government. He is also a close political ally
of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president-elect's brother.
When George Bush introduced Martinez as his "housing and human
development" secretary at a news conference in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday,
the nominee didn't even chuckle at the error. Rather, he launched into an
emotional recounting of his life journey--from a 15-year-old boy who left Cuba
in 1962 as part of a clandestine exodus of children fleeing communism, to a
successful trial attorney and then, just two years ago, to the dominant
political figure of the sprawling Orlando area.
"Today for me is the fulfillment of the promise of America,"
Martinez said. "The promise that--regardless of where you come from, what
language you speak, the color of your skin, or your economic circumstances--if
you share the dream of a brighter tomorrow and you're willing to pursue it with
respect for others and an abiding faith in God, all things are possible."
Martinez fled Cuba as part of Operation Peter Pan, in which 14,000
children were smuggled off the island to the United States and placed with
foster families around the country by the Catholic Church.
Over a four-year period, Martinez lived with two foster families.
Finally his own parents were able to follow him to Orlando. He learned English,
attended Catholic schools and eventually earned a law degree. He later became a
trial lawyer and a loyal member of the Republican Party. But he showed his
ability for mixing it up with Democrats by heading Florida's trial lawyers'
association.
"He's got a great facility with people, and he's very disarming,"
said Skip Dalton, Martinez's former law partner. "He'll do well in
Washington because he really is without guile.
"But," Dalton quickly added, "he's not humble to the
point that he can't get the job done. And he's very confident that he can do
this job."
As head of HUD, Martinez will inherit a $30-billion agency with 9,000
federal employees who run the nation's public housing programs, oversee loans to
low-income homeowners and provide block grants in troubled neighborhoods. HUD
also attempts to revitalize depressed regions.
Martinez, who must be confirmed by the Senate, will succeed Andrew
Cuomo--the highly political son of the former governor of New York, Mario M.
Cuomo. The younger Cuomo has been considered an extraordinarily activist HUD
secretary for speaking out on issues tangentially related to housing--such as
gun control--and for attempting to find innovative solutions to housing
problems.
Housing experts said Martinez's challenge will be to continue to reform
the Federal Housing Administration--which Cuomo and his predecessors Henry G.
Cisneros and Jack Kemp all have had a hand in reviving--and to attempt to get
congressional Republicans to pay more attention to getting the private sector to
come into distressed neighborhoods.
Martinez's only direct experience in housing management was chairing
the Orlando Housing Authority from 1984 to 1986. Still, his friends and
colleagues said that his experience running the Orange County Commission--as
well as the regional utility and transportation authorities--when Orlando's
growth was outpacing any metro areas in the country has readied him for the job.
"Mel has been in the greatest breeding ground for crisis
management you can imagine," said Al Cardenas, the GOP's Florida chairman. "He
has been managing a place with an exploding population and overseeing all the
infrastructure problems that creates--in housing, in transportation, in
education."
And he has made time for broader politics during his meteoric local
rise. Martinez was an active supporter of Bush's presidential bid, campaigning
for him around the state and appearing on national television shows to attack
Bush's critics.
Within a week of the Nov. 7 election, Jeb Bush had recommended that his
brother bring Martinez to Washington. Jeb Bush told reporters that his brother
had been impressed with Martinez during his campaign swings through Florida.
"Jeb has had a lot of trust in Mel," Cardenas said, noting
that last summer the Florida governor put Martinez in charge of his state growth
management commission.
When asked if the HUD appointment was a payback to Floridians,
particularly Cuban Americans who resisted the Democrats' recount effort in Miami
and other areas, Cardenas acknowledged that it wasn't "unrelated."
"Mel provides a lot of positives to the administration,"
Cardenas said. "He's Hispanic. He's a Floridian at a time when our state is
very significant to the country and to the president, and he's a popular leader
in his own area. It all adds up."
Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times |