Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 36 of the nation’s preeminent Latino organizations, issued letters to the United States Senate in support of two highly qualified Latino nominees who are pending Senate confirmation.

• Seventy Latino organizations joined NHLA in co-signing a letter urging Senators to confirm Thomas Perez, the Labor Secretary nominee whose Senate confirmation vote is expected to take place this week. Click here to view the pdf of the letter supporting Mr. Perez.
• The NHLA coalition also submitted a separate letter in support of Katherine Archuleta, the nominee to serve as Director of the Office of Personnel Management, whose confirmation hearing is taking place in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee tomorrow, Tuesday, July 16th at 3:30 p.m. in Room SD-342 in the Senate Dirksen Office Building in Washington, D.C. Click here to view the pdf of the letter supporting Ms. Archuleta.

Full text of the letters can be found below.

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National Latino Sign-on Letter to the Senate Urging Confirmation of Tom Perez, Labor Secretary Nominee

July 15, 2013

Majority Leader Harry Reid The United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell The United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear United States Senators, We, the undersigned Latino organizations, write to respectfully urge you to vote in support of Thomas E. Perez's confirmation as the next Secretary of the Department of Labor.

Just as we take pride in the prospect of Thomas Perez’ history-making confirmation as the first Dominican American to a Cabinet-level post, we are also proud to support such an exceptionally qualified individual. He has served the public at the county, state and federal levels -- a unique combination of experience that will enable him to make Labor Department policies work effectively for local communities.

• At the local level, from 2002 to 2006, Mr. Perez was the first Latino ever elected to the Montgomery County Council in Maryland and served as Council President in 2005, where he was an energetic and innovative leader on behalf of the county’s working and middle class families.

• Throughout his career he has worked in a bipartisan manner, bringing different sides together dating back to his time as Special Counsel for the late Senator Edward Kennedy, when he worked with Senators Hatch and Faircloth while serving as Senator Kennedy's principal adviser on civil rights, criminal justice and constitutional issues.

• Mr. Perez's work with business and labor communities as Maryland's Secretary of Labor has earned him accolades from the Maryland Chamber of Commerce and the state's largest employers. In this role, Mr. Perez led proactive and reasonable responses to the impending national economic crisis and created a culture of thoughtful and common sense governance.

• As Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, he has stood up for our community, and those who face discrimination, by increasing the Justice Department’s productivity in taking on voting rights, hate crimes, human trafficking and racial profiling cases. He achieved record settlements for victims of unfair lending practices and for people with disabilities so that they can be integrated into their communities. He has also been a strong defender of veterans’ rights to civilian employment and the rights of students to a school environment free from bullying and harassment.

• Earlier in his career, Mr. Perez spent 12 years in federal public service, mostly as a career attorney with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division where he moved up the ranks to serve as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and as Assistant Attorney General. He also spent two years as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services.

• To help support the next generation of attorneys and public servants, Mr. Perez worked as a law professor for six years at the University of Maryland School of Law and as a part-time professor at the George Washington School of Public Health.

In March of 2009, Thomas Perez was confirmed for his most recent post as Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice by a bipartisan 72-22 vote. Now, in 2013, we ask you to join your colleagues in ensuring strong bipartisan support for Thomas Perez's confirmation as the nation's next Secretary of Labor.

Sincerely,

1. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda 2. American G.I. Forum 3. Arizona LULAC Educational Council (AZ) 4. ASPIRA Association 5. AVANCE, Inc. 6. Care for Your Health (MD) 7. Casa de Esperanza 8. CASA de Maryland (MD) 9. CATA - The Farmworker Support Committee (NJ) 10. Causa of Oregon (OR) 11. Colorado Latino Forum (CO) 12. Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association (CT) 13. Cuban American National Council 14. Dominican American Empowerment Council (FL) 15. Dominican American National Roundtable 16. Dominican Students Association of the City College of New York (NY) 17. Dominican Bar Association 18. El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (TX) 19. Farmworker Association of Florida (FL) 20. Farmworkers Justice 21. Harvest America (KS) 22. Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities 23. Hispanic Coalition, Corp. (FL) 24. Hispanic Federation 25. Hispanic National Bar Association 26. Hispanic National Bar Association, Region II (NY) 27. Hispanic Political Action Committee (NJ) 28. Labor Council for Latin American Advancement 29. Latino Giant 30. Latino Justice PLDEF 31. Latinos for a Secure Retirement 32. Lawrence Worker Justice Coalition 33. League of United Latin American Citizens 34. MANA, A National Latina Organization 35. Mattos Law Office (MN) 36. Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund 37. MomsRising.org 38. National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities 39. National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives 40. National Association of Hispanic Publications 41. National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund 42. National Association of Latino Independent Producers 43. National Coalition on Black Civic Participation 44. National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, Inc. 45. National Council of La Raza 46. National Dominican Student Conference (NDSC) 47. National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators 48. National Hispana Leadership Institute 49. National Hispanic Council on Aging 50. National Hispanic Environmental Council 51. National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts 52. National Hispanic Medical Association 53. National Hispanic Media Coalition 54. National Institute for Latino Policy 55. National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health 56. National Latino Coalition on Climate Change 57. National Puerto Rican Coalition 58. New Latino Movement 59. Northern Bridge Equity Fund (MD) 60. Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste/Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United (OR) 61. Puerto Rican Bar Association, Inc. 62. The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network at City College of New York (NY) 63. SER Jobs for Progress – National, Inc. 64. Southwest Voter Registration Education Project 65. UMOS (WI) 66. UNIDAD of Miami Beach, Inc. (FL) 67. United Farm Workers 68. United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 69. United States Hispanic Leadership Institute 70. WesQuisqueya ~ Dominican Student Association at Wesleyan University (CT

cc: The United States Senate

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NHLA Letter to Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in Support of Katherine Archuleta, Nominee to Serve as Office of Personnel Management Director

July 15, 2013

The Honorable Senator Thomas Carper Chairman U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs 340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Senator Tom Coburn Ranking Member U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs 340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Coburn:

On behalf of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) – the coalition of 36 preeminent national Latino organizations in the country – we commend you for moving forward the hearing on Katherine Archuleta, President Barack Obama’s nominee to serve as Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). We urge you to advance her nomination to the Senate floor so that she may be confirmed quickly and begin the important work of leading the nation’s agency tasked with building an effective world-class Federal civilian workforce helping serve the American people.

Once confirmed, we are confident that Ms. Archuleta will bring to OPM a deep passion for public good and a highly commendable history of over 30 years in public service to our nation through various positions in local and federal government as well as in non-profit leadership roles.

For example:

• Ms. Archuleta clearly has a unique breadth of experience in federal workforce issues having served as Chief of Staff to the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, from 2009 to 2011, and as Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Transportation with Secretary Federico Peña from 1993 to 1997. She also served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy in 1997.
• At the local level in Colorado, Ms. Archuleta held various positions of responsibility in the Office of the Mayor Federico Peña of Denver from 1983 to 1991, including Deputy Chief of Staff, and as a Senior Advisor on Policy and Initiatives for the City and County of Denver working with Mayor John Hickenlooper from 2005 to 2009. She also served as Co-Founder and Principal of the Center for Regional and Neighborhood Action from 1997 to 2000, then as Director of Professional Services for Davis, Graham and Stubbs, LLP from 2000 to 2002.
• Over the past decade in particular, Ms. Archuleta has emerged as a national Latina role-model successfully leading positions of great significance to the Latino community – serving as Executive Director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation based in New Mexico, from 2002 to 2005, and as the first Latina to ever serve as a National Political Director on a major presidential campaign from 2011 to 2012.
• Additionally, Ms. Archuleta carries an important dedication to developing the next generation of leaders – as can be seen from the start of her career, which began with her teaching 5-year-olds at Denver’s Del Pueblo Elementary School, on through to her service as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver from 1992 to 1993.

We especially welcome the opportunity to work with Ms. Archuleta, as the next OPM Director, to continue advancing the work of OPM’s Hispanic Council on Federal Employment. This Federal Advisory Committee Act council is designed to advise the OPM Director on the leading employment practices to help recruit, hire, retain and advance Hispanics in the Federal workplace. While Latinos are nearly 17% of the population of the United States, we represent just 8.2% of the federal workforce according to OPM’s Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Performance Report. For nearly two decades, our NHLA coalition has raised concerns about the stark underrepresentation of Latinos in the federal workforce and this is a critical issue that we must all continue to prioritize if the statistics are to improve.

More must, and can, be done by all branches of our federal government to ensure that our nation’s federal workforce reflects the diverse people it serves. The confirmation of Katherine Archuleta will be a historic step forward as she would become the first person of Hispanic descent – and first Latina – to head OPM since its inception.

As you consider the merits of Ms. Archuleta’s background please know that, in addition to her decades of public service experience, she also brings with her the respect of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda coalition and the Latino community. We look forward to closely following your committee’s upcoming nomination hearing.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please feel free to contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Melody Gonzales at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (202) 508-6917.

Sincerely,

Hector E. Sanchez
Chairman, National Hispanic Leadership Agenda
Executive Director, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

cc:
Majority Committee Members
Senator Carl Levin (MI)
Senator Mark Pryor (AR)
Senator Mary Landrieu (LA)
Senator Claire McCaskill (MO)
Senator Jon Tester (MT)
Senator Mark Begich (AK)
Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI)
Senator Heidi Heitkamp (ND)

Minority Committee Members
Senator John McCain (AZ)
Senator Ron Johnson (WI)
Senator Rob Portman (OH)
Senator Rand Paul (KY)
Senator Michael Enzi (WY)
Senator Kelly Ayotte (NH)
Senator Jeffrey Chiesa (NJ)