The LIBRE Initiative, a Koch-backed group that does outreach to Hispanics, has become a mechanism for Republicans and conservatives to boost support among the Latino community.
According to
The Washington Post, the group has been providing community services to Latinos in need, building relationships, and espousing conservative principles that may pay dividends at the polls.
"Latino celebrities, unions and left-leaning community groups" for decades have done a far better job in courting the Hispanic vote and "engaging directly with the Latino community," Daniel Garza, executive director of LIBRE, told the Post.
Now, he said, his group aims to end what he calls the "deafening silence" from "libertarians and conservatives."
LIBRE has been
operating since 2011 in a number of states, including Nevada, Florida, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona with $10 million from Charles and David Koch.
Among the services it provides are driver's license classes, tax preparation help, wellness checkups, scholarships, and food giveaways, the Post said. The group holds events and sponsors radio shows espousing conservative principles.
The group says it is nonpartisan but that it has a right-leaning ideology. Its employees, totaling 50 in seven states, include a number of former Republican staffers and operatives.
It is expected to add 20 more staff members and expand into North Carolina and Wisconsin in the coming months.
The group has become the target of fear and loathing by Democrats, who are concerned about the impact it may have on electoral politics. They say that the group is misleading Hispanics on a range of issues. and at the same time they are concerned that they may be losing ground to conservatives.
"They are making friends and trying to convince you that the Democratic agenda is bad," said Matt Barreto, co-founder of the research and polling firm Latino Decisions, according to the Post.
He said the group hands out ideological material, and collects names, email addresses and phone numbers, and is "laying the foundation for Republican candidates to emphasize the same messages."
He added that LIBRE is "playing the long game" by undermining support for Democrats.
Democrats take issue with it because they say its media work doesn't reveal to Latinos that there is a political bias.
The left-leaning Latino Victory Fund is so concerned about LIBRE that it is gathering Latino leaders in Washington next week to discuss how it can counter what it believes is misleading propaganda, the Post reported.
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