Saturday, January 19, 2013

Eva Longoria doing GOP outreach as part of her role as Obama policy and strategy adviser, 'GOP' figures Colin Powell, Norquist, and Mark McKinnon are invited to Longoria inaugural bipartisan brunch. Heavy.

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1/18/13, "Eva Longoria's Next Role: Hispanic Activist in Washington," WSJ, Monica Langley

"Her role reaches beyond fundraising and speechmaking, however, and into policy and strategy. She helped urge Mr. Obama to make a key change in immigration policy last year, and she is teaming with business to explore investments in housing and retail developments in Hispanic communities. 

Along the way she has developed a rapport with the president and his advisers. She is now planning meetings this weekend with the capital's elite, including private receptions at the White House and vice president's residence and a bipartisan brunch she is co-hosting at a Georgetown eatery this weekend with Mark McKinnon, a former strategist for George W. Bush and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. There, she plans to begin a Republican outreach by meeting with Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, and other attendees including Grover Norquist.  

It is part of a broader strategy to build her personal brand within the nation's fastest-growing market. Ms. Longoria is modeling it on Bono's celebrity-to-political-activist transformation, and has hired one of the singer's advisers....

Ms. Longoria went to a hotel suite to dress for the Golden Globes, where she was to announce two winners alongside actor Don Cheadle. While a hairstylist blew out her long hair, she texted Trevor Neilson, the political adviser who worked with Bono, to review her Washington schedule for this weekend's inaugural.

She asked him which Republicans would be attending a Sunday brunch at Georgetown's Café Milano that she is co-hosting. "I need to show them that I can work with them," she texted.
Later, in the car on the way to the Golden Globes, she asked Mr. Nielson: Would Mr. Powell, the former secretary of state, be at the event and if so, 

could she get some time to speak with him privately?...

In their occasional meetings over the past two years, Ms. Longoria and Mr. Obama have developed a rapport. Last spring, in a private meeting with Hispanic bigwigs, she pressed the president to move unilaterally to protect Latino undocumented youth at risk of deportation. According to Ms. Longoria and two others present, Mr. Obama first blamed Congress for failing to pass the Dream Act, a bill designed to address the problem.
 
To the surprise of several people present, Ms. Longoria persisted. "But Mr. President, you have to do something," she said. As the conversation continued, she said: "With all due respect, sir, it needs to be delivered by you in an emotional manner."

"What do you mean?" he replied, after suggesting that the executive branch was already working on a plan.

"Show your connection to us," Ms. Longoria said. "You were raised in an environment similar to many Latinos. Talk to us like you're talking to family."

San Antonio businessman Henry Munoz, who sat across from the pair, recalls, "It was a powerful moment. Eva is disarming because she's petite and beautiful, but the president respected her forceful advice."...

After Mr. Obama's election in 2008, Ms. Longoria was named to a commission studying a possible Latino-American museum in Washington, D.C. When Mr. Obama, a basketball fan, occasionally saw her, she says, he seemed more interested in whether her husband at the time, NBA star Tony Parker, was around.

Around the time her marriage ended in 2010, Ms. Longoria launched her own production company, perfume line, her Los Angeles restaurant called Beso ("kiss" in Spanish) and a cookbook filled with her Tex-Mex favorites. She also enrolled in a master's program in Chicano studies and political science at Cal State-Northridge, for which she is writing a dissertation. She says she didn't want to be one of "the rich celebrities who don't know what they're talking about."

By 2011, she had become a regular in Washington, including the screening of her documentary "Harvest" on the plight of child farm workers. Also the Futuro group was founded and began working closely with the Obama campaign, which asked Ms. Longoria to get involved. She hosted successful fundraisers in Los Angeles, Miami, New York and elsewhere, at a time when Mr. Obama's business support was dropping.

She was offered a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. But when the campaign sent her a draft speech, she says, she rejected it as "too much rah-rah and too little substance." She recalls telling the campaign's speechwriter: "I want to show that I came from the lower middle class and why I support the president."...

The week before the election last November, Ms. Longoria spent two days in southern Florida—home to a particularly powerful Latino electorate—to mobilize volunteers and speak to voters on behalf of the Obama-Biden ticket. While there, she became a visible target for hecklers that showed up at Obama rallies in the days of the campaign. "I got booed, I got beat up," she says, citing one incident where a woman punched her in the arm....

Ms. Longoria has devoted a chunk of her time the past year to getting her foundation up and running. As an adviser, she retained Global Philanthropy Group, run by Mr. Neilson and his wife, Maggie, who have helped myriad other stars, including Bono, Richard Branson and Madonna, with their causes.

Ms. Longoria's foundation recently received a $2 million commitment from Howard Buffett, Warren Buffett's son. The fund will make small loans to Latinas in Texas to start their own businesses, according to Ms. Longoria and Mr. Buffett. She got Mr. Buffett's donation, he says, after cooking him an egg breakfast and riding with him on a combine at his farm.

Mr. Turner of Canyon Capital asked Ms. Longoria to speak last fall at his annual seminar on social-impact investing at the Wharton School of Business, and now is negotiating with her to collaborate on for-profit affordable housing and retail outlets in Hispanic communities. Ms. Longoria says she wants to show that Hispanic concerns transcend immigration. "There's not a single Latino platform. It is about the economy, education and health care." 

While her various Hollywood commitments prevent her from taking a full-time position in Washington, she says, she declines to rule out politics in the future. Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, says, "Would I like Eva to run for office down here? Hell yes."" via Sharon Calvert, co-founder, Tampa Tea Party

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This MoveOn.org Obama ad by Eva Longoria and others features Scarlett Johansson wagging her finger at you:

"“I want to talk to you about women… and Mitt Romney.“Mitt Romney’s for ending funding for Planned Parenthood.” 

“He said he’d overturn Roe v. Wade.” 

“We have Republicans trying to redefine rape… trying to force women to undergo invasive ultrasounds.”

“If you think this election won’t affect you and your life, think again.”




Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, & Kerry Washington want to talk to women about Mitt Romney — a new 30-second TV ad from MoveOn.org Political Action.
Written, Directed & Produced by Rob Reiner
Produced by Michele Reiner"





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