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Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Early life  





2 Early political career  





3 Personal life  





4 U.S. Senate election, 2004  



4.1  Primary  





4.2  General election  





4.3  Campaign reporting violation  







5 Staffing controversies  





6 Republican National Committee  





7 Published works  





8 Lobbying Spanish government officials on behalf of United States  





9 Positions  





10 Electoral history  





11 See also  





12 Footnotes  





13 External links  














Mel Martínez






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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Mel Martínez
United States Senator
from Florida
In office
January 3, 2005 – September 9, 2009
Preceded byBob Graham
Succeeded byGeorge LeMieux
General Chair of the Republican National Committee
In office
January 19, 2007 – October 19, 2007
Served with Mike Duncan (National Chair)
Preceded byKen Mehlman (chair)
Succeeded byMike Duncan (chair)
12th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
In office
January 24, 2001 – August 13, 2004
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byAndrew Cuomo
Succeeded byAlphonso Jackson
2nd Mayor of Orange County
In office
January 3, 1998 – January 3, 2001
Preceded byLinda Chapin
Succeeded byRichard Crotty
Personal details
Born

Melquíades Rafael Ruiz Martínez


(1946-10-23) October 23, 1946 (age 77)
Sagua La Grande, Cuba
Political partyDemocratic (before 1979)[1]
Republican (1979–present)
SpouseKitty Martínez
Children3
EducationOrlando Junior College (AA)
Florida State University (BA, JD)

Melquíades Rafael Ruiz Martínez (born October 23, 1946) is a Cuban-American lobbyist and former politician who served as a United States senator from Florida from 2005 to 2009 and as general chairman of the Republican Party from November 2006 until October 19, 2007. Previously, Martínez served as the 12th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George W. Bush. Martínez is a Cuban-American and Roman Catholic. He announced he was resigning as general chairman of the Republican National Committee on October 19, 2007.[2]

Martínez resigned his United States Cabinet post on August 12, 2004, to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Bob Graham. Martínez secured the Republican nomination and narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, Betty Castor. His election made him the first Cuban-American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Furthermore, he and Ken Salazar (who is Mexican-American) [3] were the first Hispanic U.S. senators since 1977. They were joined by a third, Bob Menendez (who is also Cuban-American) in January 2006, until Salazar resigned from the Senate on January 20, 2009, to become Secretary of the Interior. On December 2, 2008, Martínez announced he would not be running for re-election to the Senate in 2010.

On August 7, 2009, CNN and the Orlando Sentinel reported that Martínez would be resigning from his Senate seat.[4][5] Later that month, Governor Charlie Crist announced that he would appoint George LeMieux as the successor to Martínez for the remaining year and a half of the Senate term.[6]

Two weeks after Martínez resigned his Senate seat, The Hill reported that he would become a lobbyist and partner at international firm DLA Piper.[7] He left DLA Piper in August 2010 to become chairman of Chase Bank Florida and its operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.[8] Martinez is currently chairman of the Southeast and Latin America for JPMorgan, Chase & Co.[9] Martínez also serves as a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center.[10]

Early life[edit]

Martínez was born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, the son of Gladys V. (Ruíz) and Melquíades C. Martínez.[11] He came to the United States in 1962 as part of a Roman Catholic humanitarian effort called Operation Peter Pan, which brought into the U.S. more than 14,000 children. Catholic charitable groups provided Martinez a temporary home at two youth facilities. At the time Martínez was alone and spoke virtually no English. He graduated from Bishop Moore High School in 1964. He subsequently lived with two foster families, and in 1966 was reunited with his family in Orlando.

Martínez received an associate degree from Orlando Junior College in 1967, a bachelor's degree in international affairs from Florida State University, and his Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University College of Law in 1973. He began his legal career working at the Orlando personal injury law firm Wooten Kimbrough,[12] where he became a partner and worked for more than a decade. During his 25 years of law practice in Orlando, he was involved in various civic organizations. He served as vice-president of the board of Catholic Charities of the Orlando Diocese.

Early political career[edit]

Senator Mel Martínez chats with U.S. President George W. Bush in the Center Hall of the White House during a celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The official portrait of former First Lady Betty Ford can be seen on the wall.

In 1994, Martínez ran for Lieutenant Governor of Florida. He teamed up with future Family Research Council President Ken Connor, the gubernatorial candidate. The Connor/Martínez ticket was defeated in the Republican primary, finishing fifth with 83,945 votes, or 9.31% of the vote.

On November 3, 1998, Martínez was elected Orange County Chairman (during Martínez's tenure the position was relabeled mayor). While in office, Martínez implemented what became known as the『Martínez doctrine』which prohibits development from taking place unless adequate public infrastructure, specifically school capacity, is able to support such development. The doctrine was challenged in court, but its legality was upheld when the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to a lower court's ruling.[13] Martínez served as mayor through the end of 2000.

Before becoming Secretary of HUD, Martínez served on the Governor's Growth Management Study Commission. He previously served as president of the Orlando Utilities Commission, on the board of directors of a community bank, and as chairman of the Orlando Housing Authority.

Serving as co-chairman of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush's 2000 presidential election campaigninFlorida, Martínez was a leading fundraiser. He was one of the 25 electors from Florida, who voted for Bush in the 2000 election. While serving as HUD Secretary, Martínez sat as an ex officio member of the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

Personal life[edit]

Mel Martínez and his wife Kitty have three children and five grandchildren.[14] He is the brother of Rafael E. Martínez. Mel Martínez resides in Orlando.

U.S. Senate election, 2004[edit]

In November 2004, Martínez was the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate election to replace retiring Democrat Bob Graham. Much of Martínez's support came from Washington: he was endorsed early by many prominent Republican groups, and publicly supported by key national Republican figures such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. His Cuban background and his popularity in the battleground Orlando, Florida, region both contributed to his appeal to the statewide GOP in Florida. But Internet magazine Salon reported that Martínez wanted to run for governor in 2006, though the GOP convinced him to run for the Senate two years earlier instead.

Primary[edit]

Martínez's nomination by the Republican Party was far from certain. He was seriously challenged by former Congressman Bill McCollum. McCollum criticized Martínez's background as a plaintiff's attorney, and many Republicans initially feared that Martínez's nomination would destroy the GOP's ability to criticize Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards' background. Martínez was also said to be soft on tort reform, a major Republican issue in the 2004 race.

After a McCollum surge in the final weeks leading up to the primary, Martínez fought back in the last week of the race, putting out mass mailings and television ads that called McCollum "the new darling of homosexual extremists," pointing out that McCollum had sponsored hate crimes legislation while a member of the House of Representatives. Martínez pulled some of the more offensive ads from the air after a personal appeal from Governor Jeb Bush, but never disavowed them. The St. Petersburg Times took the extraordinary step of revoking its endorsement of Martínez in the Republican primary and endorsing McCollum.[15]

In the Republican primary on August 31, Martínez won a decisive victory over McCollum (45 to 31 percent). Shortly afterward, he spoke alongside President Bush at the 2004 Republican National Convention on September 2.

During part of his tenure in the Senate, Martínez sat at the Candy desk.

General election[edit]

Martínez defeated his Democratic opponent, Betty Castor, in a very close election that was preceded by numerous negative television ads from both campaigns. Martínez's margin of victory was small enough that a winner was not declared until Castor conceded the day after the election.

Twelve of Martinez's 25 stops on taxpayer-funded domestic trips as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 2003 were to Florida cities, at the same time that he was also campaigning for Senate in Florida.[16]

President Bush won in Florida by 52%-47%,[17] but Martínez only won 49.5%-48.4%,[17][18] with a margin of about 70,000 votes. Martínez did much worse than Bush in the Tampa area, such as in Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties, and in smaller counties such as Liberty and Lafayette. The only counties that Martínez won that Bush did not were Orange and Miami-Dade.

Campaign reporting violation[edit]

In August 2006, the Martínez campaign acknowledged that the 2004 campaign had been under review by the Federal Election Commission for more than a year. Following the 2004 election, Martínez originally reported that his $12-million campaign had about $115,000 in debt, according to FEC documents. But a revision showed his campaign instead owed $685,000 in election expenses. The campaign spent about $300,000 in accounting and attorney's fees related to the 2004 campaign.[19] On October 28, 2008, Republican Sen. Mel Martínez agreed to pay $99,000 in fines for his campaign's failure to comply with federal election laws, including its acceptance of excess contributions, records show. An FEC audit found Martínez's campaign accepted a total of $313,235 in contributions that exceeded limits from 186 donors. The fine was agreed to by the FEC on Sep 10 and was posted a month later in its database.

The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in August 2006 that alleged Martínez illegally accepted more than $60,000 from the Bacardi beverage company in the campaign. CREW alleged Bacardi violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) and FEC regulations by soliciting contributions from a list of the corporation's vendors for these campaigns, and by using corporate funds to pay for food and beverages at campaign events held in the company's corporate headquarters on May 11, 2004. An amended complaint by CREW in October 2006 alleged similar behavior by Bacardi for Democratic Senator Bill Nelson's 2006 re-election campaign.[20] In April 2007, the FEC notified CREW it had reviewed the allegations against Bacardi, the Martínez campaign and the Nelson campaign, found no reason to believe any of the alleged violations occurred, and closed the matter.[21]

Staffing controversies[edit]

On April 6, 2005, Martínez accepted the resignation of his legal counsel, Brian Darling,[22] who was responsible for writing and circulating the Schiavo memo related to the Terry Schiavo case.

Martínez immediately denied all knowledge of Darling's involvement in the situation, noting that he himself had inadvertently passed a copy of the memo to Democratic Senator Tom HarkinofIowa, believing that it was nothing more than an outline of the Republican proposal. Martínez asserted that the memo "was intended to be a working draft," stating that Darling "doesn't really know how I got it."

The Schiavo memo is the third incident in which Martínez accepted broad responsibility while laying blame upon a staffer for the underlying deed. During the Republican primary, a staffer was blamed for a passage in a campaign flyer painting his opponent Bill McCollum as a servant of the "radical homosexual lobby." Shortly thereafter another staffer was blamed for labeling federal agents involved in the Elián González affair as "armed thugs."[23]

In spite of Martínez's vocal objections to homosexual issues such as gay marriage, he employed two gay men in his 2004 Senate campaign.[24]

Republican National Committee[edit]

In November 2006, Martínez was named general chairman of the Republican Party for the 2007–2008 election cycle (Mike Duncan handled the day-to-day operations). Some felt the choice was made in part due to the dip in support for Republicans among Latino voters in the 2006 midterm elections.[25] Some conservatives objected to Martínez's selection, citing his positions on immigration and their general lack of enthusiasm for his performance as senator. Martínez stepped down from this position on October 19, 2007.

Published works[edit]

In August 2008, Martínez released an autobiography titled A Sense of Belonging; From Castro's Cuba to the U.S. Senate, One Man's Pursuit of the American Dream. The book was written by Martínez with Ed Breslin (Crown Publishing, August 2008) ISBN 978-0-307-40540-1.

The book Immigrant Prince is a biography about Martínez written by Richard E. Foglesong, the George and Harriet Cornell Professor of Politics at Rollins College (University Press of Florida, April 2011) ISBN 978-0813035796.

Lobbying Spanish government officials on behalf of United States[edit]

Three months into Barack Obama's presidential term, the administration tapped Senator Mel Martínez to deliver a private message to Spanish government officials in order to thwart a probe into former Bush administration officials for rendition and torture of Guantanamo detainees which the U.S. was failing to investigate. According to Carol Rosenberg, "The cause for alarm at the U.S. Embassy was what a U.S. diplomat called a 'well documented' 12-inch-tall dossier compiled by a Spanish human rights group. In the name of five Guantánamo captives with ties to Spain, it accused the Bush legal insiders of laying the foundation for abuse of detainees in the months following the September 11, 2001, attacks.[26]

The six accused are: former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; David Addington, former chief of staff and legal adviser to the Vice President; William Haynes, former DOD General Counsel; Douglas Feith, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; Jay Bybee, former head of the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel; and John Yoo, a former member of Bybee's staff.

On April 15, 2009, Martínez met with Acting Foreign Minister Angel Losada on a visit to the Spanish foreign ministry, where he warned that an investigation would have consequences, and "that prosecutions would not be understood or accepted in the U.S. and would have an enormous impact on the bilateral relationship." Lossada told Martínez that he understood the complications but "the independence of the judiciary and the process must be respected", and "that the executive branch of government could not close any judicial investigation and urged that this case does not affect the overall relationship, adding that our interests were much broader, and that the universal jurisdiction case should not be viewed as a reflection of the Spanish Government's position."

Following the outreach, the Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido's press chief told the media that the Prosecutor's office will deliver the AG's recommendation to the National Court, where it will be up to investigating judge Baltasar Garzon to decide whether to pursue the case or not. Baltasar Garzon has been an outspoken critic of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and has publicly stated that former President George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes.[citation needed]

In April 2010, on the advice of the Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido, who believes that an American tribunal should judge the case (or dismiss it) before a Spanish Court ever thinks about becoming involved, prosecutors recommended that Judge Garzon should drop his investigation. As CNN reported, Mr. Conde-Pumpido told reporters that Judge Garzon's plan threatened to turn the court "into a toy in the hands of people who are trying to do a political action."

Positions[edit]

"The bottom line is I don't plan on prosecuting anyone. When I go to the United States Senate, I'm going to be confirming judges who will go to the courts, and the courts will deal with the issue. This is not up for a vote by the United States Senate." He added, "We're far from prosecuting people in this country over that issue"[28]

On January 25, 2008, Martínez endorsed Sen. John McCain in the Florida Republican primary of the 2008 presidential election, citing McCain's understanding of national security and economic and foreign policy.[33] McCain subsequently won the primary.

Electoral history[edit]

[18]
2004 United States Senate election in Florida
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Mel Martínez 3,672,864 49.5%
Democratic Betty Castor 3,590,201 48.4%

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ "Mel Martinez". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 27, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
  • ^ Sen. Martínez quits as RNC chairman Archived October 8, 2009, at the Wayback Machine from USA Today
  • ^ Fast facts: Explanation of Ken Salazar's ancestry Archived November 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine from Time Magazine
  • ^ "First on the CNN Ticker: Florida senator to resign seat". CNN. August 7, 2009. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  • ^ "Topic Galleries". OrlandoSentinel.com. Archived from the original on August 9, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ "News Releases - News Room - United States Senator Mel Martinez". Archived from the original on September 2, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
  • ^ Snyder, Jim (September 23, 2009). "Ex-Sen. Martínez to join DLA Piper as partner". TheHill.com September 23, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ Orlando Sentinel (2010). Mel Martinez to be Fla. chairman for JPMorgan Chase Archived January 29, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  • ^ Florida Trend (2013). [1] Archived November 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
  • ^ "Housing". Archived from the original on October 31, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011. Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission
  • ^ Melquíades C. Martínez Gladys V. Ruíz Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  • ^ "Orlando Injury Lawyers". Whkpa.com. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ "Orange County Government" (PDF). OrangeCountyFL.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 30, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  • ^ "MARTINEZ, Melquiades R. (Mel) | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  • ^ McCollum for GOP Archived May 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Editorial by St. Petersburg Times, August 30, 2004.
  • ^ Goodno, James. "House Of Cards: What exactly did Mel Martinez accomplish at HUD – and will it be enough to get him elected to the U.S. Senate?". No. May/June 2004. Shelterforce Online. Archived from the original on August 10, 2004. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  • ^ a b "Archived copy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 8, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  • ^ a b STATISTICS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL AND CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 2, 2004 Archived June 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Clerk of the House of Representatives, November 4, 2004, revised June 7, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  • ^ "Martinez confirms auditing of his 2004 campaign". Northwest Florida Daily News. AP. August 12, 2006. p. C6.
  • ^ "Crew Files Amended Fec Complaint Against Bacardi Usa And Martinez For Senate". Citizensforethics.org. Archived from the original on May 22, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ "FEC Dismisses CREW Allegations" (PDF). FEC.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 9, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  • ^ "Author of Schiavo memo steps forward". MSNBC. Archived from the original on April 7, 2005. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ "New gaffe, old Martínez defense". Sptimes.com. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ Anti-gay Senate candidate has two gay advisers
  • ^ Kady, Martin (November 14, 2006). "Republicans Poised to Tap Martínez to Shape Message in Advance of 2008 Race". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ Carol Rosenburg. "WikiLeaks: How U.S. tried to stop Spain's torture probe". Miami Herald.
  • ^ "Mel Martinez on Abortion". Ontheissues.org. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ a b "Florida Senatorial Debate: Unedited Realtime Captioning". Americaption, Inc. October 18, 2004. Archived from the original on April 4, 2005.
  • ^ [2] Archived June 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine).
  • ^ Mel Martinez (June 7, 2009). "Shipbuilding a national imperative". Politico.com. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  • ^ Senator Removes His Block on Federal Court Nominee Archived December 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times, Neil A. Lewis, December 19, 2006. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  • ^ 110th Congress, roll call vote 240 Archived December 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, United States Senate, July 9, 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  • ^ "Senator Mel Martínez Endorses John McCain For President". John McCain for President (Press release). January 25, 2008. Archived from the original on January 30, 2008.
  • External links[edit]

    Political offices
    Preceded by

    Andrew Cuomo

    United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
    2001–2003
    Succeeded by

    Alphonso Jackson

    Party political offices
    Preceded by

    Charlie Crist

    Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Florida
    (Class 3)

    2004
    Succeeded by

    Marco Rubio

    Preceded by

    Ken Mehlman

    as Chair of the Republican National Committee
    General Chair of the Republican National Committee
    2007
    Served alongside: Mike Duncan (National Chair)
    Succeeded by

    Mike Duncan

    as Chair of the Republican National Committee
    U.S. Senate
    Preceded by

    Bob Graham

    U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Florida
    2005–2009
    Served alongside: Bill Nelson
    Succeeded by

    George LeMieux

    U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
    Preceded by

    Anthony Principi

    as Former US Cabinet Member
    Order of precedence of the United States
    as Former US Cabinet Member
    Succeeded by

    Elaine Chao

    as Former US Cabinet Member

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mel_Martínez&oldid=1228165137"

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