As RNC leader, Martinez doesn’t moderate his views on immigration

Carolyn Hileman* | April 22, 2007

WASHINGTON - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez took the helm of the Republican National Committee three months ago, amid grumbling by some in the GOP about his stance on illegal immigration.But if those critics were expecting Martinez to moderate his position, they’ve surely been sorely disappointed.

Instead, Martinez, as general chair of the party, continues in his “day job” as a senator to push for federal legislation that toughens border security but provides citizenship opportunities for some illegal immigrants. He’s working the issue with like-minded senators, warning in an interview with a Capitol Hill newspaper that the GOP is “engaged in a struggle for the soul of the party.”

Indeed, Martinez acknowledges that he hasn’t reached out to mend fences with his immigration critics, a group he discounts as a “couple of handfuls of people.”

“I didn’t see a huge party division that requires fixing a rift,” Martinez said in a telephone interview. “I felt like it was overblown.

“And the whole issue seems to die out as people get to know me,” he said.

Martinez took the party job - essentially chief cheerleader and fundraiser for Republicans - as a favor to President Bush, with the understanding that his first priority would be his work as Florida’s junior senator.

“So far, so good,” he says of his first months on the job. “I’ve been able to be as much a senator as I wanted to be, which was the first priority, and doing the RNC when and if I can.”

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