By Peter Stone

iWatch News

Eyeing potentially restive Hispanic voters in 2012, GOP operative Dan Garza is launching an “economic freedom” message campaign aimed at Latinos, and hiring big name business and religious figures to help in key states.

Garza told iWatch News he hopes to raise $1 million by the end of 2011 for his campaign, dubbed the Libre Initiative, which will tout such core Republican values as less economic and business regulation. Among the big name donors he has approached are “representatives of the Koch family,” said Garza, who worked in the White House’s public liaison office under George W. Bush and then did stints with Spanish language media. Garza declined to say, however, whether Koch interests have committed any funds yet to the initiative, a 501 (c) (4) which is permitted to keep donors names secret.

Two GOP operatives familiar with the initiative say Garza told them he has already secured commitments for about $1 million — including funds from Koch family interests.

Charles and David Koch control the nation’s second largest privately owned company, Kansas-based Koch Industries, with big interests in oil and gas, paper products and derivatives trading.  The two Koch brothers are each reportedly worth about $21 billion. Over the last few decades the brothers and Koch family foundations have been financial angels for numerous conservative think tanks, grassroots groups and politicians.

A spokesman for Koch declined to comment.

Garza’s fledgling effort is but the latest example of GOP drives to win the hearts, minds and votes of the fast- growing Hispanic community — efforts that in the 2012 elections could be crucial in swing states like Florida and New Mexico.

On Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque,  the Hispanic Leadership Network,  run by Jennifer Korn, another alumnus of the Bush public liaison office, is hosting a conference featuring several prominent Latino officials as part of its drive to build a Hispanic grassroots political network. Korn’s group was created earlier this year by the Republican-affiliated American Action Network; the network is chaired by former Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.

And this summer the Republican State Leadership Committee — chaired by GOP super-consultant Ed Gillespie —announced plans to  spend $3 million in 2012 recruiting 100 Hispanics to run for state legislative office and boosting GOP support for women and other minority candidates.

“Voters would like to have someone they can identify with,” Gillespie told iWatch News , noting that currently there are only 39 Republican Hispanic state legislators nationwide. “The immediate perspective is to increase our share of the Hispanic vote in 2012, which would be significant,” Gillespie said.

Read the rest of the story here.

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