Justin's Podcast
Data-Driven Advocacy and Latino Voter Engagement with Michael Bustamante
Effective advocacy is more crucial now than ever. What if understanding data could sway legislative decisions? This episode features Michael Bustamante, who offers a deep dive into how data-driven strategies have shaped advocacy over the years. Michael recounts a 2007 campaign for children's healthcare in California and a 2017 initiative on early childhood education, highlighting the power of good data and the art of coalition management.
Engaging Latino voters isn't just about ticking another demographic box; it's about genuine, strategic engagement. Michael and I explore the complexities of reaching out to a diverse Latino population. We share vivid anecdotes of missed opportunities and misguided strategies, including how Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign could have better engaged Latino voters. The conversation underscores the necessity of consistent, meaningful outreach to earn the trust and votes of this influential community.
Beyond the mechanics of campaigns, this episode delves into the broader implications of Latino voter engagement and advocacy. We discuss the pitfalls of superficial political gestures and draw parallels with the frustrations faced by the African American community. The dialogue extends to the challenges of mobilizing young voters and navigating their unique concerns. We wrap up by contrasting the fulfilling mission-driven work in nonprofit organizations with the professional world of political advocacy, encouraging community involvement and highlighting stories of impactful change.
Effective advocacy is more crucial now than ever. What if understanding data could sway legislative decisions? This episode features Michael Bustamante, who offers a deep dive into how data-driven strategies have shaped advocacy over the years. Michael recounts a 2007 campaign for children's healthcare in California and a 2017 initiative on early childhood education, highlighting the power of good data and the art of coalition management.
Engaging Latino voters isn't just about ticking another demographic box; it's about genuine, strategic engagement. Michael and I explore the complexities of reaching out to a diverse Latino population. We share vivid anecdotes of missed opportunities and misguided strategies, including how Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign could have better engaged Latino voters. The conversation underscores the necessity of consistent, meaningful outreach to earn the trust and votes of this influential community.
Beyond the mechanics of campaigns, this episode delves into the broader implications of Latino voter engagement and advocacy. We discuss the pitfalls of superficial political gestures and draw parallels with the frustrations faced by the African American community. The dialogue extends to the challenges of mobilizing young voters and navigating their unique concerns. We wrap up by contrasting the fulfilling mission-driven work in nonprofit organizations with the professional world of political advocacy, encouraging community involvement and highlighting stories of impactful change.
Welcome to Interesting People, the podcast where we delve into the lives and stories of fascinating individuals from all walks of life. I'm your host, justin Wallen, and in each episode we bring you inspiring, thought-provoking and sometimes surprising interviews with people who are making an impact in their fields and communities. There's only one common thread that the world is more interesting because of them. Get ready to be inspired, entertained and enlightened as we spotlight the extraordinary let's dive in.
Speaker 1:Michael Bustamante is my good friend and also a partner with California Strategies and a communications professional extraordinaire. He has, I'm realizing I start to get to say this about all of us. He has over a quarter of a century of experience in this world, helping winning public affairs strategies for businesses, state and local governments, and you were press secretary and deputy chief of staff to Governor Gray Davis. You're the governor's chief spokesperson. You oversaw their communications and outreach efforts. You work with Senator Alan Cranston, congressman Waxman and you have a whole litany of tier one gold bullion references and folks that you work with, and I have the good fortune to work with you on a number of different items. So thank you for being here with me today.
Speaker 1:Oh my pleasure, thank you. Wanted to first kind of talk about because time has passed and I find great value in that how has effective advocacy and kind of political communications changed over the years since you've been practicing it? What works now versus then, or are there constants?
Speaker 2:Well, I think there's two things. One, I mean the more things change, the more they stay the same in some regard. For example, we did a campaign, a public affairs campaign here in California in 2007, where we were trying to get every kid in California covered with health care. Healthcare, and you know what ended up working and how we developed. This campaign was around data right.
Speaker 2:So we went out and defined what we called the crutches, the things that people in this case legislators would lean on to say no, it's too expensive, we don't have the money. You know they're all illegal immigrants, we don't know who the population is. You know just a variety of different excuses that people would come up with. And then we went and created, we approached a number of academics around the country to deal with this issue, and so they developed a variety of different studies per issue. Right, and pretty soon. For instance, you know the issue of costs. Well, it's too expensive. We don't know how much it costs. Well, we went to Pricewaterhouse and had them do a study and they came to the conclusion it was $300 million. We issued a press release around it. We provided a synopsis of the report, similar to what we do with polls today and pretty soon the lexicon in the building and the legislature was well, it's only $300 million, or oh my gosh, it's $300 billion. How are we going to be able to afford it?
Speaker 2:Point was that the data that we developed was good data and we injected it into the conversation and pretty soon, you know, folks were reciting what we had provided and we did that, you know, for the entire campaign, right? So you know we had David Hayes-Bautista at UCLA define who the you know who the recipients would be from. I think it was South Carolina who did a study around Medi-Cal churning, which is a government specialty where if you're on Medi-Cal, it ends on a certain date you're kicked off. You have to reapply the delta between when you get kicked off and when you get back in costs the state money and consumers, and that Delta was more than $300 million that the state paid for on a regular basis. So we defined how they can come up with the money. So there's a whole host of different examples, but the thing that is the constant is good data and using that good data in a way that is effective.
Speaker 1:When you do things like these, these big issues and big topics, there's usually coalitions that you put together to make yourselves bigger and stronger and more powerful. But with coalitions come tensions and competing interests and goals. They're all under the same umbrella if you talk about whatever it might be, but everyone's got their personal favorites that they are very reasonably trying to push to the head of the pack. How do you manage all those different interests towards a unified goal? Is it even possible, or what are the things that you've done that work?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's very possible, but it's also one of those things where you have to be highly cautious and reasonably strategic, right? So a campaign that we did here in California in 2017 was to what we call choose children, and it was an inverse campaign, meaning, instead of going after voters, we went after the people who were running for governor. So for us, the audience, if you will, were 24 individuals, right, 21 individuals, something like that where it was the candidates, half a dozen of them and their consultants. In order to do that, you're right, we had to look bigger than what we were, and we had a whole series of organizations that were participating with us.
Speaker 2:The catch was and what I learned rather quickly, was that, you know, there are sacred cows with all of these different organizations, and some do not want early childhood education for four-year-olds, somehow or another. The number of that four-year-old was kind of like the dividing line, and I remember sitting in a meeting having all these people around the table. There's probably 12, 15 people around the table, all from the early education, child care space, and I made a comment about that and pre-K and what have you? So like a third of the room. You could see were like, oh, a third of the room were like, oh good. And then there was that middle section and I realized, okay, so we're not going to talk about this.
Speaker 2:And we worked really hard to kind of focus attention on the things that would not inflame, because at the end of the day, you need everyone, right? I mean, these issues are hard enough just to get over the goal line, and you need to have everyone. And if you start out with a coalition and all of a sudden people start to get peeled away, that's not good for your issue. And so we had to work really hard to find a way to manage the different organizations that were all a part of, you know, of this effort, even though you know common sense would tell you, oh yeah, everybody's on the same page, nope, so it's something you got to pay very close attention to you know California politics, so, moving slightly out of advocacy, but it all feeds into the same thing.
Speaker 1:In Bustamante, you're a California Latino and every year the number of Latinos in the state increases and the number of Latinos who are eligible to vote increases. And because California has this really unique way of assimilating and turning folks who are eligible to vote into registered voters, a higher and higher proportion of Latinos who are registered. And yet, consistently over time, latinos do not wield the political power, the clout that they could at the ballot box. Talk to me a little bit about that. Why do you think that is, and is there opportunity there?
Speaker 2:Well, you're spot on in that you know the numbers of just the general population increases, voting age increases and yet the numbers are increasing about the same year over well, cycle over cycle, which means, by definition, that they're smaller than they were in the previous cycle. And it's one of my biggest frustrations. And, to be perfectly frank, you know the Democratic Party, such as it is, whether it's at the local, the state or the national levels, do not pay attention to the Latino community. Campaign consultants do not pay attention to the Latino community. And you know you hear a lot of lip service and how the Latino voters are important and sleeping giant, blah, blah, blah, all this other stuff, but at the end of the day, they don't spend the resources on Latino voters.
Speaker 2:Example when I was being considered actually for to run nationally the latino outreach for the obama campaign, they had made the decision when they called me and said, yeah, that's not going to happen. After three or four interviews, um, they said, yeah, this guy I forget his name now was was going to oversee latino outreach and I, but he's doing labor. And they said, yeah, well, he can do both. And then I said so I guess you're not serious about outreach to Latino voters, which didn't go over very well. He ended up becoming labor secretary years later and well, let's just say he and I don't have the best relationship, but you know, the point is that they, you know this inclusive effort was up to a point and that point didn't include the Latino community. I mean, look, when I helped run Gray Davis's campaign in 1998, we were outspent in the general by the Republican, dan Lundgren when it came to Latino voters.
Speaker 2:Every single cycle it's the same thing and at the end of the day, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, you know Latino, you know we're not going to spend money on Latino voters because they don't vote. Well, latino voters don't vote because no one spends any money on them and focuses any attention toward them, and it's just this hamster wheel that just keeps going. And I mean, I have made it.
Speaker 2:You know, really, my mission this year, you know, to just, you know, jump up and down and focus on campaign consultants and the campaigns that we're involved with to make sure that there is attention paid to Latino voters. Because, look, at the end of the day, we have the ability as a bloc to change the trajectory of any campaign. And the one misnomer I think about Latinos, is that? Well, yeah, they're in the bag for Democrats. They are a good liberal voting bloc and we're not Traditionally Latinos. For the most part are moderate to a little on the conservative side. It depends on the issues and it depends on the age, to be sure, but look, this is a block of voters who voted for Ronald Reagan, who voted for Pete Wilson prior to 1994. I mean thank you.
Speaker 2:Pete Wilson for slapping us into reality. But there are countless issues that Latino voters care about and that all they need to be is asked to participate and that ask just doesn't happen. And you know, I mean the Democratic Party historically is essentially, you know, akin to saying go ahead and vote for the other guy, we don't care, you're going to vote for us anyway. To say go ahead and vote for the other guy, we don't care, you're going to vote for us anyway. And it's that kind of arrogance that, frankly, could easily come back and bite folks in the butt. You know, for here in California there's really not much to worry about. But you know, increasingly, if you're looking at Nevada or Arizona or New Mexico, colorado, you know, and other states, wisconsin, minnesota, you know Latinos are everywhere and you know, if folks don't pay attention, they're going to wake up the day after election one of these cycles and go, whoa, what the hell happened? Right, and I mean cost of living is a major issue, you know. Inflation, affordable housing, health care, crime and public safety. You know, when you look at cost of living and crime and public safety, those are two areas that, frankly, if you have the right message and messenger, is that, frankly, if you have the right message and messenger, you know, hey, all bets are off and see who gets there first.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I can go on and on about this because it really pisses me off and you know, it's just, it's wrong. I mean, when here in California we're like basically 39, almost 40 percent of the voting bloc and no disrespect, but African-American communities like seven or eight, and yet you know, you, you want to. When you get into a conversation, it's almost as if you know these communities are are inverted Right, latino seven, african-american 39, because the amount of attention that is paid to that community is extraordinary compared to the Latino community. And you know, in large measure because African-American voters vote, but over time campaigns focus their attention on African-Americans. They have for many years they didn't, and now there is a renewed interest in trying to turn out the black vote. And you know, compliments I think of President Obama, starting in 2008, and then certainly with John Lewis and other members of Congress that have really shown a light on the black voters. I mean, there's far more tension.
Speaker 1:Is it hindered by? There hasn't been kind of a unifying movement? You know something to that? That, because you mentioned this earlier. You know the Latino population doesn't behave like a block. It's not uniform in behavior and background and profession and even a language, frankly. So there's you communicating to any group that is nuanced and has differences, presents its challenges. But on top of that, aside from 1994 in California when Republicans did everything they could to torpedo any chance of getting a Latino vote in the future, what has been the unifying issue? Or there just isn't one, because it is a nuanced group and you have to do the hard work of finding out what the issues matter at that point and over time. And it means regular, regular, regular engagement and communication.
Speaker 2:So if you track issues for or about the Latino community. Those issues are almost identical to the American experience right, education, public safety, cost of living, health care. I mean those are the kinds of issues that you know work, that Latinos pay attention to, similar to just about any other voter. I think the defining issue really is about the ask. There are some organizations that go out of their way to ask for your vote. They take the time to knock on your door. They take the time to do whatever their strategy is to go after the you know, a Latino voter and you will be paid with, you know, with good dividends Most folks, I mean.
Speaker 2:Traditionally the Latino approach has been. You know, you have I don't know $4 million for a campaign and you're running this campaign and with two weeks left, you realize you've got a couple hundred thousand left. It hasn't been earmarked. I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding, I'm serious. You know you have a couple hundred thousand dollars that isn't earmarked. So what should we do? Why don't we go spend it? You know, let's go do some Spanish language mail or let's cut a radio ad or a TV ad. And what's interesting is because you only have like two weeks left before election day and you've lost all this time. You take whatever you did in English and you have somebody translate it Now.
Speaker 2:Is that a culturally competent approach? No, have you checked the box and said we did outreach to the Latino community? Kind of right, and it'll make you feel better about the fact that? Well, we spent $200,000, quarter of a million dollars, whatever the number would be on the Latino community, and you know what. They didn't come out to vote. Why did we spend money on them? Well, geez, if you had done that to other voters seniors, or pick a voting block you know white suburban moms or you know what have you and waited for the last two weeks and spent, you know, a pittance on them, you'd probably end up getting the same result, right.
Speaker 1:They're shocked that it's a half a percent increase. And why is that they're shocked it's a half a percent increase? Why is that? Because he didn't approach it strategically, didn't approach it seriously.
Speaker 2:Look, I had a campaign consultant who I was like jumping up and down a number of years ago. And he said, consultant who I was like jumping up and down it was a number of years ago and he said okay, fine, I hear what you're saying how many Latino voters can I get for every million that I spent? I said so you're asking me to say, okay, if you spend a million dollars on the Latino community, you're going to get 22,400 voters. So that is insane. I said let me ask you for your $4 million. Exactly what is it that you're going to get with suburban voters over the age that? Yet that's the mindset and it's unfortunate. I mean, look, in 2000,. So you know, I was with Governor Davis, who got kicked out.
Speaker 2:In 2003, arnold Schwarzenegger becomes governor and he was doing his reelection campaign for 2006. I approached the Schwarzenegger campaign and said I'd love to come work for you. They looked at me like as if I had just been on a, a 13-day bender or something. And it was like dude, what are you thinking? And I said look, I'm going to be honest with you. I said the Democratic Party doesn't care about the Latino community and won't unless there is a credible alternative available and you, you know, governor Schwarzenegger is the only candidate I have seen in an awful long time that has a level of attraction to Latino voters and I would love to help you increase that number so that you know, full disclosure, that the Democratic Party gets their shit together and, you know, begins to start to pay attention to Latino voters. After a couple of conversations they said no, thank you. They said, but what we're going to do is we are going to hire someone because you made a really good point.
Speaker 1:And they did. Is it happening anywhere in America? Are there any states that this is actually being accomplished in a meaningful, successful way, or is it just? I'm not?
Speaker 2:aware of any. It's certainly not in California, I mean, you know, in Florida, I'm sure with you know, Hispanics, because, oddly enough, I mean you know, it depends on which part of the country you're in, right.
Speaker 1:Latino versus Hispanic.
Speaker 2:Latinos are on the west side, hispanics on the east, but a lot of it has to do with kind of as you pointed out a little bit ago the idea that we're not monolithic and there are a whole bunch of spices that mix into this molek right Salvadoranians, hondurans, guatemalans, Mexicans, puerto Ricans, cubans, you know, and all of these various life experiences come together. And you know, in Florida there has historically been a really potent block of Hispanics, primarily Republicans from the Cuban community right, and a little bit of smattering of Puerto Ricans. But generally speaking, I don't see any kinds of organized efforts around the Latino vote, despite, you know, people saying, oh no, of course we do. I mean, we go to, you know, we go to Olvera Street, we have a taco, we don a sombrero, as they will say it, and no, not even close.
Speaker 1:It doesn't hold any credibility, right? I mean, to have credible communication, you've got to come off as genuine, and all of that literally does sound like pandering, right? It sounds like pandering as it's described, and I suspect it sounds even more so like pandering when you are the target of it, when you're the subject of it.
Speaker 2:Sure, well, and I will say this. I mean, for example, I mean you listen to the African American community and they are, you know, equally crazed around election time because they're like okay, so when you want to vote, you go to our church, you go and you hang out in the first row of the pew, you stand up, you sing along and you clap right. Well, where are you the other 365 or 60 days? Right, and that's a legitimate complaint. And similarly with the Latino community, it's the same. That's kind of the state of things, I think.
Speaker 1:Well, it really is. It's hackneyed to say it, but it's true. It really is a sleeping giant. It's a shame that it's not more powerful than it is.
Speaker 2:Well let's see how successful I can be over the next this cycle and into the next. I'm looking forward to it Because, honestly, I've come to the conclusion that, you know, asking isn't going to cut it and you know, as they say, I mean you need to break eggs to make an omelet. Well, I intend to break a bunch of eggs this cycle because it's too important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the reality is I mean that is you're in a tight race. It is the most fertile ground. It's got the most opportunity of any space. Just read any voter registration roll in California. Just read any voter registration roll in California of just about any district, any city, any area. It's so clear you wonder where the strategic approach is, and it typically isn't. I mean, it's funny.
Speaker 2:The one thing that you hear constantly is that we have to turn out the young vote. Okay, you know, since I—when I was involved—be began in politics in 1980, that was the same comment right, we've got to work hard to turn out the young voter, right. And you know what we're all full of, as they say piss and vinegar, and we jump up and down evidence. You know what's going on around, you know the Hamas and Gaza and you know all the stuff that's going on at the campuses. I will guarantee you that less than half of the people who are there jumping up and down and being part of an encampment will actually cast a vote.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, they're not going to move, and the candidate who has to entice them to move gets the enjoyable prospect of jumping into topics that inflame the youth, which would be Hamas and Gaza and Israel, and what candidates really want to do that? There are some who make their brand on that, certainly, but most have to walk a more careful line and jumping into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. Look, president Biden talked about, you know, forgiving college loans, right. And yet people were still ambivalent about whether or not he was a credible candidate. And it's like wait, right. And yet people were still ambivalent about whether or not he was a credible candidate. And it's like wait, what Vote for him? Get $10,000, right.
Speaker 1:I mean, the world of politics is one thing, the world of advocacy is one thing, but you do a lot of work in nonprofit LA Zoo, california Science Center. Just a couple of them. I'm sure there are others. How is that different? Clearly, it's going to be fulfilling on a different level, but how is that work different or similar to what you do professionally?
Speaker 2:Well, you know I think well, first off, it's tremendously fulfilling and you know a lot of it is propelled by the fact that you know, now I have a 13-year-old right and over the years you know it was an opportunity for me to provide to him that I never had growing up I mean we were pretty poor growing up Didn't realize it until I got to college and realized like, wow, I guess I'm kind of poor and it really helped. You know, it makes me feel good. But more importantly, I think it enables me to help give back right and a lot of the work that I do, even with clients, try to encourage them to get involved in efforts. For example, I had a client who there's an organization here in Los Angeles called Homeboy Industries and they were involved. They, being the client, was involved in the convention stuff here in Los Angeles and you know they needed folks for the back of the house. You know work in the back of the house. So I went out and said to them look, we should approach Homeboy Industries and see if there's an opportunity here. And we did and there was.
Speaker 2:And you know we had this wonderful meeting with the chief operating officer and in the end I mean, there are a number of folks who ended up getting employed, the homegirls of the Wild and the Sand Geist. They cook. Well, they had this great bakery, and so the head chef for the client, who I think was a Michelin starred chef at one point in his career, came and then he said so he went and we did a tasting and there was a cheesecake, like we did a tasting, and there was a cheese, a cheesecake like popsicle. Oh, it was a cheesecake on a stick and and he took a bite out of it and he said to to the girls that were there this is wonderful. Could you make 6,000 of these for me, because we have a major conference in a couple of weeks Microsoft, I think it was and I'd love to be able to serve these for dessert. Well, once we picked them up off the floor, they said yes, and it all worked out pretty well.
Speaker 2:But here's the point as we were walking out, her name was Mary Ellen Burton. Mary Ellen looks at me and she was just so thrilled and then said gosh, you know, if only I could figure out what to do with our salsas. And I said what do you mean, salsas? And she said well, we have a half a dozen of these salsas that you know we're trying to figure out what to do with. Turns out that my client at the time, ralph Kroger, was looking for a big idea because they were going to be celebrating their first anniversary in their store downtown. So I literally ran out to the car, called the client and said she said, can we do this tomorrow? And I walked back into Mary Ellen and said you know, can we set up a time to meet? Kendra came, we sat down. The end of the story is Kendra helped Homegrown Industries walk through the FDA process. It took a year and at the end of the day their salsa started as a bowl in the deli counter and then graduated into literally you know, containers of all the different salsas and it was at the time sold in every Ralph's and every Food for Less. And her only ask was that they not distribute it to anybody else for a year so that they could work out the kinks.
Speaker 2:This is a multimillion-dollar generating revenue source for homeboy industries and it's all over the place. And those are the kinds of things that make me feel good about what we do. I mean we as consultants. You know major contracts, we work with candidates and initiatives and issues where we, you know, win or lose. Thankfully, we have won far more than we've lost.
Speaker 2:But the ability to give back in a scalable way and in this case with Homeboy Industries that makes a difference to them, means everything to me, and you know, and so we have those conversations with clients on a regular basis if there is an ability to kind of create that nexus. So, you know, science Center it's the only space shuttle, complete space shuttle, that is in the launch position and you know this pavilion is being built around it right now. Or you know, the Condor program at the zoo. Or you know, or even you know, the little nonprofit that I've kind of started called the Latino Consumer Federation, where you know our effort is to focus attention on Latino consumers and connect the business community to Latinos, and you know, those are the kinds of things that you know going to stop, because that's the beauty of all this stuff, the positive things, where you really are making meaningful changes in people's lives, and it's a beautiful thing to see.
Speaker 1:It's not talked about a lot in this world because we do a lot of work in advocacy, a lot of work in politics, and that gets a bad sheen to it. A lot Turns out a lot of it actually that really does momentous change, that helps people in massive ways.
Speaker 2:It's just, it's not only on the nonprofit side. I mean, look, I woke up one morning when I was working for Gloria Molina. I went out and got the LA Times and front page was you know, wilson administration eliminates food stamp benefits for immigrants. I called at the time. You know I was pretty well connected with the Clinton White House and I called a person there and was like furious, it was like six o'clock in the morning, what are you doing? And he didn't know what I was talking about. He picked up the newspaper. I'll spare you all the details. I spent the entire day focused just on that one issue, spent the entire day focused just on that one issue. The front page of the LA Times, above the fold the next day, read Clinton administration reverses Wilson decision.
Speaker 2:And the best part about it was, you know, I went to my mom's house and she looked at me and she's like Mijo, you look tired. And I said, mom, I'm exhausted. And I told her all the stuff that I had gone. I said, look, I just have the ability to save. You know, half a million people are going to continue to get the benefits that they had two days ago and they don't have any idea what could have happened and their lives, their life hasn't changed. I said that's a good thing. And she looked at me. She's like Milo, that's great. What do you want for dinner?
Speaker 1:That's beautiful, I love it.
Speaker 2:And that was. If there is one thing that I hope others you know that younger than I am or even those who came before me is look, what we do is important, but you know, the whole idea is to stop bad stuff from happening, whatever that is, and at the end of the day, don't take yourself so seriously, because you know we're here for a while and then somebody else comes in.
Speaker 1:My friend Michael Busamante. Thank you so much, absolute pleasure.
Speaker 2:Justin absolute pleasure.
Speaker 1:Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for tuning in to Interesting People. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe, rate and review the podcast on your favorite platform, and don't forget to follow us on social media for updates and behind the scenes content. I'm Justin Wallen and until next time, remember that the world is more interesting with you in.