**From Monica Talan**
On Saturday I received an alert from the National Council of La Raza stating that the organization has decided to move its 2009 convention from Kansas City because the Mayor decided to appoint an active member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to a city commission. For anyone not familiar with the size of the convention, this might not seem like a big deal. Except NCLR was expected to generate $5.5 million in revenue to the city. And they may set in motion a chain of events, since the NAACP is supposed to host its convention there in 2010 and is also looking at moving it because of this issue. The NAACP weeklong conference in 2010 could bring in $9 million. All in all, this could cost Kansas more than $14 million in new revenue over a two-year period.
So who is this city commissioner? She is a 73-year-old grandmother who joined the Minuteman group because of the government’s lack of attention to the immigration issue. Again, some might say NCLR and NAACP are exaggerating, but as groups like NCLR have no other ways to make their voices heard, just like the city commissioner did and therefore joined Minuteman group, they need to make these tough decisions to show the economic impact of the immigration debate. Conventions are big business. As cities look at being selected for convention sites, and as companies and organizations look for best sites, a new issue might be on their list for consideration if they want Hispanic participation.
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