TALKING POLITICS Depena’s new role a smart move for Dems BY IAN DONNIS

Bill Lynch, chairman of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, is nothing if not politically astute. So when Melba Depena, then the president of the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund, rapped local and national Democrats for taking Latinos for granted (see "Ready to rumba," News, June 27), Lynch got in touch with the up-and-coming political organizer. This week, the process set in motion by that conversation resulted in the introduction of Depena, a 31-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, as the executive director of the Rhode Island Democratic Party.

The catalyst for their introduction proved a source of humor when Lynch led off a lengthy list of prominent local Democrats — including US Representatives Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin, Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, House Speaker William Murphy, and most of the state’s general officers — in introducing Depena during a packed mid-day luncheon at Ada’s Creations on Broad Street in South Providence on Tuesday, December 16. Cracked the chairman, "My first exposure to her was an article in the Phoenix where she was criticizing my leadership."

Depena’s most recent campaign role was as field director with Secretary of State Matt Brown’s successful 2002 campaign. She is respected for her prowess as an organizer, and her new post represents an advance for the role of women in state politics. It’s also a smart way, of course, for Rhode Island Democrats to reach out to women and particularly Latinos, who emerged locally as an increasingly potent bloc in the 2002 election. "To have an executive director who is female and Latino is a major step forward," says Darrell West, a political science professor at Brown University.

Patricia Morgan, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Republican Party, who has been mining the ethics controversy involved state Senator John Celona (D-North Providence) to rail against local Democrats, says the hiring of an executive director signals "that they know they’re in trouble." She adds, "The Democratic political machine has been blundering along, and people are starting to get the point — that they can’t afford an 85 percent Democrat legislature. It really is costing us too much, costing us economic vitality, costing in scandals that keep businesses from coming to Rhode Island. It’s made us a laughing stock around the country."

During Depena’s introduction, though, Democrats took turns in savaging the Republican Party for promoting policies contrary to the interest of Latinos in immigration, education, and other areas. And the new executive director seems likely to strengthen existing ties between Hispanics and Democrats in Rhode Island.

Fighting the effects of cold, Depena, who recently relinquished the presidency of the Latino Civic Fund, nonetheless seemed awed by the throng of enthusiastic Latinos and Democrats who came to fete her. In an interview, she cited her initial goals as conducting outreach, forging closer political ties between blacks and Latinos – a sensitive issue in recent elections – and promoting communication, "so we get feedback from the community, to make sure that what we’re doing is what is expected from the community."

Her initial meeting over the summer with Lynch, she recalls, "was like a very funny type of meeting, because I asked him, I said, ‘Am I here because you don’t agree with my comments?’ He said, ‘No, I’m actually calling you for something [else].’