Martinez book sheds light on why he won’t run
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – When Sen. Mel Martinez published his autobiography earlier this year, the 240-page book said very little about his life in Washington.
It briefly mentioned his excitement about his first meetings with President George W. Bush as he was picked to serve as housing secretary, and it summed up his experience running for Senate in three paragraphs. Other than describing the pride of having his mother watch as he was sworn in to office, it mentions virtually nothing about his life as a senator.
There are no details about the inner workings of the Cabinet, thoughts on the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case or reflections on serving as general chairman of the Republican National Committee. Instead, he focused on his faith, family and loyalty to friends in telling how he escaped Cuba and found success in the United States.
The strong emphasis on his life before Washington may now provide an indication of where his priorities were as he decided not to seek a second Senate term in 2010. Martinez even mentioned the book, “A Sense of Belonging,” as he made his announcement Tuesday, saying he weighed the six-year commitment against time with family.
“It was a question that came to mind as I wrote my book – causing me to reflect on the path I’ve chosen, and to think about, with love and gratitude, those who’ve traveled with me,” Martinez said. “The inescapable truth, for me, is that the call to public service is strong, but the call to home, family and lifelong friends is even stronger.”
While the book doesn’t detail his political and policy views, he said in an interview weeks before his announcement that he hopes people who read it will have better understanding of the decisions he made in public life.
In many ways it does shed some light on those choices. The strong message of loyalty may explain why he agreed to be the face of the RNC at Bush’s request even though the president’s approval ratings were dismal. His strong Catholic faith and the pain of watching his younger sister die of a neurological disorder at the age of 23 may explain his feelings as he urged Congress to intervene in the Schiavo case.
“When someone asks you ‘Why in the world would you take the RNC job?’, after reading the book what would be your answer? Did it make political sense? Of course not. Is he stupid? No, he’s just loyal to a friend,” Martinez told The Associated Press.
Martinez’s life story has been told many times, but it’s usually summed up in a few newspaper paragraphs – he fled Cuba alone as a 15-year-old speaking no English, stayed with two foster families, reunited with his family, worked his way through college and law school, married his college sweetheart, succeeded as a trial lawyer, became mayor of Orange County, served in Bush’s Cabinet and became the first Cuban-born senator.
The short version of the story is incredible enough, but the 16 chapters give much deeper insight into how Martinez’s life shaped him as a politician. The book describes the strong role of family and religion, the many close friends who helped him and his family in times of need, and how he returned that spirit of giving.
In reading the book, it’s also easier to understand why he would choose family over politics – a reason that seems cliche when so many other politicians have said the same.
Martinez writes extensively about the difficulty in being separated from his family, of writing them often and calling when he could, but never really being able to share every thought out of fear the Cuban government might be listening in or reading letters. His devotion to his wife also comes across clearly, and the joy of raising a family after it first appeared she could not have children.
Throughout the book, Martinez expresses pride in his accomplishments as well as a competitiveness in school, on the baseball field and in mock trials as he trained to be a lawyer. It’s easy to see how he could be frustrated with the idea of being in the minority party in a chamber where partisanship often makes it difficult to get things done.
“I can tell you a lot of examples of things that are very frustrating about the partisanship that goes on in Washington,” Martinez said in the interview. “It is a corrosive, I think, in a way that doesn’t allow for us to get the answers and solutions to problems and that’s unfortunate.”
Martinez said there was a deliberate decision not to write about policy and politics. The word Republican rarely appears in the book. He didn’t want readers to be distracted by discussions of subjects like the president, Iraq, Schiavo and more. Rather, he wanted people to know about his life and character.
That was even more important since the nine-month campaign for Senate often got nasty, both in the primary and the general election, to the point where the affable former Orange County mayor with a bipartisan reputation now had an entirely different, not so pleasant image.
“That perception that I was somehow a mean guy, or an angry guy I think is really way off the mark. Everybody has faults, I have a ton of them, but being a mean-spirited, angry sort of hard-edged partisan guy is not me. It’s just not me,” Martinez said. “I really would like for them to know that I am a good, kindhearted person that is trying to do his best in public life to serve others and serve the public interest and I’m not in it for any other reason than that.”