Sen. Martinez relays farewell in last speech
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez left Washington on Wednesday with some regrets, some proud accomplishments and some frustration with a process he believes often puts politics ahead of policy.
Martinez gave a final speech 16 months before his first term was to expire, reflecting to colleagues about the pride of being the first Cuban-American to serve in the Cabinet and the only immigrant in the Senate. He said he regrets an immigration bill he worked on with Sen. Ted Kennedy didn’t pass, but also talked about the joy of helping achieve the release of a Florida woman imprisoned in Vietnam.
Martinez has said he is leaving the Senate early to spend more time with family in Orlando. After his speech, though, it was clear he was also frustrated with being powerless to create change as a member of the Republican minority and as a senator who has already announced he won’t seek re-election.
“I came here to try to make a difference,” Martinez told The Associated Press. “I believe that once I decided not to run again, that things do change. It becomes more difficult to have a long-term view and it got to the point where I felt like I was more marking time than I was actually making a difference and I became impatient with that.”
He also said that after being in public service for 12 years, serving as the Orange County chairman, President George W. Bush’s first housing secretary and then as senator, began to wear on him and his family.
“It was time to return to private life and get back to what I know rather than just be here for a year and a half,” said Martinez, who was a successful trial lawyer before entering politics.
Martinez’ colleagues praised him for his sincere love of people, thoughtfulness, kindness and affable personality. They also spoke of his incredible life story, fleeing Cuba’s communist regime on his own and succeeding in a new country where he knew no one and didn’t speak the language.
“Mel Martinez has a greater appreciation of what it means to be an American than anyone in this body,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. “Mel came to the Senate for all the right reasons, he came into public service for all the right reasons and he’s leaving for all the right reasons.”
Fellow senators talked about how his background helped them better understand Cuban and Latin American issues, and his personal experience brought a unique perspective to the immigration debate.
His resignation leaves just one Hispanic in the Senate, Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey. Martinez was elected in 2004 after running for Senate at the urging of Bush, who four years earlier appointed him as the Housing and Urban Development secretary. At Bush’s request, Martinez also served as general chairman of the Republican National Committee for 10 months, resigning in October 2007.
He was born in Cuba and fled to America at age 15 as part of a Catholic humanitarian effort called Operation Pedro Pan. Catholic charitable groups provided Martinez a temporary home at two youth facilities. He then lived with two foster families as he taught himself English and earned a high school diploma. He was reunited with his family his family after four years.
After his speech, he said he can do more to help create change in Cuba as a private citizen.
“The issue of Cuba is not going to be resolved in the halls of the U.S. Senate, it’s going to be resolved in the streets of Cuba and I think that I can have an important voice in that discussion,” he said. “The big issue’s going to be how do we reconstruct Cuba, how do we provide the institutions of democracy? And I frankly think that being free from government service is going to allow me to do a whole lot more in that regard.”
He said he leaves Washington with a perception that difficult tasks can’t get done because too many who serve care more about posturing for the next election rather than reaching compromise.