Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both declined invitations to speak to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) convention this week, raising questions about both Democrats’ and Republicans’ outreach goals ahead of the November election.
NALEO announced that Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson would address the group, which runs from Thursdaythrough Saturday in Washington, D.C.
Both GOP and Democratic nominees addressed NALEO’s conference in 2008 and 2012, so the refusals this year by Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are a break with recent practice.
“The absence of the Democratic and Republican presumptive nominees has created great consternation among the bipartisan NALEO membership,” the group said in a statement announcing the schedule.
Mr. Trump will be traveling overseas in Scotland during part of the conference, while Mrs. Clinton hasn’t announced anything on her schedule.
Mrs. Clinton did speak to NALEO’s convention in June 2008, when she was still a presidential candidate running against then-Sen. Barack Obama — making her decision not to speak this year all the more striking.
The Clinton campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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