The importance of loyalty by Luis Miranda Loyalty is one of the qualities that I admire in people. Maybe some people believe that being loyal makes you predictable; others may say that being loyal means you don’t think for yourself; and some may think that loyalty is a small step away from being a fanatic. There is no doubt that being loyal let’s people know where you stand. But being loyal doesn’t mean you are blind: you have to able to speak truthfully to the people to whom you are loyal. Loyalty requires honesty. Blind faith is fanaticism and fanaticism leads to poor decisions. In politics, rational loyalty, as it were, is indispensable. During my life I have had a great many chances to be loyal in politics. As a kid, I grew up in a home in Puerto Rico where we were pro-independence. My grand-uncle, Dr. Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, was the founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party and my parents, who had a million reasons to explain why Puerto Rico should be a republic, would say “we are only 5 percent of the electorate, but we are the 5 percent who have a rationale and an ideology. Losing elections cannot be the reason why you cease to be loyal. We can stop being loyal to a cause when we cease to believe in it.” I learned from these conversations that you couldn’t be loyal just when you are in the majority.  Many years later, here in New York, I remember when I worked with Mayor Ed Koch and so many of my friends jumped on the bandwagon for David Dinkins. Although I understood the importance of electing a minority Mayor and it seemed to me that Dinkins was a class act, I believed that Koch had a solid record and should have been re-elected to a fourth term. I remained with Koch until the end. What was interesting about losing that election was how many of the “new friends” I had acquired while I was in City Hall disappeared after Dinkins won. But what I also learned was that my loyal friends (people like Guillermo Linares, Awilda Rodríguez, Roberto Ramírez and Denis Rivera) even though they were now in power and even though we had chosen different political sides, remained loyal friends. I learned that people who are loyal to one another could be on opposite sides in politics without that affecting your value or your relationship.
In 2001, luck and circumstances allowed me again to gauge who was loyal and who was not. The end of the Giuliani administration opened the door to Gracie Mansion for one of our own who happened to have all of the qualifications to be Mayor of New York City—Fernando Ferrer. There we were again, all of the loyal friends together again. Under the leadership of my business partner and friend Roberto Ramirez, an army that included then-Councilman Guillermo Linares and Rossana Rosado took to the streets and we almost won. I also remember clearly those who were with Mark Green thinking that he would win and that they would end up with him in power. In the end, we all lost, but those of us who remained loyal to one another proved once again that you need not win to change history. Some weeks ago, three to be exact, I was presented with the opportunity to demonstrate my loyalty once again. Guillermo Linares, it seemed, would be able to run again for the New York City Council. Although the circumstances that created this opportunity were tragic, and many of the already declared candidates in the race are good neighbors with a strong commitment to community work, Guillermo is my friend and the best qualified of the candidates. Once again his loyal friends were ready to help. In two weeks we created a campaign infrastructure that it would have taken others much longer to create. But when the Board of Elections—a terribly political institution whose decisions reflect the political winds that may be blowing when it is asked to render a decision—unanimously declared that Linares could not appear on the primary ballot because of a series of technicalities and errors made in the petitions he inherited. We spoke with the frankness of loyal friends and decided that a court appeal of the Board’s decision was not what the community needed and that it was better to continue being a voice for change instead of a candidate for it. I learned that loyalty needn’t be blind. Last night I slept well. Every time I do what I am supposed to do, I sleep well. Each time that I am loyal but judicious, loyal but not fanatical, loyal while understanding the road to be taken, loyal without having to offend others, I reinforce one of the pillars of who I am—and that I most admire in people – loyalty.
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