Croatian Embassy reception in Washington D.C. honors departing Congresswoman Janice Hahn from San Pedro, California.
On Tuesday, November 15th, the Republic of Croatia’s Ambassador Joško Paro hosted a wonderful reception at the Embassy in Washington, D.C. to honor departing Congresswoman Janice Hahn, who is leaving the U.S. Congress after five and a half years. The California Congresswoman had served admirably as the Congressional Croatian Caucus Co-Chair for the last three years with Republican Congressman, David Joyce (R-OH).
Congresswoman Hahn won election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on November 8th. There were two open seats on this prestigious Los Angeles County Board and Croatian American Michael Antonovich and another Board Supervisor were forced to retire by new required term limits.
The sixty plus attendees included her fellow Congressional members, Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) and the Consul General in Los Angeles, Dr. Siniša Grgić and also, former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, James Foley. There were twenty Capitol Hill staffers in attendance, too and many staffers that currently or previously worked for Congresswoman Janice Hahn from the 44th Congressional District (CA).
Congresswoman Hahn worked closely with Croatian American community on several House Resolutions to help rectify inequalities affecting Croats on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and over the last few years was promoting H. Res. 477. This resolution which recommended an American Presidential Special Envoy and more U.S. involvement to address the shortcomings, still lingering within the Dayton Peace Accord and which has disenfranchised BiH Croats with institutional and electoral law obstacles. Also, Congresswoman Hahn sent a letter to the House Foreign Affairs, Europe Sub-committee Chair, Dana Rohrabacher in early October asking for a congressional hearing about Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Congresswoman’s speech focused on her foreign policy work with the national Croatian American community and she was proud to represent the San Pedro Croatian community in the nation’s capital. She talked about the sister city friendship between Split and Los Angeles and now a “City Friendship” relationship between San Pedro with an Island of Vis town. She felt it was a honor to work on foreign policy issues of interest to her and of importance to her Croatian American constituents. She vowed that she would continue her partnership with the Croatian American community with her new political role in the Greater Los Angeles and San Pedro area.
Croatian Ambassador Joško Paro thanked her for all her leadership as the Congressional Croatian Caucus Co-Chair and Dr. Siniša Grgić from Croatia’s Los Angeles Consulate expressed appreciation for her dedication to important political issues of interest to the Croatian American community and both diplomats stated publicly that the Republic of Croatia was very grateful for her congressional work on mutual projects of interest.
The Congressional Croatian Caucus was created eighteen years ago with the intent that there was a partner congressional body to collaborate with on educational and political projects of interest to the Republic of Croatia and the United States. Forty Members of the U.S. Congress now constitute the Congressional Croatian Caucus and the leadership Democratic Co-Chair position must be filled in 2017.
