Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/magazine/02martins.html?pagewanted=3
On October 2, 2005 The New York Times ran a feature article by the author Suketu Mehta on Alex Martins an Indian-American lawyer, political figure and supporter of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Martins is not a high-profile mover and shaker in New York City politics. But he does play a role in helping to meet the needs of many of the city's residents - particularly South Asian immigrants. He is a fixer, an expediter: a link between the vast, anonymous, forbidding face of the system and the immigrant cabby or student or maid, perhaps without papers, fresh off a long-haul flight at J.F.K. In the absence of powerful elected officials - there's not a single South Asian holding a major elected office in New York - the Indian community has to rely on other conduits to power... [Martins is] a man of connections, a man you call when your son is caught shoplifting or your cousin needs a visa or your nephew needs a city job. He is not a politician - not yet, at least - but he is a political creature. He is the representative who helps new immigrants reach their elected representatives."