grew into the Otero Savings and Loan Association and, by 1983, had assets of $20 million. During this time, Ortega garnered numerous academic and business accolades for her efforts. Political appointments Ortega was involved in Republican Party politics from an early age. "I was born a Republican," she has been quoted on several occasions. She often credited her father, a lifelong Republican, with her decision to join the Party. Ortega worked for Republicans at local and state levels initially as a type of low-key liaison to women and Hispanic groups in New Mexico. After her return to her home state, she became involved in the 1978 re-election campaign of Sen. Pete Domenici. In time, the senator became something of a political benefactor. In April 1982, Ortega was named to a 10-person Presidential Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business Ownership by President Ronald Reagan. In December, she was appointed one of five members and chair of the Copyright Royal Commission, a federal agency established in 1976 to set royalty fees for the cable television and music entertainment industries. In 1983, Sen. Domenici, by that time chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, put forth Ortega's name for the post of U.S. Treasurer. She was officially nominated by President Reagan on September 12 of that year. U.S. Treasurer Ortega was sworn in on October 3, 1983 (however, she is listed by the Treasury Department as having begun her term on September 26). She was the tenth consecutive woman and the second-ever Hispanic to hold the office. At her swearing-in ceremony, three previous U.S. Treasurers attended: Francine Irving Neff, Bañuelos, and her immediate predecessor, Bay Buchanan. While Treasurer, Ortega oversaw a $220 million budget, raised $40 million toward the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, and helped to design a new currency to aid in preventing counterfeiting. She also spearheaded the effort to have the West Point Bullion Depository designated as an official United States Mint. Although soft-spoken in personal conversation, Ortega became known for her rhetorical speaking skills in public. "Her low-key authenticity works magic with an audience," one Treasury Department official is quoted as saying. In 1984, she was chosen to be the keynote speaker at that year's Republican National Convention- the first Hispanic woman to deliver the lead speech at a national convention. This was done in part to counter the selection of prominent New York governor Mario Cuomo at