Donkeys, Elephants and Tree Huggers Vie for Latino Votes
Eastern Group Publications, Raul Vasquez, Posted: Jul 25, 2002
In a lot of ways, the day-long Southwest Voter Registration Education Project 2002 Banquet resembled most other political events, draped in the usual uplifting vague political verbiage that fills these types of gatherings the world over.
"Our campaign is about improving life for everybody, so that there's an opportunity for everyone to have a chance to reach the California dream," said, for example, Bill I-am-not-a-career-politician Simon, one of three candidates for governor including incumbent Gray Davis who later that evening addressed the packed banquet hall at SVREP1s Dinner Gala, and used the opportunity to present his record of Latino accomplishments on issues dealing with education and healthcare among others.
Rhetorical inevitabilities aside, however, the fundraiser event for SVREP (a noon luncheon for Republicans and Greens and an evening dinner for Democrats) marked another milestone for Latino political power in California.
The event was attended by a virtual who's who of California Republicans, Democrats, and even Green Party politicos and affiliates who didn't want to miss out on a good opportunity to score big points with the growing Latino electorate and their representatives.
Judging from the faces in the crowd (one couldn't help but think that some of the Republicans who showed up wouldn't have been caught dead courting Latino votes 10 years ago) there is a growing interest among all parties in winning the Latino vote in the upcoming November election. The reasons why are pretty clear.
Even though they are still registered at very low percentages, the number of registered Latinos in California almost doubled from 1990 to 2000, jumping from 1.3 million to 2.35 million, respectively, according to census figures.
"It's likely that Latinos will surpass 2.5 million registered voters for the first time in (California) history," said Antonio Gonzalez, president of both the SVREP, which is launching another voter registration campaign, 3Su Voz Es Su Voto,2 (Your Voice is Your Vote), with its sister organization, the William C. Velasquez Institute. "More than 1.5 million Latinos are expected to vote" in the upcoming November 5 election. That means that unlike years past, no one can hope to win political power in California without at the very least giving Latinos the impression that they care about their interests.
But repeating an occasional Spanish catchphrase, kissing brown babies and talking about improving life for Latinos just isn't enough to convince County Supervisor Gloria Molina, a Democrat who exited the Republican/Green half of the banquet halfway through Bill Simon's speech. "All it is, is words," said Molina. "I think (Republicans) need to start offering some real proposals on issues that are important to us. They address the issue of education, for example, yet they don't put anything on the table except the issue of vouchers, which we don't trust."
While Molina, who recently voted to make controversial cuts to the county's health and law enforcement budgets ‹ cuts that will undoubtedly have grave repercussions for tens of thousands of Latino families ‹ criticizes Republicans for reaching out to Latinos without actually putting their money where their mouths are, she admits that the Democratic Party leadership hasn't been doing a very good job of delivering the goods either.
"The (Democratic) party itself is not doing enough to promote the interest of the Latino community," she said. "And while we are proud of many of the Democrats that do well and support issues, as a party... it still needs to do so much more to encourage Latino participation. "It isn't just about lip service," she continued, "and we aren't automatic, and (Democrats) think we are."
Molina isn't the only one to notice the failures of both Republicans and Democrats to enact profound and lasting changes in the realms of health, education and economic well being for the Latino population. Antonio Gonzales echoed this sentiment saying later that evening that candidates shouldn1t automatically expect help getting out the Latino vote for any particular candidate1s race, unless they are willing to negotiate the terms of Latino inclusion before the election, and not after as was often done in the past.
Peter Camejo, a fluent Spanish speaker from New York who was born to Venezuelan parents, is running for governor under the Green Party. He is making a serious attempt to woo disgruntled Latino voters from the other two mainstream parties, especially the Democrats.
"Many people make a terrible mistake that Greens are white environmentalists," said Camejo, who is unclear if he will be allowed to debate Davis and Simon in the upcoming debates. "But reality is that there are tens of thousands Latinos registered as Greens.
"We are the party of the people, while the Democrats and the Republicans are the party of money," he continued. "We now have the largest production in the state of California in its history, and yet we have billions of dollars of deficits. That's because of mismanagement and abuse." The Green Party platform includes raising the minimum wage to $10.50 per hour and putting an end to racial profiling.
But Camejo's views on immigration certainly raise a few eyebrows. "We think that immigration is what made America great, especially the Mexicans," said Camejo, standing in the center of the banquet hall as it emptied in preparation for the Democratic dinner a few hours later. "This is a part of Mexico, this is territory taken from Mexico, and we're for amnesty for the people who are here."
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