Latinos Souring on Gov. and His Party

[Judi Lynn]

September 15, 2005

Latinos Souring on Gov. and His Party
In an open letter, a group of Republicans says the GOP is 'politically stupid.'

By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer

As he prepares to launch his reelection bid, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing attack from a group of fellow Republicans who condemn his record on Latino appointments and assail the state GOP as "morally wrong and politically stupid" in its treatment of Latino candidates.

In an unusual open letter drafted for release today, the activists offer a litany of political grievances and assert that "the California Republican Party and its key leaders are systematically excluding Latinos from any kind of meaningful role in the state party or state government."

The letter noted that Schwarzenegger has no Latinos in his cabinet or in senior positions. It said that the governor and prominent state GOP leaders have endorsed non-Latino candidates over "qualified, credible and competitive" Latinos in statewide races in recent years, contrasting that approach with President Bush's aggressive courtship of Latino voters. It also said that just one of Schwarzenegger's first 56 judicial appointments was Latino — a claim that could not be independently verified because there is no precise record.

"The California Republican Party's exclusion of Latinos is morally wrong and politically stupid," the letter states, urging "dramatic action to change course before it's too late for our party and our state."
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-letter15sep15,1,6569724.story?coll=la-headlines-california
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[Cocoa]

1. are Latinos an important group in California?

Californians, fill us in, how damaging is this? :-)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Very.

I believe L.A. County is half Latino, not to mention the rest of the state as a whole.

[AlCzervik]

14. it's very damaging, latinos are a big part of Califonria in everyway.

[nolabels]

16. RICH WHITE MEN are an important group in California

Others need not apply :evilgrin:

P.S. why in heck would you think they invest and support DIEBOLD so much anyway :shrug:

[WhiteTara]

26. huge

they are about 1/3 of the population in the state and when political, they are very diligent.

[Mountainman]

28. Latinos will no longer be a minority in CA very soon.

[calimary]

30. Hell, yes! The Hispanic vote is a big bloc, and getting bigger all the

time. And they have many who are widely regarded as players here. Our own L.A. mayor Villaraigosa, a Democrat, is one of the brighter lights, and Art Torres is the state Democratic Party Chair. Yep, another DEMOCRAT. Gloria Molina is and long has been a VERY prominent county supervisor - a DEM. It's the Dems here who offer the opportunities and the advancement. There's also Cruz Bustamente, the lieutenant governor who, by all rights, ought to be in Arnold's position at this moment. It was HE who should have had a shot at replacing Gray Davis, if indeed that's what we actually needed to do (NOT!!!).

The Hispanic contingent here in California, ESPECIALLY in Southern California, is a force VERY definitely to be reckoned with. You ignore them, or pay them lip service, at your peril.

I'm very glad to hear this. When I went to the state Democratic Convention this past April, there was a panel about getting the message out effectively, and one panelist was a pollster who specialized in surveys of the Hispanic community. He said his findings showed that the republi-CONS had, indeed, made inroads, and that a voting bloc that used to be a foregone-conclusion-type Democratic slam-dunk was not at all like that anymore. He seemed to think the republi-CONS were on the verge of taking over with that demographic - a HORRIFYING prospect - especially when they were being pandered to on morality and "family-values" issues and religion-based stuff, and were being hooked in.

The Hispanic community here in L.A. is, I believe, already the majority. Soon it'll be like that statewide, if indeed it hasn't already happened. You risk certain political destruction if you ignore them or take them for granted.

[ReadTomPaine]

2. It was "stupid" to vote for him in the first place.

I hope that crow cooking the oven tastes good.

[sdfernando]

21. I didn't vote for him!

Not all of us latinos were mesmerized by the hollywood star-power of the dumbo-nator. The Davis recall was stupid and wasteful! Those who voted for him were either stupid, ingnorate of issues, or starstruck....all of which, in my opinion, are inexcusable.

[ReadTomPaine]

25. I doubt anyone posting here did...

My comment was directed at those named in the opening of the article:

"In an open letter, a group of Republicans says the GOP is 'politically stupid.'"

[truthisfreedom]

4. ok, so the 'thugs lose the Black vote due to bush's Katrina debacle,

and they lose the Latino vote due to ahh-nold... i think California may again be spelled with a "C" very shortly.

[flordehinojos]

5. the stupidest thing in politics is to support someone (anyone) because,"i'

"i'll scratch your back if you scratch my back." whatever happened to supporting or opposing a politician on principle. in other words support someone because he embodies your belief system, not because he is going to name you, or your people, to a post in government.
that is also like voting for someone because the polls say he's a winner--rather than voting for someone because you believe in them...

i believe in voting for those i believe in regardless of what polls say, and regardless of the promise or lack of it that my kind of people are going to be named to some post in government.

i cannot barter my principles....
:rant:

[Frances]

6. I don't think you get the point here

With so many Latinos living in CA, it is statistically unlikely that some Latinos would be better qualified that some non-Latinos for the positions that Arnold has filled. Based on statistics alone, it seems that Arnold is discriminating against Latinos, probably because the Republican base voters (who determine the primary winners) are anti-Latino. In California, however, it's hard to win general elections if only a tiny percentage of Latinos vote for you.

[flordehinojos]

18. but i think that is my point ... that if Latinos supported AHNOLD because

they thought that AHNOLD would ....... elevate them, not because they thought that AHNOLD was GOOD for CALIFORNIA then they sold their soul to the devil...like the florida newspaper editor who once told me she was voting for the guy who was running against Janet Reno for Fla's governorship because he was ahead in the polls even when, she added, in her heart she was rooting for Janet Reno.

Si los latinos de california pensaron que AHNOLD siendo extranjero él también, les iba a hacer algún favor especial, y no se pararon a mirar que AHNOLD era tan HP como los demás políticos republicanos... well then,tough on them but i hope they have learned their lesson, although, i doubt it.

[Frances]

19. Interesting story

about the editor voting for the person leading in the polls.

I think the star-struck plus the Republican base voted for Arnold. I assume that the star-struck included some Latinos.

I don't have any hard data on who voted for Arnold. My sense at that time was that Arnold got a lot of votes from young people who liked his movie image. I seem to remember a lot of Arnold movies being shown on TV at that time. I also remember only one tabloid story on Arnold (an alien planned to vote for Arnold). We have since learned that the tabloids paid money to keep two people who had negative info on Arnold from talking. I think the tabloids are owned by people who paid Arnold big bucks to endorse their muscle-building products.

[flordehinojos]

20. that's the point exactly: they bought an image. not a real,thinking person

:)

smoke and mirrors--that is what R are good at selling. Smoke and mirrors...sadly too many are shallow enough to go with the smoke and mirrors...only to regret it later.

[UTUSN]

7. What Part of "Prescient" Did CA Gays and Latinos Miss?

There have been similar articles before this one about Gay voters similarly being disillusioned. What exactly did they expect from this A-hole?

[alarcojon]

8. The sad thing is we helped get the Gropinator into office

in the first place. Bustamante got a higher percentage of the black vote than the latino vote, as I recall.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

11. Bustamante was also a shitty candidate

he squandered any chance he had in the debates. Granted progressives and unions liked him, but his campaign was disastrous.

[alarcojon]

12. Agreed

but the alternative was to be sucked into Arnie's cult of personality.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. Oh I know

I really feel the party fell apart around this and were not effective..they needed to go after him, and the LATE release of the LA Times story didn't seem to help much either.

[goclark]

17. His campaign was no worse than Arnold's

He did not have a HUGE expose' in the TIMES right before the election about GROPING.

He did not refuse to even debate as Arnold did.

He did not fake liking certain groups -like the Latino community. He appeared to like everyone.

Arnold USED the Latino community and he should be recalled NOW

[Frances]

24. For what it's worth

I voted No on Recall and Yes to Bustamante.

Republicans excel at PR and go to great lengths to make sure that their candidate gets excellent coverage. Arnold got millions in free publicity when he went on Oprah and Jay Leno and all the right wing radio stations. The tabloids, as I mentioned earlier, paid people NOT to say damaging things about him. And TV stations ran movie after movie starring Arnold as ACTION HERO.

Poor old Bustamante got none of that good free publicity. But he did have to return money (from Indian tribes I think it was) and that made all the news outlets.

It was not a fair fight, IMHO.

[goclark]

27. And Arnold "forgot" to reveal the money he got from the magazine

You are right, Bustamonte got the heat and Swartsnazi kept the loot.

[gratuitous]

9. Oh no!

Republicans kissing up to gullible minorities during the campaign and then once they're elected retreating to the safety and security of palling around with and appointing only the other rich white men? Say it isn't so!

Who ever could have predicted this would happen? Why, you might as well think that someone would fly a fully loaded plane into a building as an act of terrorism, or that earthen levees might breach in a hurricane! It's just inconceivable.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. It took the Repubs years to get over Curt Pringle sending armed guards

to the polls one November. Now Arnold has wiped out all those years of pandering.

What goes around seems to keep going around for them.

[Javaman]

15. Personally, I never understood why Latino's vote repuke...

But that's just me. :shrug:

[sdfernando]

23. As a gay latino, it's against my religion to vote for repugs! n/t

[Tempest]

22. The Gropinator snubbed the new Latino mayor of Los Angeles

The Gropinator attended a fundraiser rather than attend the swearing in of L.A.'s new mayor.

[Caesarmajestic]

29. post

post

[struggle4progress]

31. kick

[Barkley]

32. No Latinos in the Cabinet. Well What Did You Expect?

Pete Wilson was Arnold's campaign manager.