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April 10, 2004
“Mexican Americans will Overcome
Cruz Bustamante’s Sins”
By Raoul Lowery
Contreras/HispanicVista.com
But memories fade
and as When Republican Romauldo Pacheco,
the first Mexican American elected to
statewide office in California in 1875,
retired from Congress to accept an
ambassadorship, Mexican Americans would
suffer through over six decades of state
and federal electoral drought. No a
single Mexican American would win
elective office until Los Angeles City
Councilman Ed Roybal was elected to
Congress in the early 1960s
Since Roybal initial election to Congress
and since the famous “one man,
one vote” Supreme Court decision
coupled with term limits Mexican
Americans have steadily been elected to
all levels of government in California.
Republican Gary Mendoza carried 35 of 58
California counties in his race for
Insurance Commissioner in 2002, including
Republican fortress San Diego by a
quarter of a million votes indicates both
he and the Republican Party have a
political future in a California veering
towards an increasingly majority Mexican
American state.
In contrast, Democratic Lt. Governor Cruz
Bustamante, the first statewide Mexican
American election winner since Romauldo
Pacheco, was slaughtered when he ran in
the Gray Davis Recall election last
October. He was slaughtered by Republican
Arnold Schwarzenneger who himself
garnered a hefty Mexican American vote.
Historically, Governor Pacheco lost his
first race for Congress by one vote and
was unseated after the United States
Congress actually seated him. He
did not disappear from the political
scene, he returned to California and ran
again winning by a huge margin to become
the very first Mexican American to win
election to the Congress of the United
States.
Not so fortunate is Lt. Governor Cruz
Bustamante in attempting to resurrect his
political career.
He was slaughtered in October for several
reasons; number one is that he is
stupid. When reporters asked him to
repudiate the radical anti-American
pro-Mexican views espoused by his
membership in the radical MEChA student
organization, he waved his hand and
commented, “That was just a college
thing.”
Fueled by exposure of these radical views
he refused to repudiate his longhaired
college radical days and was skewered in
the media. Sure some people came to
his defense, but he stubbornly stuck to
his “college” defense.
Finally, one Saturday on Fox News, he
reluctantly told Tony Snow that he was
not a “Separatist.”
By this time, his fund raising had
bottomed out. He had alienated
Democratic money givers by running at all
while they were trying to save Governor
Gray Davis. He was broke. His
mellifluous tones were not destined to
hit the airwaves because he had no money.
Here, California Indians entered the
picture. Loaded with millions of
gambling dollars, the Indians had
established themselves as major political
players in recent years. The Recall
election was not to be ignored, for it
threatened their gambling agreements with
the state.
Candidate Schwarzenegger was campaigning
on getting more money from the Indians
for the state. The Indians turned to
their best friend in government, Cruz
Bustamante. They and he then committed
the most egregious political sin of
all---public stupidity.
Along came a couple of Casino Indian
tribes, waving two million dollars around
and donating these obscene contributions
to an old Bustamante campaign committee
in flagrant violation of new campaign
fund laws that limited contributions to
$21,000. Bustamante was so stupid
he accepted these contributions and
forever sunk his political fortunes.
He will never get elected again. He
may run for State Treasurer in 2006 when
he is term limited out of the Lt.
Governor’s office, but, if he does,
he will lose.
The question is, will it be another
60-years before a Mexican American wins
statewide office?
As long as Bustamante’s political
stupidity is remembered, Mexican
Americans might have a rough time winning
office. If he chooses to run for
something in 2006, he will keep the
memory alive and make it difficult.
But memories fade and as Cruz Bustamante
sinks into political oblivion the
fortunes of bright aggressive Mexican
Americans like Gary Mendoza and Los
Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo
will rise.
_______________________________
Contreras' three books, THE NEW AMERICAN
MAJORITY, HISPANICS, REPUBLICANS AND
GEORGE W. BUSH; -- A HISPANIC VIEW OF
AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE POLITICS OF
IMMIGRATION; and, JALAPENO CHILES,
MEXICAN AMERICANS AND OTHER HOT STUFF,
are available at any new book store and
through Internet booksellers www.amazon.com,
www.barnesandnoble.com
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