| IS VILLARAIGOSA THE RIGHT HISPANIC TO BE MAYOR OF L.A.? |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, May 09 2005 |
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| Latinos in Los Angeles have had to wait more than 130 years to have a Hispanic mayor, and this could very well be the year that the long wait comes to an end. If the results of the mayoral election in the City of Angels on May 17 stay true to the double-digit lead that Antonio Villaraigosa has enjoyed in the polls, he will beat incumbent James Hahn and become the first Latino mayor of L.A. since Cristobal Aguilar was elected back in 1870.
It's about time. Since the city of Los Angeles was founded in 1781, most of its mayors were either natives of Mexico or native-born Angelenos whose parents were from Mexico. But since Aguilar lost in 1872 to his Anglo opponent -- who made an issue of Aguilar's poor English skills -- no Latino has been able to run a successful campaign for mayor.
Four years ago, Villaraigosa, the son of Mexican immigrants himself, came close. He made it to the runoff but lost to then-City Attorney James Hahn. And it's probably a good thing he did. This time around, Villaraigosa is older and wiser. Political analyst David Ayon says that Villaraigosa is clearly more prepared to be mayor now than he was in 2001. "Not only has he run a second campaign, but he also ran and served as a city councilman," said Ayon.
Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, concurs. "Villaraigosa is much more familiar to the Los Angeles electorate this time," he said. Both men agree that Villaraigosa's biggest asset in this election is the impressive coalition he has been able to build that includes Democrats, Republicans, Latinos, Jews, Asians and even African-Americans, who favored his opponent in 2001 by 80 percent.
The former speaker of the California State Assembly has also benefited from divisions in the powerful labor unions. The AFL-CIO has officially endorsed Mayor Hahn, but Villaraigosa continues to have some labor support.
The road to City Hall has been a bumpy one for Villaraigosa, who has been criticized for being temperamental and is being investigated by the city's Ethics Commission for allegedly receiving "questionable donations" from employees of two Florida companies. Mayor Hahn is using the issue in TV ads to question Villaraigosa's trustworthiness.
So, why did it take so long for a Latino to get so close to running City Hall? Well, for one thing, there's been a lack of effective candidates able to capture the interest of a broad base of voters like Villaraigosa has, and secondly, the Latino voting bloc has been politically inactive.
For decades, the Latino community has been a sleeping giant, unwilling or unable to flex its political muscle. In the early '80s, when I began my career as a reporter in Los Angeles, Latinos were 25 percent of the city's population, yet there were no Hispanics as elected officials in local government. Covering local politics, I soon realized that Latinos felt disenfranchised, that they were either not registered to vote or not interested in voting. The political empowerment of Latinos was an uphill battle.
But that has changed. Now, almost half of the city's 3.8 million residents are Latinos, and while they represent only 22 percent of registered voters, they turn out to vote in higher percentages than the general electorate. The sleeping giant has awakened.
Latino voters in L.A. are not just a more active voting sector but a more sophisticated one, not willing to give their vote away to a candidate based solely on ethnicity. In the March 8 primary election, Villaraigosa only garnered 32 percent of the Hispanic vote. So, if Villaraigosa wins on May 17, it will not be merely because he is Hispanic, but because the majority of voters believe that he has the right background and experience to make him not just the right Hispanic but also the right person for the job. |
