| WHY FERRER WAS NOT VILLARAIGOSA |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Monday, November 14 2005 |
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| I met Fernando Ferrer on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall shortly after Antonio Villaraigosa was sworn in as that city's first Hispanic mayor in over 130 years. "Are you going to be the Villaraigosa of the East Coast?" I asked him.
"Maybe it's Villaraigosa who is the Ferrer of the West Coast," he answered.
Like hundreds of others at the swearing-in ceremony, Ferrer was there to witness history in the making. But he was not able to make history of his own in the New York mayoral race Nov. 8. Mayor Michael Bloomberg won re-election by a 20-point margin. Even though it was not the 38 points predicted in pre-election polls, the Democrat-turned-Republican was able to draw a wide majority of Democrats away from Ferrer. Not even Republican Rudy Giuliani, who enjoyed immense Democratic support, was ever able to cross party lines by such an impressive margin.
Ferrer, a New York native of Puerto Rican descent, has been on the political scene for a while. As a teenager, he was an activist and leader of civic organizations; after college, he worked for several government agencies and was first elected to the New York City Council in 1982. From 1987 to 2001, he was borough president of the Bronx. Twice before, he attempted to run for mayor of New York, dropping out of the race the first time and losing the Democratic primary to Mark Green the second time.
Winning the primary this year made Democrats hopeful that Ferrer could help them regain control of City Hall in a city where their party outnumbers Republicans five to one. Instead, they suffered their fourth consecutive loss, making this the longest period Democrats have not run the city's government since 1898.
Considered by many to be the top Hispanic political leader in New York, there were also high hopes among Latinos that Ferrer could pull off what Villaraigosa did in Los Angeles earlier this year, winning the top city job with almost 60 percent of the vote. Although, like Villaraigosa, Ferrer tried not to run an ethnic campaign, he hoped to capitalize on the fact that New York has a rapidly growing Hispanic community, which represents 18 percent of the city's registered voters.
So, what went wrong for Ferrer? It could be that Bloomberg had a deep well of funds, outspending Ferrer 10 to one. It could be that his message of two New Yorks -- one for the poor and one for the wealthy -- did not resonate with voters. It could also be Ferrer's lackluster personality that didn't inspire many, although Bloomberg isn't necessarily Mr. Excitement.
Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, thinks the results have less to do with Ferrer and more to do with Bloomberg. Comparing it with the Los Angeles mayoral race, Vargas said, "It's not so much that Ferrer was not Villaraigosa, it's that Bloomberg was not Jim Hahn." The former Los Angeles mayor had alienated his base of African-American and conservative voters in his first term and went into re-election as a very weak candidate. By contrast, Ferrer faced an immensely popular incumbent seen by voters as a strong leader and effective manager.
Ferrer did not help his own cause by making several critical mistakes. The list includes his failure to raise more than $5 million, compared with Bloomberg's $74 million; his unclear message; and his inability to have his own party rally around him. It did not help that he was not able to lessen the discontent among African-American voters after his comments that the killing of Amadou Diallo -- shot by police 41 times in 1999 as he reached into his pocket -- was not a crime.
In the end, my comment to Ferrer on the steps of L.A. City Hall about him being the "Villaraigosa of the East Coast" was not meant to be, primarily because today's New York is in better shape than the Los Angeles of yesterday. If the voters feel their city is not broken, then why fix it?
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