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Contributors
Martha Montelongo - Contributor
Martha
Montelongo is a political commentator and radio talk show host
on KION
in Monterey, Calif. [Montelongo website]
[Montelongo index]
 A
Latino Perspective
Props. 74-77 Offer Personal Empowerment...
[Martha Montelongo] 11/8/05
This November 8th, the fortunes of California's Latinos are
with the Governor's economic reform initiatives, Props. 74, 75,
76 and 77. Above all, Prop. 77 promises to have the most profound
impact on the political landscape of California.
Unfortunately, several
Latino leaders, including Los Angeles' new high profile Mayor,
Antonio Villaraigosa, and Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez have been highly visible and outspoken against
the reform initiatives that would, in fact, serve the emerging
Latino middle class both by helping to keep taxes down, and not
burdening entrepreneurs and small business owners. The Latino
lower class community benefits from a healthy economic climate
with job growth and higher wages which result from lower unemployment,
and from an improved gateway to upward mobility via entrepreneurship,
and a more competitive, efficient and effective education system.
Villaraigosa's and
Nuñez's opposition to Proposition
77 reveals, in particular, their opposition to public policy
that empowers each individual Latino, and illustrates how willing
they are to barter away the empowerment of Latinos in exchange
for their own political gain. In 2001, the LA Times reported, "Democrats
had the luck of the draw in redistricting, and secure in their
dominance, they cooperated with the GOP leadership in an effort
to maintain the status quo, with an eye toward surviving term
limits."
A recent report published
by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government based at
Claremont McKenna College looked at
the significant contribution Prop. 77 would make in promoting
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which guarantees minorities election
opportunities for "protected classes," and which was
violated during the gerrymander redistricting of 2001.
The Rose Institute
report states that "the 2001 gerrymander
(of California) controversially divided Latino communities, in
particular in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and
in San Diego. This questionable division of Latino communities
is unlikely to be repeated by the retired judges proposed in
Proposition 77 primarily because of two compelling arguments:
first, in the past the retired judges put primary emphasis on
compliance with the Voting Rights Act; and second, retired judges
lack the personal ambition and self-interest that drove the incumbents
in 2001 to intentionally divide up Latino communities."
Prop. 77 would increase the number of minority-Latino voting
age population (VAP) congressional districts by at least two
-- one district in San Fernando and the other in San Diego --
and would also make all districts more compact and more competitive.
Whole communities, cities, towns and whereever possible, counties,
would have to be left intact instead of being carved up to protect
incumbents or a political party's held seat.
If Latinos vote their individual interests this election, they
will vote yes for personal empowerment- and that means voting
yes to Props. 74 through 77. CRO
copyright
2003 - Martha Montelongo
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