Now we need to get more Hispanics voting!
When we first started publishing La Prensa San Diego back in 1976, it was a very big deal when Peter Chacon was elected to the State Assembly. Peter was the first elected Hispanic from San Diego. City councils, Assembly and Senate Seats in San Diego County were the bastion of the white community, along with school boards and all other elected positions. Those days are long gone!
Through the years we would congratulate those Hispanics who tried, often failing, and the few winners. We could identify the winning individuals up and down the state in this short editorial space. Today there are so many Hispanics running and winning we don’t have the space to identify all of them.
As the Hispanic community matures the candidates are maturing and the politics are changing. Years ago to win a race you had to look to the status quo for support and money, and do your best to distance yourself from Chicano politics, promising to support the status quo. It wasn’t so long ago when one time Chicano activists and Chicano on Committee Rights (CCR) member Ralph Inzunza, Sr., whitewashed his resume to eliminate his association with the CCR.
Today candidates no longer have to go the whitewash process in order to win. David Alvarez in District 8 for San Diego City council is a good example. Juan del Rio who ran for County Supervisor proudly displayed his association with the Chicano movement, is another example. The apparent victory of Mary Salas over Juan Vargas (the margin had dwindled to 336 votes when this editorial was written) is another example of past political strategy no longer a winning formula. In the Salas/Vargas race it was also a vote against dirty politics which is equally gratifying.
The voters this election have changed “politics as usual” by voting for term limits for the County Board of Supervisors, which will soon become the last all white board in the county. And with the passage of Proposition 14 which allows for an open primary is a statement by the voters that they are sick and tired of partisan politics and are willing to change the established election process for an opportunity to change the way they do things in Sacramento.
Grassroots efforts more than anything else carried the day, again the Alvarez campaign for district 8 was a strong grassroots effort as was the effort put forth by Jill Galvez who despite big money against her campaign was able to outperform the other candidates. At the time of this writing looks like she will be in the runoff for Chula Vista council seat #2.
While the number of Hispanic candidates has grown to reflect the community, the one area that is still falling behind is the Hispanic voter turnout. Voter turnout in general was poor in San Diego County with only 26% of the registered voters, voting. Historically Hispanics have stayed away from the Polls and the assumption continues with the low turnout numbers that Hispanics continued the trend of not voting.
Until the Hispanic community starts to vote in numbers that reflect their population, there will not be accountability from elected officials. Without accountability, we will continue to see the type of actions we have all seen recently take place in Arizona where elected officials vote for anti-Hispanic legislation.