Editorial:
What do Jess Haro, Uvaldo Martinez, Ralph Inzunza Jr., and Steve Castaneda have in common? The answer is all were up and coming Hispanic politicians who aspired to become mayor of their perspective cities and, with the exception of Steve Castaneda, were brought down by the political power structure.
For the Hispanic community this is seen as nothing more than the good old boys taking care of the political power base. The Hispanic candidates, representing political diversity and empowerment, at the height of the political ascent, are beaten down by the power structure.
Back in the ‘70s we saw this with Jess Haro. Haro was appointed to fill Jim Bates’ seat on the San Diego city council. At the time of the appointment the power structure, represented by Mayor Pete Wilson, knew of Haro’s customs violations, yet confirmed him anyway. It wasn’t until Haro grew in popularity as a politician with aspirations to become the next mayor of San Diego that the custom violations became an issue. Seen as a viable threat, the dormant customs charges were brought forth and Haro ended up losing his seat. At the time the city council had the discretion to excuse his absence but chose instead to vacate his seat.
Uvaldo Martinez is another example of an appointed Hispanic politician who dared to dream beyond his place in the political hierarchy. Martinez, a Republican, was a very likable person, fun to be around, and who enjoyed having an occasional drink with friends. As a politician he didn’t mind using the city credit card to spring for dinner or a drink. As his popularity grew so did his aspirations. As he planned to run for mayor of the City of San Diego he was told in no uncertain terms by the power structure represented by Helen Copley, publisher of the Union Tribune, not to run against Maureen O’Conner. When Martinez did not heed this advice, the Union Tribune published stories on his excess credit card charges.
He was removed from office over those charges. The funny thing though, fellow city council person Ed Struiksma had the same problem with over charging the city credit card, an amount that exceed the Martinez’ charges, yet hardly a word was said about this via the Union Tribune, or the political structure that allowed him to continue serving on the council.
Ralph Inzunza, Jr., another San Diego city council person who was a politician that was quickly rising up the political ladder. Inzunza’s political wounds were more or less self-inflicted, he along with fellow council member Michael Zucchet were convicted of corruption. While both politicians were convicted of the same charges Zucchet was later able to get the convictions against him reversed and today he enjoys a full life pursing his dreams and is still politically active.
Inzunza on the other hand sought an acquittal but was denied; he stands convicted and is still fighting to have the charges overturned.
Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Castaneda who has proven himself to be an adept politician and on the rise with aspirations to become the next Mayor of Chula Vista, is now having to go through the process of dealing with anecdotal charges brought forth by one person.
Despite the dubious nature of the charges, it is the handling of the story by Union Tribune that reflects once again the power structure rising forth to derail a Hispanic politician from achieving political diversity and empowerment for the Hispanic community.
As a newspaper, the Union Tribune failed to ask the pertinent questions: who, what, when, where, and how, and instead choose to run with the story as it was presented. To their credit, perhaps because all the old time editors are gone and under new management, the Union Tribune did write an editorial that retracted the tenor of the original article and put it a more relevant perspective “Scandal? Or politics?”
We are not worried about Steve Castaneda or the charges levied against him, these charges and more have already been presented to the California Fair Political Practices Commission and they found no wronging doing. Castaneda has already dealt with this type of politics against him by the Chula Vista power structure represented by Mayor Cox and has come out innocent and politically strong. La Prensa anticipates that Castaneda will once again come out politically ahead.
Historically, Hispanic politics has come a long way in spite of the dubious type of politics being played. However this only serves to remind us of how far we have to go! While Hispanics have grown in political numbers we are still on the outside looking in trying to achieve political parity. Until that time, that parity is achieved, it important to recognize the difference between a political scandal, and cheap political theatrics that attempt to control Hispanic politicians, and make our political voices insignificant.