May 16, 2005

Villaraigosa's magic race shield

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa gets some negative coverage from a surprising source in a surprising place. From Gregory Rodriguez' "Race Is His Magic Shield":

In the absence of major policy differences between the candidates in this year's mayoral race, character has moved to center stage. The campaigns of Mayor James K. Hahn and his rival, Antonio Villaraigosa, are both out to prove who is more corrupt. But Villaraigosa has an advantage. His ethnicity has shielded him from tough questions about his character...

During this campaign, many political writers seemed to have taken [Gray Davis' former political hatchet man, Garry South]'s appeal one step further and avoided any questions related to Villaraigosa's character. Is it racist to mention that Villaraigosa flunked the bar exam four times? Is it racist to look into his personal life for character clues? And what about this campaign's version of the Vignali spot — last week's TV ad on Villaraigosa's lone "no" vote in the state Assembly on a bill that upped the penalty for fatally beating a child under 8? Does that play into fears of Latino criminals? Or does it reveal something significant about the candidate's character?...

Hiding behind his magic race shield is not a new thing for the candidate. See how he answered the question about his involvement in MEChA back in 2001. He briefly dropped the shield recently to (for the most part) renounce that organization. If you're voting tomorrow, please do some research and make sure you're voting for the right candidate. I hope that will be Jim Hahn.

Posted to Los_Angeles at May 16, 2005 07:30 PM

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