The comments at the end of the story say a lot...
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... _10_06.txt


By: PAUL EAKINS and DAVID FRIED - Staff Writers

ESCONDIDO ---- While there was a relatively crowded Latino ticket on the ballot Tuesday in a city where no Latinos hold public office, the four City Council and school board candidates fell far short of victory, their campaigns undermined in part by the very issues that prompted most of them to run, they said this week.

Two Latino candidates vied for spots on the City Council ---- Olga Diaz, owner of Blue Mug Coffee & Tea, and Carmen Miranda, a teacher's assistant ---- while two Latino candidates each ran for the boards of the city's elementary and high school districts. Jose Fragozo, an electrical technician, ran for a seat in the Escondido Union School District, and Tania Bowman, a public interest lawyer, ran for the board of the Escondido Union High School District.

For years, the council has regularly cited the need to connect with the growing Latino community, now 42 percent of Escondido's population, according to the San Diego Association of Governments. And raising the test scores of the city's English learners, most of whom are Latino, is discussed regularly at school board meetings and by Escondido educators.

But with test scores among Latinos improving only modestly, and a majority of the Escondido council voting recently to approve an ordinance that penalizes landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, a move that upset many members of the Latino community, the challengers had plenty of fodder for their election bids.

Fragozo emphasized improving student test scores, especially those of English learners, throughout the election season and also said the school board should be more diverse in the more than 60 percent Latino elementary school district. Miranda made opposition to the housing ordinance the cornerstone of her campaign.

The results? Fragozo lost with 5,136 votes; his opponent garnered 18,021 votes. Miranda came in last among seven candidates, earning just 6 percent of the vote.

Councilman Sam Abed said last week he is not surprised by the low showing of the city's Latino candidates, attributing the results to voters distaste for political platforms that are too narrowly focused on the Latino community.

"Until we get a moderate Hispanic candidate that has a more conservative agenda, I think they're not going to win for a long time to come," Abed said.

Beyond ethnicity

However, staking out a broader base can prove to be difficult, especially at precisely those moments when Latino candidates might be spurred to action, according to Diaz, who came in a distant third in Escondido's council race, with 16 percent of the vote.

Diaz was one of five council candidates to oppose the city's rental ban. Although she calls the measure divisive and lobbied the council not to pass it, Diaz, who had never run for office before, said that she entered the race hoping to draw on her credentials as a businesswoman and preaching a mantra of fiscal conservatism.

But time and again, the discourse in the race centered on the candidates positions on how Escondido should deal with illegal immigration.

"Personally, I didn't run based on that issue, but because I'm Hispanic, I got pegged with it," Diaz said. "I had a lot of issues I wanted to discuss. But the opportunity wasn't readily available because of (the debate about) the ordinance."

Likewise, Bowman never mentioned publicly that she was the only Latino candidate in a largely Latino school district. Instead, she focused on the need for small high schools and a different educational philosophy in the classroom.

"You can't run on being Latino. You can't run on that one issue," said Bowman, who also made a failed bid for City Council in 2004.

Fragozo was much more vocal about his desire to help English learners and the need for a Latino school board member, which he said he now regrets.

"I think maybe the word Latino shouldn't be there in the newspaper, because I think it worries a lot of people," he said.

Getting out the vote

John Herrera, who has run unsuccessfully for several offices, most recently for Vista City Council in 2004, and is a longtime Latino activist in North County communities, said the defeat of Escondido's Latino candidates was in part due to their failure to reach out to the entire community. But he said a lack of voters also is to blame.

Herrera said some Latino residents in Escondido and other North County communities aren't able to vote because of their residency status, and many more Latinos here are simply too young to vote.

According to the county registrar of voters office, 7,010 of the 48,384 voters registered in Escondido as of Sept. 9 had Latino surnames, although this doesn't accurately account for every Latino voter and not all of those with such a surname are necessarily Latino, officials said.

Moreover, being Latino doesn't and shouldn't guarantee a candidate will get all of the Latino votes, Latino leaders have said.

But the lack of voters in that community could change in the coming years as the new generation of Latino comes of age, Herrera said.

"That's what's going to ultimately make the difference," Herrera said. "Our younger kids coming out of high school ... are going to have to start registering to vote."

Latino leaders also have cited the need for more support of Latino candidates by local organizations.

One year ago, members of the Mexican American Business and Professional Association and other Latino leaders said they would work to get a Latino candidate elected to the council, but that effort apparently never got under way.

Escondido's four candidates had few financial contributions from other Latinos or Latino organizations, and Bowman and Fragozo raised less than $1,000 for their campaigns, according to campaign disclosure forms filed at the county registrar of voters office.

Throughout North County, only a handful of Latinos hold office. Vista elected its first Latino council member in 2004, Oceanside has two on its council, and out of about 100 school board members throughout North County, only one in Oceanside Unified School District is Latino.

Blazing a trail

Despite the defeat of the Escondido candidates, Herrera said he hopes that they stay involved in politics.

"They should not give up. They should be persistent in getting their name recognition built up over time and getting themselves known," he said. "They're going to be breaking new ground and cutting a path for the younger folks to follow behind them."

Although the sting of defeat is still strong, Diaz said she is not discouraged from making another run at the council.

"I would go through it again," she said. "But I would hope there isn't an issue of race involved."

Fragozo said he already has been in contact with the handful of other Latino school board candidates who ran in other North County school districts ---- most of whom ended up in last place in their races ---- to discuss their campaign experiences and possible collaboration on future elections.

Bowman said she wasn't sure whether she would run for political office again, but that she hoped one day there would be Latino representation when Escondido becomes less divided.

"It's a metamorphosis. It's something that comes with time," Bowman said. "People are very afraid right now. Most folks in Escondido are afraid that all of the Latinos are going to take over, that the culture is going to change, that we're somehow different than other Americans."


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... _10_06.txt