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Latinos: Councilman's online remarks "bigoted"


Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/1/07
BY NICK PETRUNCIO
FREEHOLD BUREAU

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FREEHOLD — A borough councilman's comments that some segments of the Hispanic population are promiscuous and expect society "to subsidize their mistakes" have outraged some civil rights groups, who are calling for him to apologize and resign.

Councilman Marc LeVine posted the comments on a Web site run by a group called PEOPLE, an acronym for Pressing Elected Officials to Preserve our Living Environment. The group was formed by several Freehold residents in September 2003 as tensions mounted over the growing immigrant population and the day laborers' muster zone.

"There is definitely a very promiscuous flavor in — at least — parts of Hispanic culture," LeVine wrote in the Nov. 14, 2006 post. "All of this is highly problematic in a society in which these people often expect to subsidize their mistakes in growing large families that they cannot afford to support on their own.

"It does seem to be true, in my own experience, that a little less of this promiscuous behavior is seen among Mexicans, while much more is found among Dominicans, as one example," LeVine wrote.

LeVine, founder of PEOPLE, said the comments he made were observations from his time working in the "light industrial staffing industry," are not his beliefs, not a "dogma" from him and there is no pattern of him making such statements.

"If anybody feels there is an apology that is owed, I am certainly glad to make that apology," LeVine said, but he added that he "absolutely" will not resign and that he represents all the people of Freehold.

Latino leader "appalled"


Lazaro Cardenas, deputy director of the Monmouth County chapter of the Latino Leadership Alliance, said he found the statements a couple of weeks ago. The alliance this week informed the Asbury Park Press of the post.

"I was appalled that someone in the public capacity was saying this. I was quite offended by them to be quite truthful," Cardenas said, adding that the comments were nothing more than an ignorant stereotype.

In Freehold, officials have been trying to address illegal immigration. Some residents blame illegal immigrants — the majority of whom are Hispanic — for overcrowded housing and schools, high taxes and loitering.

LeVine posted the comments a day after the borough settled a lawsuit with the advocates of day laborers.

The councilman was participating in an online discussion about a fall 2006 article, "Hispanic Family Values? Runaway illegitimacy is creating a new U.S. underclass," in the quarterly urban-policy magazine City Journal. It is published by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a right-of-center think tank based in New York City.

Frank Argote-Freyre, chapter director of the alliance, wondered if LeVine looks at him, a Cuban-American, as someone who is promiscuous and looking to be subsidized by the government.

"It's absolutely bigoted and racist," Argote-Freyre said, adding that the comments make him "extremely suspicious of this mayor (Michael Wilson) and this governing body."

LeVine said he is neither a bigot nor a racist and that his observations may not hold true "in the overall picture."

Council President Kevin Kane said he did not see the post and declined to comment on it.

However, he did say, "What Councilman LeVine says or does is him personally and does not reflect the opinions of the mayor or council."

Kane referred to a past lawsuit brought by Latino plaintiffs against the borough and said that matter is over and the borough wants to move on.

He said the issue the borough has is about illegal immigration, not about a certain race or ethnicity.

Wilson did not return calls seeking comment.

Rules for posting on site


PEOPLE's Web site — in addition to having a message warning users to "be on good behavior" because a local weekly newspaper, the News Transcript, has visited it — posts rules stating that racist comments will not be tolerated.

Brian Sullivan, the site's administrator, did not remove LeVine's post, but on Nov. 15 did express concerns about the comments. Sullivan wrote he feared they would take the focus off illegal immigration issues and instead put it on race- or culture-based ones. He further wrote that if 20 million redheaded Irish people were in the country illegally "engaging in unlawful and deviant behavior," the same discussion and crisis would be taking place.

He also wrote the nation's Latino and Hispanic communities have enriched the nation's culture.

Lucilo Santos, president of the Dominican-American Council of New Jersey, said LeVine ignored the many significant contributions Dominicans are making in the form of small businesses such as grocery stores in communities such as Washington Heights, N.Y., and in Hudson, Passaic, Bergen and Middlesex counties.

"You can go there and see how hard the Dominican community is working," Santos said.

Both the Dominican-American Council and the alliance want LeVine to resign.

LeVine called the alliance's actions mean-spirited and a character assassination. He said Argote-Freyre and the alliance dug up and publicized the post in response to flak the alliance director took for publicly criticizing, as a borough ad hoc committee member, a recommendation prohibiting landlords from renting to people in the country illegally.

Nick Petruncio: (732) 308-7752 or npetruncio@app.com