Thread: TX: Foes of FB ban clash on tactics

Foes of FB ban clash on tactics

Internal divisions could threaten effort to defeat migrant-rental measure


10:33 PM CDT on Saturday, April 14, 2007
By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News
ssandoval@dallasnews.com

Tensions are high among opponents of a controversial Farmers Branch ordinance aimed at illegal immigrants, and the rifts are widening as people on the same side of the issue accuse one another of wrongdoing.

The development, some observers say, could hurt chances of defeating the ordinance and getting City Council candidates who share their view elected May 12.

One of the most vocal opponents of the measure that would ban apartments from renting to most illegal immigrants has parted ways with the League of United Latin American Citizens over the group's tactics.

And one Dallas activist is accusing some in the movement of violating election laws and of hypocrisy for not supporting the only Hispanic candidate running for City Council. They in turn said he is manipulating the issue and the media for personal gain.

"People on the same side of an issue sometimes get angrier at each other for not agreeing how to fight than they get at their opponents," said Christopher McGuire, one of the leaders of Uniting Farmers Branch, a grassroots movement launched last fall to fight Ordinance 2903. "And also, I think people are feeling pretty stressed, because it looks like we're going to lose pretty badly. My prediction is we're going to lose 2-1."

Elizabeth Villafranca resigned her post as president of the Farmers Branch LULAC chapter after Dallas lawyer Domingo Garcia sued on behalf of LULAC and sought a restraining order last month against some supporters of the ordinance.

Ms. Villafranca said that Mr. Garcia went against her wishes in using an affidavit from her as the foundation for the court action, which she said would only further divide the community when the focus needs to be on debating the ordinance.

"I was totally oblivious to what was going on. I thought I had made myself really clear, and do not think that was appropriate," Ms. Villafranca said. "Maybe what he was trying to do was the right thing, but ... I expect people to respect my decision, right or wrong."

Mr. Garcia acknowledged that Ms. Villafranca was unaware of the lawsuit when he filed it, and he later amended the suit and removed her affidavit from it.

Ms. Villafranca said she remains "committed to everything LULAC does" and respects Mr. Garcia's intentions and work in the community, but believed she had to step down from her post to concentrate on defeating the ordinance.

"It's not that I want to separate myself," she said. "It's just that ... in Spanish there's a saying, 'Tell me who you're with, and I'll tell you who you are.' A lot can be said about the company that we keep. ... When I see people that act in a less than scrupulous way or have less than desirable images, in my opinion those are red flags and those are not friends I'd like to keep."

But Dallas activist Carlos Quintanilla said that Ms. Villafranca resigned because she was using her position with LULAC and her association with the anti-ordinance Let the Voters Decide while campaigning for two City Council candidates. LULAC does not endorse candidates, and the political action committee cannot.


Hispanic candidate

Mr. Quintanilla also criticized Ms. Villafranca, Mr. Garcia, local LULAC vice president Luis de la Garza and others for not supporting Jose Galvez, the one Hispanic City Council candidate.

Two council seats are up for election the same day residents vote on the controversial ordinance.

Mr. Galvez and Berry Grubbs, both opposed to the ordinance, are vying for the Place 1 seat against Tim Scott, head of the pro-ordinance group Support Farmers Branch. Candidate Tony Salerno, who opposes the ordinance, is up against David Koch, another staunch supporter of the ordinance, for the Place 4 seat.

Uniting Farmers Branch and Let the Voters Decide have for months tried to separate themselves from Mr. Quintanilla, who has been shown in the media in shouting matches with proponents of the ordinance.

But the latest volley has angered some volunteers aligned with Mr. Quintanilla.

"We've gotten people who have been told ... there is no Hispanic running," Mr. Quintanilla said. "Don't mislead, and don't deceive the people and say the only Hispanic candidate decided not to run. We had people say it was Elizabeth Villafranca who told them that."

Ms. Villafranca said that the accusations are false and that she's never publicly endorsed any candidate. But she said Mr. Galvez, unlike Mr. Salerno and Mr. Grubbs, has not been pounding the pavement helping to defeat the ordinance.

Mr. de la Garza said that he is not opposed to Mr. Galvez but that the candidate has not asked for his support.

But he said the idea that anyone should support a candidate simply because of ethnicity is wrong.

"I told Jose: 'I am not against you, but you need to go ahead and talk to the white community, the black community, the Asian community. With only the vote of the Hispanic people, you're not going to win,' " Mr. de la Garza said. "He said, 'Oh, I have all the Hispanic people supporting me,' which I doubt."

But if that's all the support he has, Mr. Galvez will lose by a big margin, Mr. de la Garza said.

And aligning himself with Carlos Quintanilla will only hurt Mr. Galvez's election efforts, Mr. de la Garza said.

"You have to remember, Jose Galvez is one of Carlos' boys," he said. "With Carlos, believe me, people are going to vote against Carlos, and 2903 is going to win."

Mr. Quintanilla scoffed at the idea that his association with them will cost opponents of the ordinance the election.

"I think their internal dispute is something that is much bigger than me," he said. "I'm just a person that's going out and organizing my community. I think that my actions speak very clearly and very emphatically to everything I've done."

All the infighting could have an effect on the May 12 election, said Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

This issue "has grown to be far bigger and broader than anyone would have initially expected, so lots of groups have come in at different stages with different agendas ... and different leaders all grabbing for the helm," Mr. Jillson said. "So it looks increasingly messy."

The resulting effect, he said, is that it reflects on the character of those in opposition, and on their focus.

Mr. Garcia said that he doesn't see a split and that the issues within the group are no greater than those in any election.

"I think everybody is unified against the anti-immigrant ordinance," he said. "We have different people with different ideas and different opinions, but we all come together on the need to defeat the ordinance."


Divisions on other side

Proponents of the ordinance haven't been without their own challenges.

Some of the leaders of Support Farmers Branch are working to separate themselves from people in their camp with more extreme views.

Mr. Koch and Mr. Scott have decried one Web site that targets opponents of the ordinance as supporting illegal immigration – which those opponents strongly deny.

The site, called Illegal Alien Hall of Shame, appears to be locally based, but efforts to track down the creator were unsuccessful. At least 16 of 21 of the "activists" the site targets have spoken out against the Farmers Branch ordinance.

"That's not what I'm about or profess to be about," said Mr. Scott, head of the Support Farmers Branch political action committee.

Mr. Koch said that he would not associate himself with such a site and that he has repeatedly worked to keep volunteers supporting the ordinance focused on the task and to maintain "proper decorum."

"We very closely watch and try to keep people from doing anything that can reflect negatively," Mr. Koch said.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 25d84.html

Exactly what should happen. Those trouble makers from Dallas. Thank goodness their dastardly deeds are falling apart.

Illegal Alien Hall of Shame doesn't even mention Farmers Branch. If some "activist from Dallas" has implied that they need to eat their words.

Dimingo should be reported to the state Bar Assoc. because he would not have gotten that restraining order without Villafranca's affidavit stating that she felt threatened and her kids were scared.

Dixie