Democrats coddling racists

Posted: September 14, 2005

by WILLIAM E. SARACINO

Lockyer turning a blind eye

Democrats coddling racists — again

The politics of hate and racial strife don’t bother ‘progressives’ — as long as the racist is one of their own.

William E. Saracino is a member of California Political Review’s editorial board.

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Statements made by Democrats Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be branded racist had they emerged from Republican lips: Jackson calling New York “Hymietown” and “a city run by Hymies”; notorious race-baiter Sharpton barely masking his loathing of non- blacks behind clownish hair and jump suits.

Neither Democrat has ever apologized for their racist comments, nor been asked to do so by Democrat “leaders.” That’s because the Democrat Party would lose an important part of its base vote if it repudiated blatantly racist segments in the black and Hispanic community. It’s also because the major media complies, by its silence, in this racism.

California’s answer to Jackson and Sharpton is Larry “Nativo” Lopez. Lopez was formerly head of something called Hermanidad Mexicana Nacional (HMN) and is now president of the California Mexican American Political Association (MAPA). He evidently deemed his given first name, Larry, inappropriate for a professional Hispanic huckster, so it morphed into “Nativo.”

Hermanidad, under Lopez’ direction, was the focus of a lengthy investigation for improper voter registration activities, City News Service reported in 1996. That same year, the INS terminated a contract for citizenship services with an HMN-affiliate, Naturalization Assistance Service, because of problems at its testing centers in Texas and Florida. A couple of years later HMN was investigated for possible misappropriation of federal funds.

Last April 7 Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued a “Warning of Impending Tax Assessment” to HMN for non-compliance and threatened to revoke the organization’s tax exempt status unless it paid all delinquent fees and filed all necessary documents within 30 days. HMN failed to respond to Lockyer’s warning and remained in non-compliance as of August 15, yet nothing has been done. The A.G. is apparently too busy distorting titles and summaries of conservative ballot measures to bother enforcing his own warnings. Finally, last month a D.C.-based group called Public Interest Watch (PIW) publicly chastised Lockyer for his non-action and promised monthly updates on the matter. Here’s a safe bet: were HMN Republican-oriented and headed by conservatives, Lockyer would find time to enforce the law.

Larry Lopez first burst into the headlines as a Santa Ana School Board member who refused to abide by the voter-passed Prop. 227, requiring California school children be taught in English. Showing good common sense, his overwhelmingly Hispanic constituents recalled him from office by a 70 to 30 percent margin. He lost every precinct in the district.

Lopez popped up a couple of years later in an Orange County Register report of a non- profit with ties to Lopez that received more than $100,000 from a construction company — a company, it turned out, that Lopez had helped secure a no-bid contract for school construction while he was on the School Board. More recently, as head of MAPA, Lopez has been a cheer-leader for granting illegal aliens driver’s licenses. Explaining his opposition to adding distinguishing features to the illegals’ licenses that would aid law enforcement and prevent fraud, Lopez said “We are not niggers. We are not kikes. We are not paddies [Irish]. We are not homos.” “Hate speech,” anyone?

This is the quality of an individual — a brown David Duke — coddled by Democrats unable to denounce even an extreme race-baiter if he happens to be a minority. It recalls Cruz Bustamante’s unwillingness to repudiate Mecha’s Hispanic separatist tenets during the recall election.

Larry recently joined the Green Party, where, no doubt, he will add further meaning to the phrase “environmental whacko.” Perhaps this move will allow Lockyer to do his job regarding Lopez. The termed-out A.G. is running for Treasurer next year. Remembering the trouncing given Bustamante and his racially-divisive politics, Lockyer would do well to enforce the law against Larry Lopez and HMN.

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