I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Disgraced former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is scheduled to speak today at the annual banquet of the Hobbs Hispano Chamber of Commerce.
It is beyond me why any reputable group anywhere in the U.S. would want to host a speaker who was arguably the worst Attorney General in U.S. history. The fact that a Latino group extended the invitation to a hack like Gonzales is even more difficult to fathom.
Gonzales, you may recall, is the guy who, in his role as Chief Counsel to the President, authored a memo arguing the Geneva Convention did not apply to the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Based upon his legal opinion, the Bush Administration began detaining certain terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to lawyers or courts. That position has, of course, been largely repudiated by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gonzales apparently also lied under oath to Congress about his role in the firing of numerous U.S. attorneys across the country, including New Mexico’s own David Iglesias.
Gonzales is the same guy who championed illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the National Security Agency.
In almost any other civil society, Gonzales would most likely be occupying a jail cell. He certainly wouldn’t be speaking in Hobbs. Still, seeing a local Latino group invite Gonzales to speak brings to mind the shameful role most national Latino groups played in the Gonzales’ AG nomination .
At the time of his nomination, most of the national Latino organizations based in D.C. fell all over themselves in an orgy of Gonzales endorsements. Why? Truth be told, it was because Gonzales was a Latino. None of the national groups—with the notable exception of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)—bothered to vet Gonzales’ positions on civil rights and a host of other issues critical to Latinos.
Instead, they blindly issued statements supporting Gonzales as “eminently qualified” to be U.S. Attorney General. Had they done their homework, they would have discovered a disturbing pattern of political hackery at the core of Gonzales’ service to Bush.
While being a certified political hack might be tolerated at Democrat or Republican Party headquarters, it absolutely should not be permitted in high government offices that are particularly charged with following the rule of law. Like US Attorney General.
When evidence finally emerged that showed Gonzales had mutilated, spindled and bent the US Constitution and the Geneva Conventions, none of the major Latino organizations came forward to denounce his behavior. To this day, MALDEF stands alone as the one national Latino organization that spoke out against the villainy Gonzales perpetuated.
Why did this happen?
Likely, it happened (and continues to happen) because national Latino groups feel compelled to promote Latinos when they (rarely) are nominated for high government office. They do this as a show of solidarity with the broader Latino population.
Having said that, I believe these national organizations do a disservice to all Latinos and all citizens when they blindly adopt a color code to endorse candidates or nominees for high office. Just as most Latinos would react with horror if national groups supported a white or a black simply because of their color, it is wrong for national Latino groups to support a Latino candidate only because they are brown. And yet, in the case of Alberto Gonzales, that is what occurred.
In stark contrast was the support for the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Yes, she is a person of color. But she also met and exceeded the standards for sitting on the Supreme Court . She had a long and public record of judicial opinions and legal practice. In short, regardless of her color, she earned her nomination and fully deserved the support of the major Latino groups (and all Americans, for that matter).
Unfortunately, the endorsement of major Latino groups of Judge Sotomayor rang hollow, given their putrid behavior in the Gonzales scenario. They lack credibility with me, anyway. And I suspect many members of Congress feel the same way.
What message do we send to our Latino youth when we refuse to apply the same rules to our own leaders as we apply to everyone else?
It’s time for national Latino organizations to mature. We need to let them know they serve all Latinos best when they apply the same discerning standards to any and all Latinos who purport to serve the public interest.
