Bustamante Accepts UFW Support While Facing Questions About Past

Associated Press ^ | Aug 30, 2003 | Kim Baca

[Pharmboy]

DELANO, Calif. (AP) - Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante accepted the endorsement of farmworkers in California's gubernatorial recall election Saturday, and fended off criticism of his past involvement with a Mexican-American student group that opponents have labeled racist. The United Farm Workers union is among several groups that have endorsed Bustamante while opposing the recall effort against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.

"I'm proud to stand with United Farm Workers, who I have marched with shoulder to shoulder, the farmworkers who are the heart of the agriculture industry," Bustamante, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, told a cheering crowd of more than 100 farmworkers and their families, speaking first in English and then Spanish. "Those hands bring food to our tables."

Bustamante's enthusiastic welcome in Delano, the symbolic heart of the state's farm labor movement, was countered by questions about his fund-raising and his previous involvement with the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan, or MEChA, while a student at Fresno State University in the 1970s. The group has called for a separate Chicano nation.

Republican candidate state Sen. Tom McClintock has called MEChA a racist organization and asked Bustamante to renounce his membership.

On Fox News on Saturday, Bustamante was asked whether he renounced a slogan of the group: "For the race everything. For those outside the race, nothing."

He responded that he loved his culture and would represent the entire state if he became governor.

"My politics ... have grown to a point where I'm a very inclusive individual, and all you have to do is look at the politics I've shared and the kind of politics that I've had," Bustamante said.

When pressed a fourth time for a more direct answer, Bustamante said, "Racial separatism is wrong... You have to look at what people do, not just what they say, and I think I've demonstrated my ability."

Bustamante is asking Californians to vote against recalling Davis in the Oct. 7 election, but also to choose him as a replacement candidate in case Davis is ousted.

Saturday's UFW event was held at the site where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy embraced the union's legendary leader, Cesar Chavez, after Chavez ended a 25-day fast in 1968. The union sought to emphasize distinctions between Bustamante and his leading Republican opponent, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Near the speakers' podium was a photograph of the action star hugging former Gov. Pete Wilson, who inspired anger among many Hispanics for his support of Proposition 187. The 1994 initiative that denied many services to illegal immigrants has since been mostly voided by the courts.

Schwarzenegger has said he supported the proposition and named Wilson as a co-chairman of his campaign. Bustamante opposed it.

With the crowd chanting, "Viva Bustamante, Viva Cesar Chavez," UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said the union didn't want "another governor who is against farmworkers and for corporate agriculture."

Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh responded that Schwarzenegger has been a consistent advocate for children, including those of immigrants.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in with the immigrant community, is an immigrant himself, and through his actions has demonstrated hope, opportunity and made a real difference in the lives of Latino immigrants and all children," Walsh said.

In another campaign issue, Schwarzenegger criticized Davis' recent decision to offer tribal leaders a lead role in selecting two of the five members of the California Gambling Control Commission.

Schwarzenegger said the offer presents a potential conflict of interest, but Davis, a frequent recipient of tribal campaign donations, said he made it because he's trying to find quality candidates.

California gambling tribes have reportedly spent more money on state political campaigns than any other interest group since 1998, in excess of $120 million.

A $500,000 donation Bustamante received from the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians has helped fuel questions about the propriety of his fund-raising methods.

The state's Fair Political Practices Commission contends he is violating the spirit of laws that limit donations to $21,200 per donor.

Bustamante lawyers said it's legal to donate significantly higher amounts to a campaign committee that existed before the rules changed. The commission is supporting a bill in the Legislature that would ban the practice.

In the San Francisco Bay area, meanwhile, 38 of the record 135 gubernatorial candidates gathered aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Hornet in Alameda on Saturday to discuss ways of raising their profiles. Members of the group said they have grown tired of being lumped into a huge batch of recall candidates.

"My goal was to change it from entertainment to a serious news event. I think we've been successful," said Cheryl Bly-Chester, one of the candidates who helped organize the informal meeting.

Candidate Gino Martorana said he was frustrated that the meeting didn't produce a unified direction for the candidates, but instead highlighted their disparate voices.

"Not one of us has a chance to win, so we have to be able to say something that has some kind of substance," Martorana said. "It was basically posturing. I'm not looking for that kind of publicity."

[Pharmboy]

Let's not let up exposing this tribalist/racist crapola as articulated by MECha...

[jmstein7]

Agreed. This is a good start (getting legs), but let's keep it going. . .

"CRUZ CONTROL!"

Help EXPOSE BUSTAMANTE. Check out the thread below:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/973285/posts

[NormsRevenge]

Sat Aug 30, 5:16 PM ET

California Central Valley farm workers join United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, far left, and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, at podium, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2003, at the Forty Acres property in Delano, Calif. The UFW chose ''Forty Acres,'' the birthplace of the Cesar Chavez-founded UFW, where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy helped Chavez end his 25-day fast for nonviolence on March 10, 1968, to announce the UFW's opposition to the recall of California Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) and its endorsement of Bustamante on the Oct. 7 gubernatorial election. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

[NormsRevenge]

California Central Valley farm workers hold a sign against the California recall election, and endorsing California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, right, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2003, at the Forty Acres property in Delano, Calif. The United Farm Workers chose Forty Acres, the birthplace of the Cesar Chavez-founded UFW, to announce the their opposition to the recall election and it's endorsement of Bustamante. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

[South40]

[TheAngryClam]

Ingles no
Espanol si

I can't do the ~ above the n.

[Pharmboy]

I know: it was his head Cruz held up and not his heart because he doesn't have one...nice one.

[South40]

Use the character map, señor.

[Duramaximus]

This earlier post here contains most everything one needs to further their understanding of MEChA:

MEChA Source Documents

[TheAngryClam]

I'm lazy, gringo.

[Pharmboy]

Yes...thanks for the link. I posted their "Betsy Rosstein" Flag. They are racist, white-hating, Jew-hating unhappy, socialist/commie dregs. Did I leave anything out?

[South40]

You said you can't, not that you won't. That's indicative of an inability, not laziness.

[onedoug]

¿Como es, por qualquiera?

"Hay dos razas de personas. Las decentes, y las indecentes." --Viktor Frankel

[TaMoDee]

Hold down the "Alt" key and enter 0209 on the rightside
number keyboard thusly Ñ . There are alot of these thing

86ºF etc

see http//expage.com/page/mangoaltcodes

Have fun®

[friendly]

This is a bigoted anti-white, anti-American corrupt little pig. He can go straight to a very hot place, the sooner the better.

[TaMoDee]

I know about Alt codes where's "character map"?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"I'm proud to stand with United Farm Workers, who I have marched with shoulder to shoulder, the farmworkers who are the heart of the agriculture industry," Bustamante, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, told a cheering crowd of more than 100 farmworkers and their families, speaking first in English and then Spanish. "Those hands bring food to our tables."

"All of you white and nig... ummmmmmm, that is to say, I mean black farmworkers will find sacred new meanings in your wretched, non-Hispanic lives, toiling ceaselessly in the blessed slave fields of King Bustamante the First, Sun God of Aztlan! Let your wives and daughters come forward now, to service my great feathered serpent -- !" :)

[TaMoDee]

Sorry! Lower case ñ is 0241.

[South40]

Alt codes are one way but go to Start, programs, accessories, system tools then character map. Different fonts will give you diffent chracters. Ariel works well.

[Tamzee]

"For the race everything. For those outside the race, nothing."

It's nice seeing this get to print at AP... of course, there would be 30,000 stories on it today if this were a white supremecy group instead of a Hispanic supremecy group.