Hispanics threatened not to vote in California

[TC]

Note warns Calif. Hispanics on voting

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_...n_voting_threat (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_re_us/immigration_voting_threat)

SANTA ANA, Calif. - The state attorney general's office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month.

"It's a very malicious and degrading letter. It's to pull Latinos down and make them afraid," said Benny Diaz, who is running for City Council in Garden Grove. He said his wife and five other people he knows had received the letter.

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

The truth is that immigrants who become naturalized citizens can legally register to vote.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said the letter was "something we are investigating aggressively right now." He said the sender could be charged with a felony and receive up to three years in state prison.

Several of the people who received the letters appeared to be naturalized citizens, said John Trasvina, interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

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American elections are frauds as ususal. In the last federal election they scrubbed hispanics names from voter registration and threw out ballots in hispanic districts in numbers greater than Bush's alleged margin of victory.

[Demogorgon]

Calling American Democracy a sham gives shams a bad name. I am hardly surprised I fight an uphill battle here when I say I support Democracy with crap like this going on.

Incidentally they try and paint this like it is just some wacko sending letters to upset people, but how is some hick off he street going to have the resources to send letters like that to so many people of a particular social group?

[Political_Chucky]

Fuck the U.S. I am seriously not voting once I come to the age. I watch these ADs on T.V. that attacks the other politicians actions and shit, it pisses me off. Why can't a politician just be truthful and show how corrupt the U.S. is?! I mean, out of the many people who have been in politics, you'd think there would be one who wasn't corrupted.

Ne ways, fuck the individuals who put up those dumbass signs. Fuck closed borders. Fuck anyone against illegal immigrants.

[Tekun]

Although my parent's didn't receive one, one of my parents' friends did, and this pretty much killed her desire to vote
From what I heard, it seems that the candidate whose campaign is being investigated has no intention of getting out of the race
He blames a flaw in the translation for the "misunderstanding" :rolleyes:
Sure buddy....

Wasn't this a tactic used by Jim Crow politicians back in the day?


Fock the Vote!

[Freelanced]

Fuck the U.S. I am seriously not voting once I come to the age.

I'm sorry, but cannot and do not agree with you. Refusing to vote is not a positive way to get anything done. And not liking the system is not the reason to vote. You would be much better off voting for a Green Party Candidate that not voting at all.

[Tekun]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24, 2006 12:12 pm

Fuck the U.S. I am seriously not voting once I come to the age.

I'm sorry, but cannot and do not agree with you. Refusing to vote is not a positive way to get anything done. And not liking the system is not the reason to vote. You would be much better off voting for a Green Party Candidate that not voting at all.
And voting gets positive things done?
We don't like the system, nor do we want to reform it through elections
Therefore, why legitimize the system by taking part in sham elections?
Green Party candidates are almost always capitalists, no difference from Democrats and Republicans

[BreadBros]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-le...-home-headlines (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-letter24oct24,0,4709363.story?coll=la-home-headlines)


Candidate reportedly bought voter list for controversial letter
Tan Nguyen, seeking an O.C. congressional seat, denies using the list for that purpose.
By Christian Berthelsen, Jennifer Delson and Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writers
October 24, 2006

Congressional candidate Tan Nguyen personally bought the list of voters to whom a racially charged letter was mailed, warning that immigrants could be jailed or deported for voting, according to the president of the company that sold the list and sources familiar with the still-unfolding investigation.

Nguyen requested information on registered Democrats in the central Orange County Congressional district with Spanish surnames who were born outside the United States, according to people familiar with a state investigation into the letter. Nguyen, a Republican, is running an underdog campaign against Democratic incumbent Loretta Sanchez.

"The only thing I can really say is, the candidate purchased the data, which he had a legal right to do, and if he went and did something illegal with it, he's going to have to answer for it," said Jim Hayes, president of Burbank-based Political Data Inc., the largest voter information broker in the state. Hayes met with investigators and provided them with the same information last week, sources said.

Nguyen, who has drawn national scorn for his campaign's role in the mailing, maintains that he had nothing to do with the letter's production or distribution, saying a campaign office manager misappropriated the list. Nguyen fired the worker last week but said Sunday that he had offered to rehire her because he came to believe that the letter was accurate and did not violate the law.

Separately, sources have told The Times that a Los Angeles Police Department officer who is close to Nguyen used an alias to order the letter produced and then paid $4,000 for it on his credit card.

Appearing at a news conference Sunday, a defiant Nguyen defended the letter and rejected his party's calls for him to quit the race.

On Monday, Nguyen's lawyer, William Braniff, did not dispute that Nguyen bought the list but said it was bought for legitimate purposes and used to send three or four other campaign mailers, including one in both Spanish and English accusing Sanchez of insufficient support for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One piece quoted a Sgt. Salvador Lujan as saying: "Hispanics are sacrificing themselves for our country in disproportionate numbers…. It is shocking that Rep. Sanchez refuses to support our troops and instead accepts the support of the Arabs."

Braniff said the purpose of requesting a list of voters born outside the United States was merely to identify Spanish-speaking voters and not necessarily to target immigrants.

Others say Nguyen knew of the letter in question. Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh has said Nguyen was directly involved with the mailing, calling the mail house that produced the piece and asking that its handling be expedited.

The data firm's assertion that Nguyen bought the mailing list himself raises further questions about his explanation and the extent of his involvement. Gary W. Schons, who is overseeing the probe by the state attorney general's office, declined to respond to questions about the purchase of the mailing list.

"Arrests are not imminent," he said. "There's still quite a bit of investigative activity that must be completed."

Nguyen has also contested the interpretation of the Spanish-language letter, asserting that it did not wrongfully tell recipients that immigrants cannot vote.

The letter, which may have been sent to as many as 14,000 voters, warned in Spanish: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or if you are an immigrant, to vote in a federal election is a crime that can result in imprisonment or you will be deported for voting without the right to do so."

Braniff said the controversy over the letter stemmed from an inaccurate translation by news media inferring that the word emigrado, or "immigrant," included naturalized U.S. citizens.

The word, Braniff said, referred to immigrants with legal status but not citizenship. Nguyen said the term is used by U.S. immigration agents to ask someone crossing the border whether they are a citizen or "a person who is here legally but with only a green card."

But several people contacted by The Times, including Border Patrol officials and Spanish-language experts, questioned that explanation.

The word "means anyone who comes from elsewhere," said Octavio Pescador, a visiting social science professor at UCLA who is an expert on Latino culture. "It doesn't mean that a person only possesses legal residency. It has no legal connotation."

Border Patrol spokesman James Jacques said he was unaware of the word being used frequently by agents.

"I've never used that word, and I've worked here 10 years," he said. "It's not part of any syllabus I know of. It's not part of any terminology we have."

The letter went on to falsely claim that the state had developed a tracking system that would allow the names of Latino voters to be given to anti-immigrant groups.

Democrats have seized on the incident, and on Monday gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides and others staged a rally in Santa Ana to decry a "culture of intimidation" in the Republican Party.

Angelides, standing on the steps of the old Orange County courthouse, said the letter appeared to take a page from national Republican strategy, and he accused Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of supporting the Minuteman Project border enforcement activists.

"There is a culture of intimidation in the Republican Party," Angelides said, citing voting scandals in Florida and Ohio. "That is why Bush is president today. They do this time after time after time."

Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has said he will notify recipients of the letter, saying it does not accurately reflect their voting rights.

Wow, even the Border Patrol and Spanish language experts are basically saying "Tan Nguyen, you are a lying motherfucker with that translation bullshit". Yet he won't pull out. Amazing.

[Political_Chucky]

Originally posted by Tekun+October 24, 2006 06:01 pm--> (Tekun @ October 24, 2006 06:01 pm)
[email protected] 24, 2006 12:12 pm

Fuck the U.S. I am seriously not voting once I come to the age.

I'm sorry, but cannot and do not agree with you. Refusing to vote is not a positive way to get anything done. And not liking the system is not the reason to vote. You would be much better off voting for a Green Party Candidate that not voting at all.
And voting gets positive things done?
We don't like the system, nor do we want to reform it through elections
Therefore, why legitimize the system by taking part in sham elections?
Green Party candidates are almost always capitalists, no difference from Democrats and Republicans [/b]
For once I agree haha.... <_<

[Ultra-Violence]

Dont Use the word Hispanic PLZ&#33;

Thats is very offendind to me I am not an Hispanic I am Meztizo&#33; It gets me so angry when peopl use that word. IT DENIES MY EXISTANCE AND CULTURAL BACKROUND&#33; my grandma is indain as well as every body from my athers side my mom IS HISPANIC SHE IS FROM ANGLO EUROPEAN DECENT so that makes me meztizo. just letting you know im proud of wheare i came from and my cultural past since.

srry for the rant :hammer:

[BreadBros]

Well if shes Anglo European then you arent Hispanic at all I would presume?

[Tekun]

Originally posted by Ultra&#045;[email protected] 27, 2006 03:41 am
Dont Use the word Hispanic PLZ&#33;

Thats is very offendind to me I am not an Hispanic I am Meztizo&#33; It gets me so angry when peopl use that word. IT DENIES MY EXISTANCE AND CULTURAL BACKROUND&#33; my grandma is indain as well as every body from my athers side my mom IS HISPANIC SHE IS FROM ANGLO EUROPEAN DECENT so that makes me meztizo. just letting you know im proud of wheare i came from and my cultural past since.

srry for the rant :hammer:
I completely agree with you...the words Hispanic and Latino really doesn&#39;t define us as a ppl, its downright incorrect
However, Im curious to hear what u say when someone asks your ethnicity? Without going into a rant or a long discussion....u know, like at a party or something

I usually say Latino or Central American (kuz most of the time, they&#39;ve never heard of Guatemala)
Though I once contemplated saying mestizo, but then decided against it, kuz I feared that ppl would label me as a tight ass

Ya dig?



Well if shes Anglo European then you arent Hispanic at all I would presume?

And how&#39;d u come up with that brilliant conclusion? :wacko:

[TC]

The American use of &#39;hispanic&#39; isn&#39;t the same as the Latin American usage, its an ethnic/cultural classification not a racial one, it refers to almost everyone who speaks spanish as a first language just as &#39;anglo&#39; refers to anyone who speaks english as a first language...so to refer to a community as &#39;hispanic&#39; is not intended to imply that they are all of spanish ancestry anymore than refering to a community as anglo implies that they are all of english ancestry (the US census would for instance, count Alberto Fujimori, Michelle Bachelet, and Evo Morales, as hispanic even though none of them have any spanish ancestory.)

In any case i just used the term because it was the term appearing in the article.

[Political_Chucky]

Originally posted by Ultra&#045;[email protected] 26, 2006 08:41 pm
Dont Use the word Hispanic PLZ&#33;

Thats is very offendind to me I am not an Hispanic I am Meztizo&#33; It gets me so angry when peopl use that word. IT DENIES MY EXISTANCE AND CULTURAL BACKROUND&#33; my grandma is indain as well as every body from my athers side my mom IS HISPANIC SHE IS FROM ANGLO EUROPEAN DECENT so that makes me meztizo. just letting you know im proud of wheare i came from and my cultural past since.

srry for the rant :hammer:
Haha yea, I also understand where your coming from. I personally describe my self as a Chicano(Mexican-American) when I am speaking to someone on non-political terms. But when I am speaking of race and such, I am plainly a Mexican. I personally believe that my own alliance of race stands with Mexico because of my culture and my basic beliefs. Hispanic is such a politically incorrect term because it is used to describe people of Spanish descent, from South American countries, and some Caribbean states.