CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : PROPOSITION 187 : Wilson Campaign Pulls Ad After Citizen Complains

When Jeronimo Zaragoza took his U.S. citizenship oath in March, the last thing he dreamed was that he would soon have trouble sleeping.

But that was the case, the Montebello resident says, after images of him and his wife, Carmen, taking part in a mass naturalization ceremony turned up in a pro-Proposition 187 TV ad repeatedly broadcast by Gov. Pete Wilson’s reelection campaign.

Zaragoza, backed by a San Francisco law firm, threatened legal action, saying that his privacy had been invaded and that he faced embarrassment among his family, friends and co-workers. The former General Motors assembly line worker, who came to California from Mexico in the late 1960s, demanded that the Wilson ad be pulled from the air and that he receive a letter of apology.

Late Friday, a lawyer for the Wilson camp, Chip Nielsen of Sacramento, notified Zaragoza’s attorney that the ad would be pulled immediately, “as a courtesy to this couple who have just become American citizens.”

“I feel better but I’d also like a letter of apology with copies sent to all the TV stations,” responded Zaragoza, 46, whose oldest son served in the Army and whose youngest daughter is an educational award winner.

“Believe me, I (didn’t) sleep at night,” said Zaragoza. “One of my best friends, who I car-pooled with for 15 years, called and said, ‘Now that you’re an American citizen, you changed politically? You are now with Mr. Wilson?’ ”

“I said, ‘No, no, no--you know how I think.’ He said, ‘What about the commercial?’ I said, ‘What commercial?’ He said it was on all the channels.”

After viewing Wilson’s ad--in which the camera pans across participants in the swearing-in ceremony--Zaragoza said he repeatedly called the governor’s office to complain--to no avail.

Zaragoza proceeded to contact the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which put him in contact with the San Francisco law firm of Keker & Van Nest.

In a two-page letter to the Wilson for Governor campaign, attorney Gary Cohen charged that “this political advertisement invades the (Zaragozas’) privacy by placing them in a false light.”

For the record, Zaragoza is strongly opposed to Wilson and the ballot measure.

“Proposition 187 would be very bad for us,” he said. “We will be suspects because of the color of our skin. Hispanic people will be asked for papers. It won’t matter that I’m a citizen--they’ll ask me for my papers because I look Mexican.”

Before the ad was pulled, Wilson spokesman Dan Schnur said that the campaign had purchased the footage from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and that it was in the public domain.