Polanco’s Small Steps to a Big Gain

“The proud daddy,” a friend said as state Sen. Richard Polanco of Los Angeles moved from table to table during a meeting of triumphant Democratic Latino legislators at UCLA last week.

An accurate description, although the political science books will undoubtedly prefer to use the loftier “father” in describing the man who conceived and nurtured the six-year electoral campaign to elect the first Latino Assembly speaker in California history, an office that at times is equal in power to that of the governor.

Only a monumental double-cross will prevent Cruz Bustamante of Fresno from assuming command of the lower house when the Assembly meets Dec. 2. But the careful Polanco has even prepared for that. In helping Bustamante assemble his support, he lined up two more votes than necessary--”two for the double-cross.”

The UCLA meeting, a planning retreat, had been scheduled a year ago. But now, with the election results in, it had turned into a celebration, one heavy with memories, of small steps taken each year and of many heroes and heroines.

By chance, I was seated at a table with one of the heroines, Vilma Martinez. She’s a partner in Munger, Tolles & Olson, an influential downtown Los Angeles law firm, and a member of several corporate boards. But she was once on the cutting edge of the civil rights movement as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. In that job, she battled fierce opposition and persuaded Congress to include Latinos in the 1975 revision of the Voting Rights Act, one of the steps that led eventually to Bustamante’s move to the speakership.

*

If Martinez helped change the law, Polanco was crucial in changing the politics.

The senator is a bustling, friendly man of 45 with a good politician’s perpetual smile. He lives on Mt. Washington with his wife, Libby, and two children, and spends much of his time shepherding the Los Angeles City Hall agenda through the Legislature, where he used his muscle to defeat a bill that would have made it easier for the San Fernando Valley to secede from L.A.

Polanco was just as tough and determined in his long campaign to elect Latinos, raising money furiously, selecting candidates with the care of a basketball scout and demanding they follow his game plan during their campaigns.

When he became Latino legislative caucus chairman while in the Assembly, there were four Latinos in the lower house. Over the years, that increased to seven, then to nine, then to 10 and now 14--13 Democrats and a Republican Latino who got elected without Polanco’s help. The 13 Democrats provided Bustamante a base from which to reach out to enough non-Latinos to be elected Democratic leader. When the Democrats captured control of the Assembly last Tuesday, Bustamante was on his way to the speakership.

Political fund-raising was crucial to this victory. Polanco said the Latino caucus provided more than $1 million in money and staff services to Latino candidates, and to non-Latinos who would support Bustamante. Legislative staffers were put on leave, their pay picked up by the caucus, so they could bring Polanco’s methods to novice candidates’ campaigns.

*

All this has resulted in the election of Latino lawmakers who are in the middle of the road. This reflects the politics of districts where, for the most part, Latinos are a distinct minority.

The moderate bent of the Latino delegation was apparent when Bustamante stepped to the podium at the meeting. The audience’s applause turned into the rhythmic clap, clap of the old farm workers’ union marches and demonstrations. Bustamante, elected from Fresno where union-hating agribusiness is king, smiled. “Some of you know me well enough to know you shouldn’t be doing that,” he said. Or as he put it later in his talk, “I am built moderate. That’s who I am.”

This might surprise those who equate Latino political power with left-wing ideas, but it shouldn’t. When the Latino immigrants came to the United States, they were guided by the same mainstream dreams and spiritual values that others have brought to this country, centered on family, religion, self-reliance and self-improvement, on buying a home and educating kids. “Our agenda,” said Polanco, “is the American agenda.”