False Analogy

Re “A Latino Politician Who Could Rewrite the Eastside Playbook,” by Tony Castro, Opinion, Dec. 26: I am writing neither to condemn former Councilman Richard Alatorre nor to praise Councilman Nick Pacheco, as Castro does. What bothered me is Castro’s false analogy when he writes, “Pacheco has an opportunity to break the Eastside-politician mold, one synonymous with insider politics only slightly less corrupt than Mexico’s ruling party.”

As far as I’m concerned, Mexican politics and Los Angeles politics are mutually exclusive. The only thing Mexican politicians and Chicano elected officials have in common is their national origin. So Castro’s implication is that corruption is an inherently Mexican matter when it comes to politics on either side of the border.

Castro also writes, “Alatorre’s bunch favored expensive Italian suits and shoes.” He cites a political challenger and his supporters in a race that took place 20 years ago and says they “leaned toward Brooks Brothers and Bass Weejuns.” Is Castro also a haberdasher or just lame? Using The Times as his soapbox, he comes off as more of a political shill with an ax to grind than someone who has written extensively on Latino politics.

GILBERTO Y. MORENO

North Hills