Garcetti Stresses His Latino Heritage

They might not have been the most important words Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti ever uttered, but they certainly were among the most warmly received.

“Buenas tardes, amigos y amigas,” Garcetti said Friday to applause and warm smiles as he began a speech to the Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce, a group that represents Garcetti’s friendliest constituency: Latino voters.

As he runs for reelection against a strong challenger, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, Garcetti knows that he must connect with Los Angeles County’s growing Latino voting bloc if he is to have any chance of winning in November.

What puts him in an odd position is that, unless he explicitly tells them, voters don’t necessarily know that Garcetti, despite his Italian surname, is of Mexican descent.

“It’s the best-kept secret in town,” said political consultant Joe Cerrell, who said he has advised Garcetti to take advantage of his ancestry. “I think he has a great potential that I don’t think he’s ever milked.”

That is not exactly true. In virtually every public appearance this year, Garcetti has made a point of describing his family history, including the saga of his Italian paternal grandfather, who immigrated to Mexico, married an Aztec woman and died in the Mexican Revolution; his mother, who was one of 19 children born to Mexican immigrants in Arizona; and his Mexican-born father, whom he describes as a onetime gang member who went straight after meeting Gil’s mother.

The district attorney did it again Friday before the Mexican-American Chamber of Commerce, a two-year-old organization that drew about 60 business owners to a too-small banquet room at Taix, the venerable French restaurant in Echo Park. There, both candidates for district attorney faced yet another meal of roast chicken and potatoes and delivered yet another variation on their standard stump speeches.

Garcetti contrasted his background to that of Cooley, who had just finished telling the group about his father, who was an FBI agent.

“Some people seem surprised when they hear about my background,” Garcetti said. “You know, my background is considerably different than that of my opponent. My opponent was law enforcement. Well, my dad was the guy who was getting arrested by law enforcement, unfortunately.”

It is a story that never fails to draw sympathetic nods and laughter, and Friday was no exception. Ruben Hoyos, who runs a tire and brake shop in Glendora, said he had always liked Garcetti but was surprised to learn that they shared a common heritage.

“Until now, I didn’t know he was from Mexican parents,” Hoyos said after the speech. Before, his impression had been: “Gil Garcetti--white guy, tall.” Now that he knew more, he seemed more favorably disposed toward Garcetti. As for Cooley, who had delivered an unusually revealing speech about his own upbringing, Hoyos would only say, “The other fellow, I’m not familiar with him.”

A Times poll published in April showed Garcetti running far behind Cooley among every ethnic group except Latinos, who were split almost evenly between the two candidates. For Garcetti to win, he must shore up that support, as well as dramatically increase his standing with other ethnic groups.

Not long ago, Latino support was not that meaningful, since Latinos voted in numbers far smaller than their actual population. That is beginning to change. Latinos, who make up well over 40% of the population in Los Angeles County, accounted for 18% of all voters in the 1998 general election. Some people predict that figure could increase this year.

But Garcetti is hardly assured of winning those votes. “The Latino community, like any community, is far from monolithic,” said John Shallman, a campaign advisor to Cooley. “They don’t want to be perceived as people who vote because of a shared ethnicity or surname.”

He predicted that Cooley would connect with Latino voters because of his positions on issues such as the three-strikes law and his criticism of Garcetti over his failure to investigate possible corruption involving the environmentally troubled Belmont Learning Complex and his handling of the Rampart police scandal.

Among those at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon, there was wide agreement on at least one of those points: Garcetti shouldn’t take Latino votes for granted.

“You know, Gil’s got a lot of support out there in the Latino community,” said Frank Moreno, president of the chamber. “But I think more than ever, people are talking about not supporting him just because of his background. . . . Now, for the first time, I’m hearing dissension. So is it sewn up for him? No.”