Latino Leaders Urge Davis’ Reelection

Prominent California Latinos on Thursday praised Gov. Gray Davis as a steadfast friend and urged fellow Latinos to reward the Democratic incumbent with reelection on Nov. 5.

Amid chants in Spanish of “long live Davis” and “four more years,” a beaming Davis accepted rousing endorsements from Latino legislators, labor leaders, educators and community activists at a Staples Center news conference in Los Angeles.

For Davis, who is leading Republican challenger Bill Simon Jr. in the polls, the event was a calculated milestone in his courtship of Latino voters -- a quest crucial to the Democrat’s hopes of a second term.

“We’ve made a lot of progress with and for the Latino community: better schools, better jobs, better opportunities for their children,” Davis said. “We will make more progress. Juntos podemos! [“Together we can!”]

The show of support was arranged in part to counter criticism -- especially in Spanish-language media -- of Davis’ Sept. 30 veto of legislation that would have given driver’s licenses to some illegal immigrants.

Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), the bill’s original author, denounced Davis for breaking a promise to sign the measure; it’s a claim that Davis denies. Earlier this month, Cedillo led a successful move to deny the governor an endorsement by the Latino Legislative Caucus, a group composed of the 22 Latino Democrats in the Legislature.

Cedillo was conspicuously absent Thursday. But state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and several other Latino legislators were on hand to praise Davis lavishly, and 17 of the 22 Latino caucus members were among the more than three dozen signatories to a Davis endorsement that began running Thursday in the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion.

With less than three weeks to election day, Davis has made shoring up his support among Latinos a primary focus this week. Nearly 11 million California residents -- almost one-third of the total population -- are Latino. Though many are not eligible to vote, 70% of Latinos who did vote in 1998 supported Davis.

Latinos are deciding a growing number of elections in California, analysts say. “Given that everybody in politics senses we have a turned-off electorate going into the election, and everybody is worried about turnout, it makes a great deal of sense for the governor to be focusing on motivating the [Democratic] base,” said Democratic campaign consultant Darry Sragow.

At the same time, the national Republican Party is stepping up efforts to lure Latino voters away from their traditional Democratic tendencies. And recent polls suggest that Republicans are gaining acceptability with Latinos. But in California, the GOP has struggled to make inroads with Latinos because of persistent anger over former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson’s support of 1994’s Proposition 187, which outlawed many services to illegal immigrants.

Simon has attempted to woo Latino voters, with mixed success. In a Times poll this month, Davis led Simon by nearly 2 to 1 among likely Latino voters. “The issue is whether large numbers of Latino voters are going to vote,” Sragow said. “I certainly see no evidence that there is some sort of erosion for Gray Davis among the Latinos who vote.”

Latino leaders on Thursday praised Davis for his support, ranging from the appointment of a Latino state Supreme Court justice to the expansion of health-care coverage to hundreds of thousands of Latino children under the Healthy Families program. “We’re going to make sure Latino voter turnout is above par,” Polanco said.

Standing on the stage, soaking up the praise and endorsements, Davis was flanked by fiery United Farm Workers union co-founder Dolores Huerta. She thanked Davis profusely for signing legislation that gave farm workers the right to a form of binding arbitration in stalled negotiations with growers -- she had threatened to fast until Davis signed the legislation -- and the two hugged and exchanged kisses on the cheek.

During a campaign stop in San Diego, Simon brushed off the show of support for Davis, saying he has done more to appeal to Latinos than the governor. He cited his focus on job creation and education.

“I think Mr. Davis is having trouble shoring up his support in the Latino community,” Simon said after a speech to the San Diego Rotary Club. “I think you’ll find he reaches out because he feels he has to. We, on the other hand, have been reaching out pretty much throughout the general election.”

On Tuesday, Simon promoted his economic agenda at an exposition of Latino business owners at the Los Angeles Convention Center. With a band playing conga, he walked from booth to booth with Hector V. Barreto, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Harold H. Martinez, president of Able Industrial Products of Ontario, told Simon his costs for insuring workers injured on the job had soared.

Simon told him he would streamline the state’s worker’s compensation system to ease the burden on employers.

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Times staff writers Michael Finnegan and Matea Gold contributed to this report.