A broken clock is right twice a day, it has long been said. So
it seems to be with California political hustler Nativo Lopez.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to transform
state politics has run into sustained opposition. But he’s picked
up support from at least one unusual source. The centerpiece of the
Governor’s program is Proposition 77, which would turn legislative
redistricting over to a bipartisan panel. Among this measure’s
supporters, featured in the official vote guide, is Lopez,
president of the Mexican-American Political Association.
Surprisingly, Lopez is right on this issue (though he recently
joined a public attack on the measure in order to target Gov.
Schwarzenegger). Alas, this rare example of good judgment does not
redeem him from a discreditable career gone wrong. Lopez, with the
given name of Larry, is an ethnic hustler, abusing legitimate
ethnic pride for political power and economic gain.
Of course, he’s not the only ethnic demagogue in American
politics. Indeed, Lopez had no objection to being compared to the
notorious Al Sharpton: “Sharpton has done what he does, advocating
for the people.” And profiting mightily along the way.
Much of Lopez’s claim to fame arises from his 1996 election to
the school board in Santa Ana, located in Orange County, south of
Los Angeles. He styles himself a Latino leader, heading up MAPA and
Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana (HML), as well as being involved
in other groups.
Unfortunately, Lopez’s style of leadership is ethnic
demagoguery. Columnist Michael Fumento observes that he’s “a
leading member of both the Crusade-of-the-Month and
Victim-of-the-Month Clubs.”
But Lopez no run-of-the-mill demagogue. He seems to have
delusions of greatness: “The cross is getting heavy,” he once
complained.
Lopez built his own political organization. Observes Orange
County Register columnist Steven Greenhut, Lopez was one of
the figures attempting to create a separate Hispanic world, a world
in which “the bosses who run the ethnic political machines get
power, money, and the ability to live by their own rules.”
Lopez ran for office promising to fight for Hispanics —
citizens, immigrants, and illegals. He targeted the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, once demanding that the city of Anaheim
refuse to allow INS agents to screen arrestees. There are good
reasons to liberalize immigration rules, but it’s bizarre to urge a
major city to refuse to enforce the law.
Another Lopez priority was bilingual education, despite its poor
record in preparing non-English speakers for success in American
society. Some schools offered only Spanish-language instruction;
Lopez even said that he intended to drive Anglo teachers out of
local schools.
Many Hispanic parents complained, but they were told to go
elsewhere if they weren’t satisfied. Yet, notes columnist Michael
Barone, “Transfers to schools offering English-language instruction
were turned down; they were outside the zone.”
Lopez doggedly opposed Proposition 227, the English for Children
initiative, which made English-language instruction the default
position, subject to a parental request for Spanish-language
courses. Even after its overwhelming passage in 1998 he pushed
families to opt out. Most Hispanics chose English anyway.
While posing as a defender of the oppressed, some odd events
occurred. He pushed for political contributions from architects
with construction business before the school board. He offered to
help parents meet their children’s special needs if they joined his
organizations and participated in demonstrations.
More than $600,000, federal grants and federal, state, and local
tax payments, was misspent or unaccounted for by another of his
non-profit political vehicles, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional (HMN).
Lopez responded to a reporter asking about the missing funds by
asking where she got the publicly-available audit.
Four years later the State Department of Education filed suit
against the same group over the lack of documentation in the
spending $7 million in federal grants intended for citizenship and
English classes. Very little was ever recovered.
Another non-profit founded by him, Citizens in Action (CIA),
received more than $105,000 from a contracting firm that received a
no-bid school construction contract, which it bungled. CIA paid a
$639,000 fine for improperly hiding HMN assets from the federal
government.
Earlier this year the Orange County Register reported that CIA
lost $523,000 between 1998 and 2003 while renting out space to
Lopez’s groups — HMN and his school board election committee. When
CIA demanded back rent, Lopez’s allies, including his wife, seized
control of the organization’s board.
HMN also registered 364 non-citizens to vote in the 1996
congressional race in which Democrat Loretta Sanchez defeated
incumbent Republican Bob Dornan. The investigation fizzled out when
it became evident that Sanchez’s narrow margin exceeded the
HMN-induced invalid votes.
In 2003 Lopez was recalled by 70 percent of local voters, in a
campaign led by working class Latinos. He lost every precinct, even
those dominated by Hispanics in a city where three-quarters of the
residents speak Spanish. The number of children in Spanish-language
classes has since fallen dramatically, as Hispanic children prosper
while being taught in English.
Naturally, he blamed everyone but himself for his defeat.
However, the people he claimed to be representing were more
interested in educating their children than scoring ethnic points.
The election, noted Greenhut, was “about future opportunities for
immigrant children,” which Lopez’s policies were not providing.
The collapse of his political ambitions did not change him. He
compared the recent proposal for specially marked driver’s licenses
for illegal aliens to treating Hispanics like Jews in Nazi Germany.
He previously deployed similarly inflammatory rhetoric against use
of the term illegal alien.
He opposes measures to allow workers to control how their unions
spend their dues, especially on partisan politics. Stranger was his
recent opposition to a bill, introduced by Mexican-American State
Sen. Nell Soto, to make cock-fighting a felony.
Lopez argued that the “sport” was culturally ingrained in
Latinos, reinforcing the worst ethnic stereotypes. Sen. Soto
complained that his stand “is an insult to the law-abiding
Mexican-Americans and Latinos who are repulsed by such barbaric —
and illegal — activities.”
His organizations still seem to have trouble following the law.
Both the IRS and California attorney general are after HML for
failing to file proper forms and pay necessary fees.
Moreover, county, state, and federal governments have filed
numerous tax liens against his groups; several are still pending,
the most recent of which was filed in January. It isn’t just
conservatives who question the activities of Nativo & Co.;
Public Interest Watch has urged the state Attorney General to
investigate HMN for allegedly abusing its tax-exempt status.
His latest incarnation appears to be critic of lending practices
directed at Latinos, charging discrimination. Yet he’s promoting
ethnic-based lending through HML, which has formed a “strategic
alliance” with American National Mortgage.
There’s actually nothing wrong with attempting to increase home
ownership among Hispanics. Except when you seem to be violating the
very same Fair Housing Law — which bars mortgage lending as well
as property rentals and sales based on “race, color, national
origin,” and other factors — which you use to attack other
lenders, which are now effectively your competitors.
Given this history, Lopez’s support for the redistricting
initiative comes as a shock. Has he turned over a new leaf,
supporting good government for its own sake?
Unlikely. He recently joined a rally attacking all four of the
Schwarzenegger initiatives because of the governor’s veto of a bill
providing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. Lopez may share with
Gov. Schwarzenegger an interest in up-ending the political
establishment. But Lopez has yet to exchange his ethnic hustle for
honest politics.
