Latinos Gain Ground

Just over three decades after moving to Ventura County from his native Mexico, Evaristo Barajas was sworn in last week to the Fillmore City Council--the first Latino member since 1984.

“After the election, I saw my godfather and he was almost in tears,” said Barajas, 41, an accountant and real estate broker. “He’s not a very emotional person, but he said, ‘You made us all very proud.’ ”

A few miles away in the agricultural Santa Clara Valley, Eric Barragan, a 21-year-old born soon after his parents emigrated from Mexico, will be seated next week as a Santa Paula Union High School trustee, becoming the county’s youngest elected public official.

“I think I provide a role model in the Latino community,” said Barragan, who is an editor of Santa Paula’s bilingual newspaper, secretary of a new Latino activist group, a Boys & Girls Club counselor and a full-time Cal Lutheran University student. “But just because I’m a Latino doesn’t mean I’m going to do a better or worse job than anybody else.”

Art Hernandez, a second-generation Latino American, will join the Oxnard Union High School Board of Trustees next week. But the bilingual teacher and small business owner says the most significant aspect of his victory is not that a Latino was elected, but that the Oxnard district board will finally include a parent whose children are still school-age.

“The Latino vote is important, because it can push you over the top, but we are candidates who are appealing across the board,” said Hernandez, 39, whose wife, Julie, is the assistant city administrator in Santa Paula. “I am a Latino, but I’m not a one-issue candidate.”

Whatever the motivation--and local Latino candidates often stress their cross-cultural appeal--the Nov. 5 election represented another step forward for Ventura County Latinos, who since 1990 have pushed hard for greater representation on local city councils and school boards.

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The recent election brought a new Latino council seat in Fillmore, four new Latino school board members in El Rio, Santa Paula and Oxnard, and another Latino to the community college board. In Oxnard, a Latino challenger won a City Council seat over a Latino incumbent.

With those gains, the number of Latinos on local city councils and school boards has nearly doubled since 1990, from 16 to 28.

However, Latinos’ political progress has been mostly through election to school boards, and activists say they still have far to go in citywide races for municipal councils. Though 24 of 99 school board members are Latino countywide, Latinos hold only four of 57 seats on city councils and the county Board of Supervisors.

Latinos made up 26.5% of the county’s population in 1990, and were a majority of residents in Fillmore, Santa Paula and Oxnard.

“We’ve come a fair way, and it seems like steady progress.” said Carmen Ramirez, a poverty lawyer in Oxnard who helped mount voter drives in 1990. “But we need to see some progress with people in higher offices. I am not a person who says, ‘What is your pedigree, what is your last name?’ But if you want people to respect their institutions, they have to reflect the people.”

The progress of the last six years has come in fits and starts--with encouraging surges in Latino registration, but with some of the newly registered voters not following through on election day.

This posture of two steps forward and one step back was reflected Nov. 5, when along with Latinos’ gain of seven new city council and school board seats, three incumbent Latino councilmen lost: Andres Herrera was edged in Oxnard by two other candidates, including Latino newcomer businessman John Zaragoza; Al Urias, a fixture on the Santa Paula council for two decades, lost to a newcomer; and Moorpark Councilman Bernardo Perez made a strong showing in his run for mayor, but came in second.

“It was a pretty good night, but a mixed bag,” said Jesse Ornelas, a political activist in the Santa Clara Valley.

Particularly disappointing, Ornelas said, were the results in targeted high-Latino districts in Santa Paula. “We were about 700 votes shy of our goals, which were realistic,” he said. That is significant, considering that Urias lost his council seat by 509 votes.

Turnout dwindled because of the early victory of President Clinton and long lines at the only polling place in predominantly Latino east Santa Paula, Ornelas said.

“These people work during the day. They get home around 5, and they’d see the lines 30 deep and they’d just go home,” he said. “And there was a lot of discussion about Clinton winning so big, and they’d say, ‘Why am I needed?’ We’ve got to educate them better on the importance of the local elections.”

In two east Santa Paula districts where Spanish-surnamed voters make up about 70% of 2,100 registered voters, the turnout was only about 39% compared to 66.4% among all county voters, records show. That was especially dismal because the two precincts’ 819 votes compared to 894 cast in 1992--despite a sharp increase in voter registration.

In fact, the turnout in high-Latino districts across the county shows that despite record registration, voters cast fewer ballots than expected.

In Moorpark, for example, the city’s most heavily Latino precinct saw voter registration climb by about 100 in four years, but actual turnout dropped from 827 to 594.

The result was the same in the Avenue area of Ventura, where turnout fell by up to 19 percentage points in high-Latino districts, meaning that hundreds fewer Latino voters cast ballots last month than did in 1992.

A similar scenario played out in Oxnard, Port Hueneme and El Rio, even though the La Colonia area of Oxnard was a bright spot for both registration and turnout. And in Fillmore, where Barajas ran strongly, voter turnout in high-Latino precincts held firm, though voter registration had soared.

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Nationwide, overall voter turnout was low because of the Clinton rout. And in Ventura County, turnout approached record lows, dropping more than 10 percentage points from 76.9% in 1992.

However, despite mixed results in Ventura County, Latino voters were a rare bright spot in the state and nation, according to exit polls and analysts.

For example, Latino participation in California rose from 7% of all voters in 1992 to 10% this time, according to Times exit polls. And the Southwest Voter Research Institute reported that the state’s pool of Latino registered voters has grown by 618,000 since 1992.

With those numbers in mind, Vince Ruiz, coordinator of the Latino voter drive locally, said he sees the recent election as a disappointing blip in a steady climb toward parity.

“We should have been one of those places where the numbers were higher, because of all the Latinos running for lower offices,” said Ruiz, president of the three-county Labor Council for Latino-American Advancement, AFL-CIO. “Yet, it didn’t happen. My gut feeling is that there was less information put out to the Latino voters [than in 1992].”

In fact, Latino registration and election-day efforts here were much smaller than in 1992, when numerous organizations spent time and money wooing Latino voters for both the Democratic and Republican parties. Then, perhaps 350 volunteers from the Democratic Party, labor and women’s groups and community organizations scoured Ventura County. This time about one-third that number worked the neighborhoods, Ruiz said.

“We spent only half as much this time,” Ruiz said of his labor group--about $6,000 instead of $12,000. And the 30 to 40 volunteers that Ruiz could muster to cover 13 high-Latino districts in Oxnard and Santa Paula this year paled compared with the 100 or so volunteers he marshaled last time to cover 36 precincts.

“Most of the Democrats knew it was in the bag, so they felt there was no need to be out there,” Ruiz said.

El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, an Oxnard community service agency, mounted the most substantial Latino registration effort, registering 3,000 new voters this year as they became citizens.

But Francisco Dominguez, executive director of El Concilio and the winner of an Oxnard elementary school board seat, said the key to local Latinos’ success this year was that good, experienced Latino candidates were on the ballot.

Some held elective office previously and moved up, including police Cmdr. Robert Gonzales, a former Santa Paula high school board member who easily lapped the four-candidate field in winning his race for community college trustee.

“I think there is an increased maturity level in the Latino community, which recognizes now that we can be candidates and we can win,” Dominguez said. “We have a larger pool of candidates, a higher caliber of candidates, and we have more experience from being involved in past campaigns.”

Dominguez, 35, a local product who lives across the street from his parents in north Oxnard, failed in his first run for the school board in 1994. But he won a seat this time by placing second to Susan Alvarez.

Alvarez, a 44-year-old physical therapist, said the race-based disagreements that separated Oxnard elementary trustees several years ago were not an issue this time. Members who had opposed printing agendas in Spanish have retired. The agendas are now bilingual. Interpreters are available at meetings. And four of five trustees are Latino.

“Now we’re reflecting what the composition of the students are,” Alvarez said of the district, where 77% of the 14,000 students are Latino.

Alvarez, who took 37% of the vote, nearly double the total of any of the other four candidates, including three whites, illustrates the crossover appeal shown by Latinos in several local races. Despite their large numbers, Latinos are not the majority of voters in any local city.

Also illustrating the crossover appeal is Hernandez, a former El Rio school district trustee who ran strongly in every part of the Oxnard high school district, including predominantly white Camarillo. He pulled about 28,000 votes, more than any other candidate in any local race, and easily defeated two non-Latino incumbents.

“In Camarillo, I won 60% of the precincts. Being the only Latino running was to my benefit,” said Hernandez, whose mother once worked in packinghouses and whose father started in the fields. “But you have to have a message you can carry across the [ethnic] lines. People have to believe that we’re taking part in the process, not that we’re taking control.

“Am I sensitive to [Latino] types of issues? Yes,” he added. “But I’m not going to support a candidate for Latinos’ sake, I’m going to support a candidate who can do a good job.”

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Indeed, Latino firebrands have rarely won election in California. And local Latino politicians are careful to say they represent all of the people, not just the Latino community.

The youthful Barragan, who wants to be a teacher, said he ran for the Santa Paula High School board not to increase Latino representation, but to gain insight into his future profession. “And being young, I thought I could bring some new energy and new ideas to the board, which is usually ruled by older people.”

An “at risk” youth at 13 and a D student as a high school freshman, Barragan said he turned his life around after attending a summer camp for troubled kids. By his senior year he was an A student, and three years later he was student body president at Ventura College.

Last month, he defeated longtime elementary school district trustee Eugene Marzec to join Robert Salas and Al Sandoval on the high school board.

“I think Latinos are starting to understand more and more that it’s important to get involved,” he said. “I think people need to have things go in their favor once in awhile, instead of never having a say in what’s going on.”

Passage of Proposition 187 two years ago and having Proposition 209 on the ballot last month not only served as a direct assault on illegal immigration and affirmative action, Barragan said, but the two initiatives also forced Latinos to the polls.

“Big time,” he said. “I really think it did bring out the people.”

Two of those voters are Barragan’s mom and dad. Both became citizens two months before the election and then voted for their son.

In that way, they are similar to the family of new Councilman Barajas in Fillmore.

Barajas figures that 150 to 200 family members--including his parents and four brothers and sisters--all voted for him last month. One sister became a citizen only three weeks before the election so she could support her brother.

“That’s a nice thing about Latinos,” said the new councilman. “We have large families, and there’s a lot of strength in that.”

Beyond his family, Barajas said he was buttressed by hundreds of Latinos who just recently registered to vote, partly because of ballot initiatives they see as anti-Latino. Barajas himself said he became a citizen in 1989 at age 34.

“I thought I was going to be deprived of certain opportunities,” he said.

And Barajas is not one to underestimate the importance of his heritage or his election. He notes that Fillmore City Council business is done solely in English even though most town residents are Latinos.

“That’s what I call intimidation for someone who doesn’t speak English very well,” he said. “You see very few Hispanics in the audience.”

Barajas, who came to this country as a Spanish-speaking 7-year-old, only to graduate from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in economics, said he takes great pride in that background and what he can bring to the public debate because of it.

“When I came to the United States, I came across the border,” he said. “But I didn’t leave my culture behind.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

City: Santa Paula

Total population: 26,700

Percent Latino: 59.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 1 of 5, Laura Flores Espinosa

Change from 1990: None

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City: Fillmore

Total population: 12,800

Percent Latino: 59.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 1 of 5, Evaristo Barajas

Change from 1990: +1

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City: Oxnard

Total population: 153,300

Percent Latino: 54.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 2 of 5, Manuel Lopez, John Zaragosa

Change from 1990: +1

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City: Port Hueneme

Total population: 22,250

Percent Latino: 30.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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City: Moorpark

Total population: 27,750

Percent Latino: 22.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: -1

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City: Ventura

Total population: 100,300

Percent Latino: 18.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 7

Change from 1990: None

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City: Simi Valley

Total population: 103,200

Percent Latino: 13.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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City: Camarillo

Total population: 58,200

Percent Latino: 12.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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City: Ojai

Total population: 8,075

Percent Latino: 12.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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City: Thousand Oaks

Total population: 112,000

Percent Latino: 10.0%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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City: Ventura County

Total population: 716,100

Percent Latino: 26.5%

Latinos on the City Council: 0 of 5 supervisors

Change from 1990: None

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City: Overall

Total population: 4 of 57

Percent Latino: +1

Source: State Department of Finance, U.S. Census Bureau

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Latino School Board MembersLatino enrollment and Latino board members in Ventura County’s school districts and the Community College District.

School district: Santa Paula Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 82.1%

Latinos on the school board: 2 of 5, Dan Robles, Ben Saiz

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Rio Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 78.6%

Latinos on the school board: 4 of 5 ,Ernest Almanza, Simon Ayala, George Perez, Anthony Ramos

Change from 1990: +2

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School district: Santa Paula Union High

Percent Latino enrollment: 77.9%

Latinos on the school board: 3 of 5, Eric Barragan, Robert Salas, Al Sandoval

Change from 1990: +1

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School district: Oxnard Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 76.9%

Latinos on the school board: 4 of 5, Susan Alvarez, Mary Barreto, Francisco Dominguez, Arthur Joe Torres

Change from 1990: +4

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School district: Briggs Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 76.3%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: -1

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School district: Fillmore Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 75.2%

Latinos on the school board: 2 of 5, Virginia De La Piedra, Tony Prado

Change from 1990: +2

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School district: Hueneme Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 62.3%

Latinos on the school board: 1 of 5, Ralph Ramos

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Ocean View Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 59.5%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Oxnard Union High

Percent Latino enrollment: 55.5%

Latinos on the school board: 2 of 5, Art Hernandez, Robert Vales

Change from 1990: +2

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School district: Somis Union Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 48.3%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: -1

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School district: Mesa Union Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 41.9%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 3

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Mupu Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 39.2%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 3

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Ventura Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 31.3%

Latinos on the school board: 1 of 5, Clifford Rodriguez

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Moorpark Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 29.1%

Latinos on the school board: 2 of 5, Gary Cabriales, Pamela Castro

Change from 1990: +1

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School district: Santa Clara Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 26.5%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 3

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Pleasant Valley Elementary

Percent Latino enrollment: 18.2%

Latinos on the school board: 1 of 5, Ricardo Amador

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Ojai Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 17.8%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Simi Valley Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 16.5%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Conejo Valley Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 13.4%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Oak Park Unified

Percent Latino enrollment: 2.1%

Latinos on the school board: 0 of 5

Change from 1990: None

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School district: Community colleges

Percent Latino enrollment: 26.2%

Latinos on the school board: 2 of 5, Robert Gonzales, Pete Tafoya

Change from 1990: +1

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School district: Countywide

Percent Latino enrollment: 39.2%

Latinos on the school board: 24 of 99

Change from 1990: +11

Source: State Department of Education, local school districts