[Peace-discuss] consent decree thoughts

[Ricky Baldwin]

And in the national news today ...

AG: Voter warning linked to GOP campaign 

AP 10-19-06

State investigators have linked a Republican campaign
to letters sent to thousands of Orange County
Hispanics warning them they could go to jail or be
deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the
attorney general said.

"We have identified where we believe the mailing list
was obtained," said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for
Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

He declined to identify the specific Republican
campaign Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation.
The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register
both reported Thursday that the investigation appeared
to be focused on the campaign of Tan D. Nguyen, a
Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta
Sanchez (news, bio, voting record).

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You
are advised that if your residence in this country is
illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal
election is a crime that could result in jail time."
In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens
can vote.

Complaints about the letters this week prompted state
and federal investigations, and Barankin said
investigators had been questioning people in Orange
County.

The two newspapers reported state investigators had
found the location where the letters were printed and
mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in
central Orange County. The Los Angeles Times, citing
an unnamed source, said authorities had interviewed
Nguyen at his office.

Nguyen did not return messages left by The Associated
Press or either newspaper.

Sanchez said in an interview Thursday on Univision
that the sender should be punished for stating that
immigrants can't vote. It would be unfortunate if the
person responsible was another immigrant, she said.
"What a shame, really, that this is still happening in
the United States today," Sanchez said.

The owner of Huntington Beach-based Mailing Pros,
Christopher West, told The Orange County Register that
he was hired to do the mailings but didn't know what
they said and didn't know any laws were being broken
when the mailer was sent. He said he gave
investigators the name of the person who hired him.

"I'm the one that processed it, and I don't read
Spanish," West said. "Until the investigator read it
to me, I didn't know the content."

Scott Baugh, chairman of the Orange County Republican
Party, condemned the letter as "an obnoxious,
grotesque piece of work."

"Regardless of who did it — Republican or Democrat —
if it's a crime, then whoever did it should be
prosecuted," Baugh said.

A group of six Vietnamese-American political
candidates running for offices in Orange County issued
a joint statement saying: "The content of this mailer
is offensive to the immigrant voters, regardless of
their ethnicity."

The note's letterhead resembles that of an
anti-illegal immigration group, California Coalition
for Immigration Reform, but group leader Barbara Coe
said she told investigators for the attorney general's
office Wednesday that her group didn't authorize the
letter and she didn't know who sent it.

"The letterhead was altered and I've never head of any
Sergio Ramirez," the name signed to the letter, Coe
said.

Numerous political leaders including Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger have denounced the letter and called
for the investigations.



--- Durango Mendoza <durangom at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Are you aware of the "Tequila and Taco" party put on
> by two U of I Greek 
> houses? It took place on Oct. 5 but only came out
> two days ago to the public 
> and was in the DI. DM
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu>
> To: Karen Medina <kmedina at uiuc.edu>
> CC: Peace at lists.chambana.net,
> peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> Subject: [Peace] consent decree thoughts
> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:20:25 -0500
> 
> I am angry about the Unit 4 school situation. The
> issue was solved in the 
> consent decree: there was to be a school built in
> the poor neighborhoods of 
> Champaign. Full stop. The school board proposal
> misinterpreted the decree, 
> and points to reasons that it needs to do so.
> 
> I am frustrated with the system.
> 
> But I am not angry with any one person.
> 
> -karen medina
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Peace mailing list
> Peace at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>
http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 


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