Hispanics’ tangled feelings key to House race

Martin Kuz

Monday, Oct. 19, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

On paper, the race in Nevada's 1st Congressional District is yet another ho-hum battle between a Republican and a Democrat. For Eddie Escobedo and other Hispanics, it's an emotional tug-of-war between heritage and ideology.

"My heart is with Don Chairez, but I like Shelley Berkley and what she has done," Escobedo said. "It is very difficult to choose."

Escobedo's personal anguish over whether to vote for Chairez, a Republican, or his Democratic opponent mirrors a professional dilemma. As publisher of the 20,000-circulation El Mundo, the city's largest Spanish-language newspaper, Escobedo will have to pick one or the other when his publication makes its endorsements for the Nov. 3 elections.

Problem is, slightly more than two weeks from the big day, he remains in limbo -- a familiar hangout for Hispanic voters when it comes to the District 1 race. The difficulty of their decision was painfully evident earlier this month when Hispanics in Politics opted to endorse both Chairez and Berkley.

The two-headed nod by HIP, arguably Southern Nevada's most influential Hispanic political group, made clear just how blurry the choice has become.

On one hand, Chairez's Mexican heritage, combined with his record as a former District Court judge, resonates with Hispanic voters hungry for a native son to champion the Latino cause in Congress. On the other, Berkley, a well-known advocate for Hispanics with strong name identification in the community, belongs to the party they generally embrace for its views on affirmative action, education and immigration.

As such, it's impossible to gauge who the majority of Clark County's roughly 48,000 registered Hispanic voters will back. What is known: In a tight race, they could make the difference between flying to Washington, D.C., to represent Nevada and driving home to apply a cold steak to a bruised ego.

"The Hispanic vote is the swing vote," said Helena Garcia, president of the Downtown Central Development Committee. "But they're still deciding which side to go on."

In that regard, Garcia, a Berkley volunteer, chastised HIP for splitting its support. While longtime Hispanic residents of Las Vegas may grasp what separates Chairez from Berkley, recent transplants need a loud signal to follow, not HIP's muted dual endorsement, Garcia said.

"How can a Hispanic organization endorse two different candidates that stand for two different things? The Hispanic leaders and Hispanic organizations need to start standing up for the Hispanic community and not just talking about it," she said.

Tom Rodriguez echoed the criticism. A past president of HIP and the author of five books on Hispanics in Nevada, he contended that several groups -- including HIP, the Mexican Patriotic Committee and the Latin Chamber of Commerce -- suffer from political paralysis. He recalled how during his tenure as president in the late 1980s, HIP ignored heavy criticism in endorsing Republican Bob Ryan over then-Rep. Jim Bilbray, a Democrat, for the District 1 seat.

"There's a political conservatism that exists in the Hispanic community that really leads the Hispanic political organizations to attempt to make safe endorsements. And that's what this clearly is," Rodriguez said, referring to HIP's co-endorsement.

Rodriguez, a registered Democrat, declined to reveal whether he will vote for Chairez or for Berkley. He predicted that among Hispanics, diehard Republicans and Democrats will vote along party lines while newly registered voters will respond to something else -- Chairez's surname.

"How many times are you going to find a (Hispanic) candidate of his caliber vying for a seat at that level? He's going to get their support," Rodriguez said.

HIP President Fernando Romero explained that the co-endorsement reflects the strength of each candidate rather than any ambivalence on behalf of the group. Chairez received the group's highest honor -- the Broche de Oro, or Golden Broach -- two years ago for his contributions to the community, and Berkley has attended HIP meetings for years, Romero noted.

"We felt that allegiance was due both individuals. Both candidates are qualified to be representatives in the U.S. Congress," he said.

But if it seems that a Hispanic candidate in a high-profile race would have a lock on the support of Hispanics in general and a Hispanic political organization specifically, think again. Chairez campaign manager Bob Spretnak said word of the co-endorsement came as a "very pleasant surprise."

"Hispanics in Politics is no longer reflective of the Hispanic community," he said. "It's been hijacked by basically a bunch of liberal gadflys."

HIP's membership voted by at least a 2-to-1 margin to back Berkley; several days later, the group's board of directors settled on the dual endorsement.

David Chairez, Don's brother, resigned from the board of directors shortly thereafter. His departure was partially motivated by the co-endorsement decision, but he insists it had more to do with what he sees as the group's overtly partisan nature.

As evidence, David Chairez pointed out that HIP endorsed Democrats in nearly every race in Nevada this year. Don Chairez and Jack Close, a candidate in Senate District 7, are the only Republicans facing Democratic opposition who earned HIP's backing. (Four other Republicans running against third-party candidates also notched the group's support.)

David Chairez, who remains an HIP member, contends that the group's partisanship has obscured the big picture. Fed up with that purported liberal tilt, several members broke off from HIP last year to form the Republican National Hispanic Assembly.

"Hispanics in Politics used to recognize that Hispanic issues are not Democratic or Republican. Unfortunately, they've lost sight of that," David Chairez said.

But Berkley campaign manager Gary Gray, a member of HIP, noted that two-thirds of registered Hispanic voters in Nevada and across the country are Democrat. If a particular Hispanic political group shades to the left, it's because Latinos tend to blanch at the GOP platform, Gray said.

Regardless, what's more important to Escobedo is that Hispanics vote -- period. As chairman of Amigos For Democracy, a grass-roots coalition that sought to register 5,000 new Hispanic voters for this year's elections, he thinks that if Latinos flex their political muscle at the polls, they could tip more than the District 1 race.

Even if they don't make up their mind until closing the voting booth curtain.

"I can't say myself right now who I will vote for," Escobedo said. "It's going to be very hard."