Sandoval learns value of his mother tongue

Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 | 11:26 a.m.

When Attorney General Brian Sandoval's family moved to Northern Nevada in 1970, there were no Sandovals in the Reno-Sparks phone book.

The entire state, population about half a million, had only an estimated 27,000 Hispanic residents.

Given those numbers, Sandoval's father thought it best not to teach him to speak Spanish, the attorney general said.

But now, with his political star rising as the only Hispanic who won in Nevada's statewide elections last fall, Sandoval, at 40, is learning his mother tongue.

He's getting a late start, Sandoval said, because "My dad wanted to protect us ... from people who would call us wetbacks or beaners. He didn't want us to deal with people who ridicule Hispanics."

When he won the attorney general's spot, this third-generation New Mexican with roots in Spain and Mexico became one of only two Hispanic Republicans nationwide elected to a state office last year.

That didn't escape the notice of the national GOP, which tapped him to chair the Bush-Cheney re-election effort for Nevada, considered a key state in the 2004 election -- making him the only Hispanic in 14 states whose re-election teams have been chosen to date, said Sharon Castillo, director of specialty media for the Bush-Cheney 2004 Washington office.

Sandoval's position -- and his twice-weekly classes in Spanish -- have national observers calling him a symbol for the future of American politics.

"It's a national trend," said Marcelo Gaete, director of programs for the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, a Los Angeles-based organization that studies Latinos in politics.

"(Sandoval) is a reflection of the growing influence of the Hispanic community in the political world," he said.

Gaete said that Sandoval is the kind of politician who will become increasingly common in the years to come.

"You see an emerging kind of Latino politician -- they're changing themselves and the American political landscape as well," he said.

The start of his political career has helped Sandoval come to terms with his personal past.

The lawyer remembered how fellow members of the board for Nevada Hispanic Services, a Reno-based nonprofit, once questioned his role in that group.

"Some would say, 'Why have Sandoval (on the board) if he doesn't speak Spanish?' But to me it didn't matter if I wanted to help the community," he said.

Sandoval tried out his Spanish for in a public venue for the first time in September, when he taped announcements for radio and television about terrorism training exercises being held in rural Nevada.

Glade Myler, who gives Sandoval his weekly classes in Reno, said he did pretty well.

"Because he heard it when he was a child, he has what we call the sound system in his head, so it's easier for him to pick up," he said.

Myler, who learned Spanish in college and used it for several decades with the Mormon church, said Sandoval is a good student and that he's trying to get him to "focus on (the Spanish) he'll hear on the streets."

Still, Sandoval said he's not ready for "speaking Spanish in public," and found it "frustrating ... to go to Hispanic events and (not be able to) have a conversation."

Castillo, of the national GOP, said the party is counting on Sandoval to "carry the president's message in and outside of Nevada ... (and) if he were to feel comfortable giving interviews bilingually within a year, it would be terrific."

Charles Kamasaki, senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a Washington-based Hispanic civil rights group, said that while Sandoval represented a profile of politician that will become more common on the national political scene, the fuss around language should not obscure a more important issue.

"We think it's great that they want to (learn the language) but at the end of the day, it's their positions on policies ... reflecting the interests and aspirations of the Latino community that matters most," he said.

Sandoval said he began to feel that more members of that community are looking up to him when he served as the grand marshal for the Hispanic Day parade on Oct. 12 in Las Vegas. Several people approached him to say he had inspired them to go to college, he said.

"As more people see me as a symbol, I feel more pressure not to let them down," he said.