With all the recent talk of a nascent Latino and immigrant political movement, we thought we'd ask advocate, lawyer and former state representative Domingo Garcia why his name isn't on the list of mayoral hopefuls gearing up for the election.
"I already did that," he tells Unfair Park, referring to his two failed mayoral bids against Ron Kirk and Laura Miller. OK, but why, with all of the political organizing among Latinos during the past year, are there not more Hispanic candidates? Of the 21 candidates who've filed with the City Secretary's Office, only one is Hispanic: Thirty-nine-year-old attorney Roger Herrera, whose Web site plays the horrible Annie Lennox song "I Saved The World Today" and contains photos of a city worker sleeping in his Public Works & Transportation car.
Garcia says there's still a ways to go before a Latino will be electable: "The numbers aren't there yet. We're at about 20 percent of the city vote now, we need to be at 30. Latinos were only elected in the last 10 years. We're developing an emerging political maturity. We're like 14-year-olds politically. We'll be turning 18 in four years."
So, then, what about his wife, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia? Should we be waiting with bated breath for her to announce for mayor, whether this year or next time around? The answer: Probably not.
"She's the only [Latino] who could win -- her or [State Representative] Rafael Anchia," her husband says. "But she doesn't want to."
Oh, well. Guess all those newly registered Hispanic voters rearin' to head to the polls to elect one of their own are stuck with Herrera, who -- as our very own Buzz recently reminded readers in the paper version of Unfair Park -- was convicted of shooting a gun in the air outside his Oak Cliff home on September 16, 2002. Why, you ask? Well, as Buzz found out, it was Mexican Independence Day, it was hot, the Cowboys had played the day before and Herrera had fallen off the wagon (he told the Dallas Voice that he "suffers from alcoholism").
So, c'mon, Domingo and Elba -- ya sure you're not interested? --Megan Feldman
