Essay 4130

From The Chicago Tribune…

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Richardson plays trump card at forum

By Christi Parsons
Tribune national correspondent

ORLANDO -- Gov. Bill Richardson was on a roll -- critiquing the media’s portrayal of immigrants, urging the “xenophobes of both parties” to remember the contributions of Latinos and praising the Hispanic community’s bygone activists.

Then came the 30-second warning to wrap up his address to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, prompting the New Mexico governor to play a trump card held by none of the other presidential candidates attending Saturday’s forum.

“My God, I’m the only Latino running for president,” Richardson told the moderator. “Give me a break!”

He did catch a break, receiving a two-minute extension that he used to speak to the crowd in fluent Spanish about his dreams for the country. All told, the crowd gave him several rounds of applause and three standing ovations.

Never mind that Richardson is among the second tier of Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for president. The NALEO conference was a venue that turned the Democratic presidential field on its head, with the advantage going to the early NALEO member and American-born Richardson who spent much of his childhood in Mexico, the home country of his mother.

The audience also embraced Spanish speaker Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a former Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic hoping to break into the second tier of candidates.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio also won applause for his labored reading of a closing speech in Spanish, by which he meant to show his commitment to Spanish as “something that is promoted in our schools.”

“Es verdad,” he intoned seriously at one point, assuring the crowd of the truth of his political convictions.

With attendees of the conference especially concerned about the current state of the immigration debate in Washington, the forum’s agenda issues were also not in the usual order. Debates have focused more heavily on the Iraq war and domestic issues such as health care.

Republican candidates for president were also invited to participate in the forum, but only Rep. Duncan Hunter of California attended. The Democratic candidates all expressed dismay that Congress has failed to pass an immigration bill offering a clear path to citizenship for undocumented workers now in the country, though they didn't all agree that last week’s failed Senate measure was the right approach.

“There has to be a clear path to citizenship,” said former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, suggesting the fines proposed for undocumented workers in the bill were prohibitive.

Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the Democratic front-runner, agreed that the bill wasn’t perfect but defended its attempt at a “path to legalization for more than 12 million who are here already.”

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois decried an “ugly undertone that crept into the debate” this year. He also defended his vote last year to build a fence along the border because that provision was just one part in a “much more humane” reform bill.

But Richardson landed the hardest punch with the crowd when he suggested that the failure to pass fair immigration laws is due partly to a societal failure to recognize that “immigration has historically been a very positive element.”

“I have a message to the American media,” Richardson said. “Do you notice when they depict immigrants, they have somebody crossing a wall … as if they’re criminals? How about the American media looking at the farm worker who breaks his back? How about the American media covering the Latino immigrant that has died for this country?”