by Alex Meneses Miyashita
Alberto González
The resignation announcement of Attorney General Alberto González produced quick praise from civil rights advocates and some Latino commentators, but not so from some of the nation’s largest Hispanic5organizations.
González, 52, announced his resignation Aug. 27, after enduring a torrent of criticism and calls to step down from Democrats as well as many Republicans in the past months. He will remain in his post until Sept. 17, when Solicitor General Paul Clement will take over as the acting attorney general.
Staff members of the League of United Latin American Citizens told Weekly Report that its 40-plus board members came to the decision not to comment on his resignation while no official confirmation came from the National Council of La Raza, calls were not returned and the organization did not issue a statement reacting to the announcement.
Both groups backed President Bush’s 2004 nomination of González to the post.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund also sent out no statement on the resignation, but its president, John Trasviña, responded to Weekly Report’s inquiry Aug. 30, stating, “We need an attorney general who will restore order to the Department (of Justice).”
Other organizations, whose positions on the rights of immigrants and low-income Hispanics often align with those of the aforementioned groups, were swift to react.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, stated González is in line to become “one of the worst attorneys general in U.S. history.”
Mark Agrast, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, wrote, “(González’) cavalier disregard for the rule of law and his tenuous grasp of the responsibilities of his office were an embarrassment to the Department of Justice and an insult to the American people.”
In an article published last March, New America Media writer Roberto Lovato pointed out the silence of several national Latino groups in the midst of a spring scandal surrounding the 2006 firing of nine U.S. attorneys.
“The mainstream national Latino organizations were basically playing old school ethnic politics. You’re Latino, you’re Latina, so we need to back you up no matter what you do,” Lovato told Weekly Report.
He said some of Gonzáles’ controversial actions must have been enough for these groups to rescind their support of him—such as his role in “facilitating:” the Abu Ghraib abuse, in “shaping” the Patriot Act, or presiding over a Justice Department which according to Lovato has jailed more Latinos than at any other point in history.
The Republican National Hispanic Assembly shared a different view of González. “He’s a great American success story,” RNHA president Danny Vargas told Weekly Report, noting his rise from a humble immigrant background to a “long record of public service.” Roy Garivey, president of the National Latino Peace Officers Association, told Weekly Report, “He’ll be remembered for the political circus arena that ended his career. But overall, he’ll be remembered for breaking down barriers, for being the very first Hispanic attorney general…He’ll bounce back.”
Others gave a different assessment.
“I think he’ll be remembered as a very weak figure in the history of the United States,” Jorge Mariscal, a professor of Spanish and Chicano literature at the University of California, San Diego, told Weekly Report.
“I think the majority of Latinos as we go 20 to 30 to 50 years from now are going to have to say, ‘Well, he was the first one, but he did a really bad job.”
Hispanic Link.
