by the El Reportero news services

Felipe Calderón

The final state elections of the year on 11 November produced a win for the leftwing Partido de la Revolución Democrática in the most important of them, Michoacán.

The result is another blow for the Partido Acción Nacional which has now won only one (Baja California) of the five gubernatorial elections since President Felipe Calderón won the presidential elections in July 2006.

The PAN’s series of poor performances raises the fear that it will suffer big losses in then mid-term congressional elections in 2009: if this happens, Calderón, with his weak mandate, would become a lame duck.

In the municipal and state congress elections, which have also been held this year, the PAN has been walloped, most by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional which still governs the majority of Mexican states, but also, in some places, by the PRD.

Castro cheer Chávez for his latest outburst

HAVANA — Fidel Castro broke two weeks of silence Sunday, applauding his close friend Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for having ‘’leveled devastating criticisms at Europe’’ during a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

In a brief essay published on the front pages of state newspapers, the ailing 81- year-old Castro also praised speeches by leftist presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Eva Morales of Bolivia during the Ibero-American summit, which wrapped up Saturday in Santiago, Chile.

He blasted conservative leaders at the meeting, singling out El Salvador’s President Tony Saca, a U.S. ally.

Castro did not discuss a phone call he placed to the Venezuelan leader Saturday after the summit closed, but wrote that “Chávez leveled devastating criticisms at Europe, the same Europe that pretended to offer lessons on good governance at this Latin American summit.’’

Nor did he mention that the gathering ended with a heated exchange between Chávez and King Juan Carlos of Spain, who told the Venezuelan president to “shut up.ʼʼ

Nebraska ag industry scores deal with Cuba

Gov. Dave Heineman returned to Nebraska on Tuesday after a successful trade mission to Cuba that resulted in $10 million in agricultural sales.

While in Cuba, Heineman attended the opening of the 25th annual Havana International Trade Fair.

The deal signed on Monday was for $10 million in U.S. wheat that will be sourced from Nebraska. The agreement was signed between Louis Dreyfus and Alimport Chairman­and Chief Executive Officer Pedro Alvarez.

With this latest contract, Heineman said, Nebraska has sold more than $70 million in agricultural products to Cuba since the state’s export relationship was established in 2005.

Heineman said he appreciated the positive reception Nebraska agricultural products have received there.

by Alex Meneses Miyashita

Elected officials of color, regardless of their race or ethnicity, tend to share similar views on a number of national policy 8issues, including immigration, the war in Iraq, the Voting Rights Act and No Child Left Behind.

The majority of them are supportive of the Voting Rights Act and policies 6that benefit immigrants. On the other hand, the large majority is against the Iraq war and in favor of returning the troops as soon as possible. Support for NCLB stands at about a third.

The conclusions were drawn from a survey of 1,354 responses from elected officials of color conducted by the Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project and released Nov. 8 in Washington, D.C.

The survey compares the views of male and female Latino, black, Asian and Native American officials, primarily at the state and local level, on policy issues, making it a first of-its-kind study, according to its investigators.

It also offers a demographic view of the composition of these office holders nationwide.

“Our intention was to look at the emerging leadership of color in public office as elected officials,” Christine Sierra, political science professor at the University of New Mexico, told Weekly Report.

She emphasized the growing role of women in politics. “Women of color often get left out of the story. They are a very important force of this new emerging leadership.

Sierra pointed out that while there are more Latinos holding public office than Latinas, the latter group is growing at a faster rate.

Findings included:

IMMIGRATION: Most elected officials of color favored offering government services to residents in languages other English, 78 percent, and providing public school instruction in other languages for limited-English proficient students, 68 percent.

Less than half supported providing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, 41 percent, and allowing legal non-citizen immigrants with children in public school to vote in school board elections, 47 percent.

IRAQ WAR: Black officials were most likely to oppose the war In Iraq, 90 percent, followed by Asians 75 percent, Native Americans, 70 percent and Hispanics 69 percent.

Slightly more than a third, including 35 percent of blacks, Asians and Native Americans, and 34 percent of Hispanics, oppose it “strongly.”

Blacks are also most likely to favor a rapid withdrawal of the troops, 93 percent, followed by Native Americans 87 percent, Hispanics 80 percent, and Asians 76 percent.

­VOTING RIGHTS ACT: Latinos and Native Americans were slightly more likely to favor bilingual ballots, 83, than blacks and Asians, 78. On the overall importance of the VRA’s reauthorization, 96 of Native Americans, 95 percent of blacks, 63 of 7Latinos and 74 percent of Asians supported it.

NCLB: Support for No Child Lefi Behind was below 50 percent. Asians expressed the most support at 37, followed by Latinos and blacks 34, and Native Americans 29.

Differences were more evident along gender lines. Latinas were more likely to oppose it than Latinos, 61 vs 49. Black women 56, black men 47. Asian women 67, Asian men 57. Native American women 40, Native American males 71.

POLITICALAFFILIATION: More than threequanters of the officials, 76, identified themselves as Democrats, 10 as Independents and 6 Republicans.

However, most of them, 34 also Identified themselves as being “middle of the road,’’ 32 as liberal and 29 as conservative.

The survey included the responses of 722 black, 509 Hispanic, 96 Asian and 27 Native American elected officials.

Sierra, who collaborated on the multi-year project with three other political science professors, all women, white, black and Asian, said they will continue to release more findings from the extensive data they have collected.

For more information, visit ­www.gmic.org.

­Hispanic Link.

­

by Ali Tabatabai

­Gavin Newsom

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said everything short of declaring victory during his re-election celebration speech Tuesday night, including thanking his opponents for entering the race despite his overwhelming approval ratings.

In front of a crowded room full of campaign volunteers and supporters at the Ferry Building in of San Francisco, Newsom acknowledged the mayoral race as “anticlimactic” and offered his next term as moment of reconciliation with his critics. According to campaign spokesman, Nathan Ballard, Newsom had received 77 percent of the 40,000 some votes as of 8:45pm.

“I’d like to thank my opponents for having the courage to actually put their names on the ballot and not sit on the sidelines and take shots,” Newsom said, “To those who may be disappointed tonight, I’m committed to working with you in the next four years.”

Mary Watts, 19, a college student who interned with the campaign through a program called Act Locally said they mayor should focus on fixing Muni problems and homelessness during during his next term.

“I’d like to see him tackle the homelessness situation and make sure they have the right resources are available for them,” Watts said.

After his speech, Newsom said that he plans to concentrate on crime, particularly homicide rates, as well as the environment and quality of life issues.

­“You just wait and see on the environment,” said Newsom, “I’ve been working for six months on some new environmental ideas that will reignite San Francisco.”

District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty made an appearance in the crowd to show his support for Newsom’s expected victory and acknowledged the mayor’s ability to overcome publicly chronicled personal issues.

“The mayor has been through a lot of rockiness over the past year, but no matter what San Franciscans have looked beyond the headlines,” Dufty said.”

Official election results counts are not expected until two more weeks.

by Juliet Blalack

ICE, OUT OF EMERYVILLE! Members of group Unite Here Union, protest outside the ICE Special Agent offices in Oakland.(photo by Jennifer Delgado)­

Protestors demanded immigration officials leave Emeryville last Thursday, in the latest development of local hotel workers’ battle with the management of Woodfin Suites Hotel.

The crowd marched carrying signs such ­as “Tear down the wall of death, stop the raids” and “stop the raids no more deportation.”

They gathered outside the office of the local ICE ((Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement) at Broadway and 15th streets in Oakland at 12:15 p.m., according to Jon Rodney, the communications official for East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE).

“By pursuing workers affected by Measure C, ICE is helping employers scare their workers into silence and avoid following labor laws. That undermines labor standards for all workers, no matter where they’re from,” said Wei-Ling Huber, President of UNITE HERE Local 2850.

Emeryville voters passed Proposition C, which guaranteed living wage for hotel workers, in 2005.Woodfin Suites Hotel management tried to overturn Prop. C and did not pay its workers in accordance with the measure, according to EBASE’s website.

After employees began drawing attention to the wage violations, the management fired 12 housekeepers.

In February, the managers contacted U.S. Representative Brian Bilbray, who then asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate the immigration status of the hotel workers. Woodfin CEO Samuel Hardage donates to Bilbray’s campaign and lives in his district, according to the East Bay Daily News.

ICE officials took documents from both Woodfin and the Hilton Garden Inn, and then told managers they needed to fire 12 employees.

During this time, they arrested a dishwasher who was employed by the hotel for 18 years, according to EBASE.

“I am deeply concerned by the allegations that another member of Congress – acting on behalf of a campaign contributor – may have gotten a federal agency to intervene in that dispute in a way that hurts workers in my district,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, in a statement made available to the East Bay Daily News as stating.­