| Ruben Navarrette: Texas could get a Hispanic governor 04/13/2001 By / The Dallas Morning News As goes Los Angeles, so goes Texas?
When Antonio Villaraigosa won the most votes in a crowded field of Los Angeles mayoral candidates and secured a spot in a June runoff election, he came one step closer to making history. Mr. Villaraigosa could become the city's first Latino mayor in modern times.
Anticipating the 2002 governor's race in the Lone Star State, Mexican-Americans in Texas are thinking they could make a little history themselves if a South Texas businessman, Tony Sanchez Jr., runs as expected.
Texas Democrats know they now have to make a better effort with Hispanic voters by dishing out some respect and not taking their support for granted. The fact that George W. Bush could sprinkle some Spanish in his speeches and walk off with half of the Hispanic vote in his 1998 gubernatorial re-election proved that the Democratic grip on those voters had softened since the days of los Kennedy.
Three years ago, Anglo Democratic candidates – who were almost offended at finally having to compete for a bloc of votes that their party usually had pocketed with little effort – didn't inspire Hispanics to turn out and vote.
The next time around, Hispanic Democrats say, the obvious solution to winning the Governor's Mansion is to offer up a prominent, credible and electable Hispanic candidate.
And they already may have one in Tony Sanchez. The 58-year-old married father of four is a political outsider in a Jesse Ventura era when many voters have tired of insiders. He is a Democrat who contributes to the campaigns of Republicans. And as a successful businessman, he could draw support from the Texas business community.
Then there is the money. The Sanchez Oil and Gas Corp., which Mr. Sanchez started with his father in 1973, has done well over the years. That, along with investments in the banking industry, would allow the tycoon to self-finance a campaign with the $30 million or $40 million necessary to give Republican Gov. Rick Perry a run for his money.
But green wouldn't be the most important color in a Perry-Sanchez match-up. Now that Hispanics make up 32 percent of the Texas population, the prospect of electing a Hispanic governor is breathing new life into a deeply rooted community of Texans convinced that their time has come.
Mr. Sanchez understands that the fuss is less about the man than about the moment. He is giving speeches across the state about what is likely to be his signature issue: reviving Texas' ailing public schools. Afterward, he routinely is approached by Hispanics in the audience, like the elderly woman and lifelong Texan who recently came up to him and said she wanted to see a Hispanic governor of Texas antes de que me muera (before I die). Heavy.
That sort of thing might not trouble a Republican with ethnic appeal who could fall back on a strong record of being sensitive to Hispanic concerns. But Mr. Perry's accomplishments, or even his publicly expressed sentiments, with regard to Hispanic issues could fit into a very small sombrero.
Having apparently not given a great deal of thought to Hispanics during his lengthy public career in a state filled with them, Mr. Perry now is in over his head.
For instance, when the governor recently was asked by a member of The Dallas Morning News editorial board how his stated intent to continue improving public education would be affected by the fact that 51 percent of Texas schoolchildren are Hispanic, he looked like a high school kid staring at a pop quiz for which he hadn't studied.
How should public schools stem the tide of Hispanic dropouts? How should we measure the test performance of recent immigrants? How can we reform bilingual education so that students learn English more quickly?
This could be a stab in the dark, but those might be good things for the governor of Tejas to know right about now.
Tony Sanchez will have to answer those questions and more. If he wants to unseat the sitting governor, he will have to provide specifics with regard to education and other issues – especially since Mr. Perry, already gearing up for the challenge, is feverishly trying to give himself an ethnic makeover.
Why, he even is taking Spanish lessons.
Ruben Navarrette Jr. is an editorial writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News. His e-mail address is .
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