LOS(T) ANGELES: "Crack Pipe Politics" may defeat Chicano candidate for mayor

Sleazy campaign for mayor brings out LA's dirt from under the carpet

Los Angeles - May 31, 2001 - (ACN) With just five days left to campaign, the Chicano candidate for mayor , Antonio Villargairosa, is increasingly getting his face smeared with "dirty mud" hurtled at him by his opponent James Hahn. The largest wad of mud to hit Villargairosa recently, is the uncovering of his connection to a notorious crack cocaine dealer he helped spring free from jail through his intervention with ex-president Bill Clinton. The "Pardons for Sale" scandal has already tainted the reputations of other prominent Los Angeles Chicano politicians and it might just cost Villargairosa the election for mayor of the city with the second largest Mexican population in the world.

Cocaine has been a major problem in Los Angeles for decades. It has, for example, totally corrupted the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD is presently going through the worst scandal of its history that started when a dirty cop stole three kilos of cocaine from the police evidence room. The dirty cop , Rafael Perez, was arrested and in order to get less time in jail, started "fingering" numerous other cops who were involved in heinous criminal activities including drug related offenses. The drug problem also recently claimed the life of the granddaughter of Police Chief Bernard Parks. She was shot while in the company of a crack cocaine dealer. The official explanation was that the bullet was intended for her companion but that it accidentally hit her.

The drug trade in Los Angeles is a multi-billion per year operation and has, like in Mexico, corrupted law enforcement and politicians. For example, the ex-councilman, Mike Hernandez, who represented the LAPD Rampart Division, where dirty cop Perez was assigned, was also arrested and convicted for buying cocaine from two of his constituents. The Los Angeles Times reported that he would go to the Pico-Union area which is located just west of City Hall to buy cocaine during lunch. It was reported that authorities found pornography in his City Hall office during the investigation and search for evidence. Hernandez had the support of many of the other councilmen that represent areas where cocaine sales are a big problem including the support of another ex-councilman by the name of Richard Alatorre. Richard Alatorre was also a heavy user and abuser of cocaine. Court testimony by his staff relate accounts of his cocaine use while on duty. It was testified that he often came back from the office restroom with a white residue around his nose and that the same white residue was often seen on the top of his office desk. He is presently under house arrest after he pleaded guilty on a variety of federal charges.

Unfortunately for La Raza, what James Hahn is throwing at Villargairosa is based on facts. We here in Los Angeles are constantly being embarrassed with what these "dirty politicos" are doing to us. Last week, even Congressman Xavier Becerra , who many considered a good role model for our youths, fell down hard from grace. Not only did he also receive large amounts of cash from Horacio Vignali, the father of crack cocaine dealer Carlos Viganli, but he was also caught lying on a dirty campaign trick he pulled during the first round of the elections for mayor in which he fared very poorly. We do not know where all these "payasos" are coming from but we do have a theory.

Without exception, all of these "politicos" are members of the corrupt Democratic Party. The "Pardons for Sale" scandal was not just a local incident but reached to the highest office of the nation which is the Presidency of the United States. Carlos Vignali, the crack cocaine dealer who ex-president Bill Clinton released from prison, was a local boy with a very rich father that gave a lot of his money to local Democratic Party politicians. Horacio Vignali made much of his money in the used auto parts business. He owns large scale chop-shops where cars are brought in and dismantled. The used auto parts salvaged are then sold in the lucrative secondary auto parts industry. The young Carlos Vignali was a "rapper want-to-be" that had connections to local Black gang oriented youths involved in auto theft and crack cocaine dealing. He along with about thirty Black youths were caught and convicted in a scheme to distribute about 800 pounds of crack cocaine. When Carlos Vignali was sent to prison, Horacio Vignali, the father, started an expensive campaign to release him. He began by buying the influence of local Chicano politicians including that of mayoralty candidate Antonio Villargairosa, Congressman Xavier Becerra, and of State Senator Richard Polanco. Horacio Vignali's campaign was just not locally focused. He contacted the brother-in-law of Bill Clinton as well. Hugh Rodham who is the brother of New York Senator Hillary Clinton, received $200,000 so that he could convince Bill Clinton to release the crack cocaine dealer from prison. On Clinton's last day in office, the president signed the release order and Carlos Vignali was released the very next day. He had been convinced to do so not only by his brother-in-law but also by Antonio Villargairosa and the other Democratic Party politicos who had received money from Horacio Vignali.

This scandal has angered two large blocks of voters in Los Angeles. The first is the L.A. Black community. The Black community is asking why the thirty Black youths that were imprisoned along with Carlos Vignali were not released as well. In fact, Carlos Vignali was the principal culprit in the crime. He was the one that provided the money necessary for the crack cocaine operation and was one of the main leaders. Why was he released and the others are still languishing in prison? To the Black community, this hypocrisy only shows that Chicano politicians also practice double standards when it comes to racial justice. It is no surprise, that a recent poll showed that almost 80% of Blacks will vote for James Hahn.

Another segment of angry voters is well informed Raza. Many of us who understand the sad state of contemporary politics, know that these dirty politicos don't really represent our interests. These very same "politicos" have for years been ignoring the case of Ramiro "Ramsey" Muniz who is in federal prison on cocaine drug charges. Ramsey Muniz was sentenced to a life in prison without the possibility of parole after a questionable prosecution by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Many in our community believe that the prosecution was politically motivated because Ramsey Muniz was an effective and principal leader of the now destroyed La Raza Unida Party of Texas. Ramsey Muniz was a candidate for Governor of Texas under La Raza Unida and challenged the power structure of Texas in the early 1970's. This was when La Raza Unida Party had taken control of South Texas under the leadership Jose Angel Guttierez. About two years ago, Ramsey Muniz was being tortured at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas through being kept in solitary confinement for over a year. Telephone calls to all these "dirty politicos" were ignored. An emergency call to Congressman Xavier Becerra was never returned. Ramsey Muniz health was rapidly deteriorating for having to sleep on the cold concrete floor and his family was concerned that he might expire. Now we hear that Congressman Becerra was on the phone with Bill Clinton on the day when he signed the release for Carlos Vignali. Does La Raza see something terribly wrong here?

More and more members of La Raza are abandoning the Democratic Party. We see this party as being as corrupt as the PRI in Mexico. We desperately need a new party that will be free from Jewish money and influence. The election of President Vicente Fox of the PAN is one of the best things that has happened in Mexico in recent times. He is now cleaning up the corruption that has existed there for many years. Much of this corruption was created by the extremely lucrative drug trade. Just a few days ago, the corrupt PRI ex-governor of Quintana Roo was arrested for his collusion with drug traffickers. Now authorities, like with ex-president Carlos Salinas and his imprisoned brother Raul, are finding multi-dollar bank accounts in Panama, the USA and in Switzerland. The USA in general and Los Angeles in particular are in denial about how much drug corruption is affecting law enforcement and politicians. Los Angeles is a major distribution center for drugs coming through the Tijuana Drug Cartel. Many Democratic Party elected officials are now part of the lucrative drug trade as was the PRI in Mexico before the PAN took over.

This whole dirty mess will definitely affect the election of the next mayor of Los Angles this coming Tuesday. Antonio Villaraigosa, or Tony Villar as he was known in high school, is predicted to get less than 30% of the Black vote but will received over 80% of the homosexual and lesbian vote of the city. This is no accident. The Jewish dominated Democratic Party is very pro-homosexual and anti-Christian. Those who run the Democratic Party, and it is not La Raza, have selected certain Chicanos that they can manipulate easily. One of these Chicanos is the Chairman of the Democratic Party Art Torres. Art Torres is a homosexual and he is making sure that he brings out the gay vote on behalf of Villargairosa. It is sad that La Raza has no real choice in the election for mayor of Los Angeles. The political system is presently rigged against us and only when we collectively rise up and yell "Ya Basta", will it ever begin to change.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles electorate is being bombarded with ads on television showing Antonio Villargairosa next to someone lighting up a crack cocaine pipe. Villargairosa's supporters have besieged James Hahn's appearances screaming "No more crack pipe politics". La Voz de Aztlan published a very similar image along with an editorial titled "PARDONGATE: When is a Political Contribution a Bribe" back on February 22, 2001. We wonder if Angelenos are finally awakening to what we have been trying to tell them. We will know this June 5, 2001.