The Company you Keep

For work yesterday I was compiling a list of state-wide candidates and ballot initiatives in the course of hunting down political ad dollars during this election cycle. One of the candidates for California Lt. Governor is state senator Liz Figueroa.

Not being an expert on California state politics, I'm not at all familiar with Ms. Figueroa or her candidacy, which is why candidates have web sites. From her bio:

State Senator Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) has a long history of overcoming adversity in the service of others. The importance of helping others in order to build a better future is a lesson she learned from her parents, who themselves immigrated from El Salvador to give their children brighter opportunities. As a young woman, she started a small business that specialized in helping injured workers find jobs. Herself a fluent Spanish speaker, she saw at an early age that many Latinos were disengaged in California's political process, so she decided to become a role model. In 1994, she was elected to the State Assembly, becoming the first Latina from Northern California ever elected to the State Legislature, and she is now attempting to overcome one more hurdle to become the first Latina ever elected to statewide office.

Innocuous enough description of her career. It continues on, highlighting her accomplishments as part of the legislature and her hopes for her time in the Lt. Governor's office. Pretty standard stuff.However, I was drawn to that picture in the middle of the page:





I know that name. Dolores Huerta...where have I heard that name?!

Then it comes to me. I read about it earlier in the week, and told you about it a day later. Dolores is the Labor Activist who told a gymnasium full of Tucson High school students that the GOP "hates Latinos."

I suppose in a state like California where the GOP is experiencing a historic lull in terms of it's electoral status in state-wide office, such potentially poor judgment on the part of the Senator is not of huge consequence. In fact, it might even be a favorable.

But it shouldn't be.