Two years ago, Alberto Gonzales was the pride and hope of the Latino community. Today, his submission to presidential policies and practices that use the institution charged with maintaining justice to undermine people's civil rights makes us ashamed. His indifference to the central concerns of the Latino agenda has been a terrible disappointment.
For a community in need of paradigmatic examples, Gonzales' ascent represented a double triumph. Not only would he be the first Latino Attorney General, but also the first Latino to occupy one of the four most important positions in a presidential cabinet.
His personal history was an inexhaustible source of pride for the community, for his success nourished the hopes for success of other sons of poor immigrants with undocumented grandparents who, like him, are born and grow up in the poverty of the barrio.
Gonzales graduated with honors from his high school in Houston. He served in the United States Air Force, graduated from Rice University, and received his doctorate from Harvard University. He was a Supreme Court judge in Texas and Secretary of State during the governorship of George W. Bush. Later, he was Bush's personal lawyer.
Throughout his life he maintained close relations with several community organizations. His reputation as a man of integrity and intelligence, his dedication to the causes of the community's rights, augured that, once in power, he would continue his record of defending civil rights, while maintaining his close connection to the concerns of the Hispanic community.
For the Latino leadership, it was evident that Gonzales would not curtail his efforts to protect minorities from discriminatory electoral practices. They also counted on his support on the matter of immigration law, assuming that from his own family background Gonzales knew that far from being criminals. The vast majority of immigrants – both legal and illegal – come to the United States to work to build a future so that their children and grandchildren will meet with success in this country so full of opportunities.
All organization advocates of civil rights for all Latino communities in the United States supported his nomination and confirmation at the Department of Justice, though they asked him to maintain a distance from the President so as not to endanger his independence.
Two years later, disenchantment is everywhere. Gonzales has not raised a finger to defend the Hispanic community. Worse yet, as Attorney General he has promoted the eavesdropping on citizens by telephone and – in the best of interpretations through an act of omission – has allowed the FBI, which is part of his Department, to abuse its powers in obtaining financial, telephone and business records by using the Patriot Act, without even giving those investigated the opportunity to appeal.
Instead of defending minority rights, his record with regard to elections demonstrates a marked tendency to erode the voting rights of these groups and the integrity of the electoral system.
The most recent scandal in which he has become involved is the firing of eight regional U.S. Attorneys in what appears to be a political purge of public officials who, in fulfilling their duties, have not adhered to the political agenda of the Republican Party.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, attorney David Iglesias was fired after he resisted pressure from two Congressional Republicans to press forward with an investigation of the Democratic Party. His decision to uphold the integrity of his office cost him his job, and according to declaration by the head of the state's Republican Party, it was presidential adviser Karl Rove who determined Iglesias should be fired.
But the firing of Carol Lam, U.S. Attorney in San Diego, was perhaps the most egregious. Lam, who sent Republican Congressman Randy Cunningham to jail for accepting millions in bribes from military contractors, was in the midst of another trial against other important congressional figures, the CIA, and other Defense Department suppliers, when she was fired.
According to the Administration, this was for her lack of attention to San Diego's central problem: illegal immigration. She was accused of letting go smugglers of illegal immigrants go, in favor of dedicating her office to the pursuit of those who, in her judgment, were the real criminals.
Many voices in Congress have already been raised to demand Gonzales' resignation. The Latino leadership should join that chorus. Gonzales has failed not only his own community; he has failed the entire country.
