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>> Call the meeting to order.
>> Enrique: THE TOPPENISH CITY COUNCIL IS IN SESSION.
>> Let the record show that we have full attendance tonight.
Privilege, knowing where I
>> Enrique: MAYOR CLARA JIMENEZ IS IN CHARGE.
>> It's such an honor and a
Came from, you know, working in the fields, being a migrant farm worker when I was six to now sitting on the council, never would have dreamed of doing such a thing.
>> Enrique: CLARA JIMENEZ HAS BEEN DOING THIS THING SINCE 1996 WHEN SHE WAS FIRST ELECTED TO THE TOPPENISH CITY COUNCIL. SHE'S NOW IN HER FINAL YEAR SERVING AS CITY'S MAYOR.
So when you go into the community, what do people say when they see you as the Mayor?
>> They're always surprised if they don't know me and they're not from our community, then they're surprised 'cause I don't fit their mold, 'cause they're mold is a white male.
So when I show up, they say, no, it can't be her.
>> Enrique: CLARA WORKS AS A FIRST GRADE TEACHER IN YAKIMA, BUT TOPPENISH IS HOME, AND SERVING ON THE COUNCIL IS HER WAY OF GIVING BACK.
Do you see yourself as being a voice for the Latino community?
>> I see myself more as a voice for all who reside in the community of Toppenish.
Because I wear many hats.
I mean, I'm Latina, but I'm also a woman, I'm also a mother, I'm also a sister.
You know, so I'm a little bit of everything.
>> Enrique: AND THAT INCLUDES BEING AMONG THE FEW LATINOS TO HOLD POLITICAL OFFICE IN WASHINGTON STATE.
>> It does bother me that we do have qualified individuals out there who would great, great, great council members or legislators, and when they do run, they're not elected.
>> Enrique: TEN COUNTIES, MOST IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN WASHINGTON, HAVE THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF LATINO POPULATION.
IN ADAMS AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES, LATINOS ARE THE MAJORITY, MAKING UP MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION.
YAKIMA COUNTY IS THIRD WITH 45 PERCENT.
THE OTHER SEVEN COUNTIES RANGE FROM NEAR 40 TO 17 PERCENT.
OVERALL, LATINOS MAKE UP MORE THAN A THIRD OF THE POPULATION IN THE TEN COUNTIES.
BUT WHEN YOU BREAK DOWN THE TOTAL NUMBER OF OFFICE HOLDERS VERSUS THE NUMBER OF LATINO OFFICE HOLDERS IN THOSE TEN HEAVILY LATINO COUNTIES, YOU FIND A DEARTH OF LATINO REPRESENTATION OF JUST FOUR PERCENT.
>> So the population is growing faster than the level of representation is growing.
So by that measure, the problem is actually getting worse.
>> Enrique: PAUL APOSTOLIDIS IS A POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR AT WHITMAN COLLEGE IN WALLA WALLA.
AMONG HIS ON-GOING COMMUNITY RESEARCH PROJECTS IS THE STATE OF THE STATE FOR WASHINGTON LATINOS.
>> I've been studying this issue since 2002.
>> Enrique: APOSTOLIDES AND HIS TEAM OF STUDENT RESEARCHERS DOCUMENTED THE LACK OF LATINO POLITICAL REPRESENTATION AND ITS IMPACT ON VOTING RIGHTS, EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, AND HOUSING.
>> Everybody has something at stake here.
If you want a more inclusive society, a more harmonious local community, and if you want to just solve problems that are common, you need as many people as possible involved in the process.
>> Is race an issue?
>> Race is most certainly an issue, and when I say that, I mean that we're talking about historically embedded patterns of inequality.
If you don't have equal access to education, and you don't have equal access to employment opportunities and upward mobility, that's going to be reflected in, you know, a group's ability to groom candidates to run successfully for local office, to do the fundraising that any candidate needs to do.
>> Every candidate has to prove himself or herself to get elected.
There's no doubt about that.
>> Enrique: STATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE STEVEN GONZALEZ KNOWS THAT WELL.
IN 2012, HE BECAME THE FIRST MEXICAN-AMERICAN ELECTED TO THE STATE HIGH COURT.
>> I may have felt the pressure a little bit more as the first person with an obviously ethnic surname running a statewide election.
I felt that if I didn't win, it wouldn't just reflect on me, but it might reflect future races as well.
So I felt a little bit of that pressure.
But really, you're looking at areas that are republican and are more conservative, and so he didn't fit the profile.
>> Enrique: APPOINTED TO THE SUPREME COURT IN JANUARY 2012 BY GOVERNOR CHRIS GREGOIRE, THE FORMER KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE CAMPAIGNED HARD TO WIN A FULL SIX-YEAR TERM.
HE WAS ENDORSED BY REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS, AND EDITORIAL BOARDS THROUGHOUT THE STATE.
HE WAS RATED EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED BY LEGAL AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS.
AND HE MADE A POINT OF CAMPAIGNING STATEWIDE.
>> To be perfectly blunt, a number of the political advisors said you don't need the eastern side of the state to win, focus on western Washington.
That practically may be accurate, but it wasn't the way I wanted to run a statewide campaign.
>> Enrique: OTHER THAN FILE FOR THE POST, HIS OPPONENT, KITSAP COUNTY ATTORNEY BRUCE DANIELSON, DID NOTHING.
HE DIDN'T CAMPAIGN, DEBATE, OR FUNDRAISE.
HE RECEIVED NO ENDORSEMENTS AND WAS RATED NOT QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB BY MULTIPLE CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS.
ON PRIMARY ELECTION NIGHT, JUSTICE GONZALEZ WON WITH MORE THAN 60 PERCENT OF THE VOTE STATEWIDE, AVOIDING A RUN-OFF WITH DANIELSON IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.
THE VICTORY, HOWEVER, WAS BITTERSWEET.
>> I didn't win any counties in eastern Washington.
In fact, lost a number of them by a significant margin and I'm very concerned about that.
>> the Gonzalez race really highlighted a lot of concerns for people here in Washington State who are troubled by the lack of representation of Latinos.
>> Enrique: MATT BARRETO IS A UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR AND THE DIRECTOR OF NON-PARTISAN WASHINGTON POLL.
AFTER THE ELECTION, HE EXAMINED THE VOTING RESULTS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN WASHINGTON PRECINCT BY PRECINCT AND CONCLUDED THAT RACIALLY POLARIZED VOTING PLAYED A ROLE IN THE FINAL OUTCOME.
>> And the Gonzalez election really highlighted the fact that there are a number of voters here in Washington state, that happen to be concentrated in central and eastern Washington, in these same locales that have experienced rapid Latino population growth that are block voting against Spanish surname candidates.
>> Enrique: JUSTICE GONZALEZ WON EASILY IN THE MOST POPULATED COUNTIES OF THE STATE IN WESTERN WASHINGTON.
BUT OVERALL, BRUCE DANIELSON STILL RECEIVED 42 PERCENT OF THE VOTE, WINNING 30 OF THE STATE'S 39 COUNTIES.
HE EVEN WON THE TEN HEAVILY LATINO COUNTIES.
>> How do you respond to those who say, well, you know, you're throwing up the race card here.
But that's just not cosmetically important, that also means better public policy.
>> what we did was compare that.
And first, we looked at Susan Owens, another Supreme Court Justice who was also progressive and was running against a conservative.
And guess what?
She won every single one of those counties.
The ones that Gonzalez lost, Owens, who doesn't have a Spanish surname, she won all of those.
But it was just Gonzalez, again running against an opponent with no ads, no campaign whatsoever, and this opponent, Danielson, was able to beat Gonzalez, do better than Rob McKenna did in these counties, and in these individual precincts.
That allowed us to really isolate the fact that the only thing driving this was race and ethnicity.
>> Latinos have been around here since before this was a nation. It's ironic to have people say to me that you'll have a hard time because your name isn't American enough.
And that's exactly how some people put it.
Gonzalez is an American name. It always has been and it always will be.
And until we get to the point where we all understand that, we'll continue to have problems.
>> Enrique: THE GONZALEZ RACE HAS LED TO CALLS FOR STATE VOTING REFORMS, SPECIFICALLY PASSAGE OF A WASHINGTON VOTING RIGHTS ACT TO ADDRESS RACIALLY POLARIZED VOTING AND TO ALLOW FOR LEGAL CHALLENGES TO AT-LARGE ELECTIONS THAT LOCK OUT MINORITY CANDIDATES.
BUT A VOTING RIGHTS ACT BILL PROPOSED BY STATE REPRESENTATIVE LUIS MOSCOSO, THE ONLY LATINO CURRENTLY SERVING IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE, WENT NOWHERE.
MEANTIME, THE ACLU JOINED WITH TWO YAKIMA LATINO RESIDENTS TO FILE A FEDERAL VOTING RIGHTS LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF YAKIMA.
THE SUIT CHALLENGES THE SYSTEM FOR CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS IN AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE ODDS OF MINORITY CANDIDATES.
YAKIMA'S LATINO POPULATION IS MORE THAN 40 PERCENT.
BUT A LATINO HAS NEVER BEEN ELECTED TO THE CITY COUNCIL.
>> There is abundant political science research that shows that if you change the voting rules, moving from at-large to district elections, you really do increase the rate of minority representation.
>> I really appreciate what she's done as well as the other individuals who partake in this.
>> Enrique: BACK IN TOPPENISH, MAYOR CLARA JIMENEZ IS WRAPPING UP THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING.
SHE HAS OFTEN BEEN THE LONE LATINO REPRESENTATIVE.
SHE WANTS TO SEE MORE LATINOS RUNNING FOR THE COUNCIL AND OTHER OFFICES.
FOR CLARA, IT'S ALL ABOUT GETTING THE LATINO COMMUNITY INVOLVED IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS.
>> as Latinos, we need to step up, too, and start voting and I think that we also need to take a role in recruiting people to run and backing them.
Whatever it takes, we need to do that, 00:09:54.595, śś