An Email letter sent to Antonio Villaraigosa by one of our MayorNo supporters (who we will call Mr. Supporter to protect his ID) was answered by Mr. Jim Bickhart, a Villaraigosa campaign representative. Click here to read the email exchange between Bickhart and Mr. Supporter. Below is the unedited (except for supporter's name) response which was forwarded to me. Read the letter in whole. This will be followed by the same letter (in blue) answered by me point by point (in red Italics).
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Sat, 21 Apr 2001
From: Jim Bickhart
Subject: Re: Fwd: Do you care
Dear Mr. Supporter:
Yes, we care. Do you? If you're spending time paying attention to "MayorNo," that is in serious question.
Mr. Villaraigosa has made it very clear in public during this campaign and for many years before that he does not support illegal immigration, he does not support separatist behavior among Latinos or anybody else, and that he works with people from every community to try to make good policy that helps everyone.
MayorNo's ongoing diatribe about the threat posed by Latinos sounds to us like the same kind of bigotry being ascribed to the Latinos themselves by your comments about stores and muttered epithets. What constitutes a third world community? Any one where Latinos live? What do you think Anglos used to say about the ones where African-Americans dominate (and, unfortunately, some still say)? Did African-Americans go out of their way to make other ethnic groups feel any more welcome than you feel when you drive by a store with Spanish language signs?
We all have a lot of baggage to rid ourselves of. Mr. Villaraigosa feels that, as there are no longer any majority ethnicities in Los Angeles, we have an opportunity to re-think how we perceive each other and create alliances and partnerships based on our mutual needs instead of our mutual fears.
If you really care, you'll think about that before you continue to parrot the disinformation coming from paranoid immigrant-bashers.
Jim Bickhart
Villaraigosa for Mayor
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Mr. Bickhart is a specialist in dodging tough questions and issues. To his RACE and XENOPHOBE cards, he has added the DIATRIBE card. In his letter below, he accuses me of presenting ongoing "diatribes." The dictionary defines a diatribe as a "bitter, abusive denunciation." Instead of addressing directly the concerns of Mr. Supporter, Bickhart resorts to diatribes of his own.
Dear Mr. Supporter:
Yes, we care. Do you? If you're spending time paying attention to "MayorNo," that is in serious question.
Well what do you know, a diatribe.
Mr. Villaraigosa has made it very clear in public during this campaign and for many years before that he does not support illegal immigration.
Oh really? This sound clip of Villaraigosa, doesn't sound like someone who opposes illegal immigration.
He does not support separatist behavior among Latinos or anybody else.
And that he works with people from every community to try to make good policy that helps everyone.
MayorNo's ongoing diatribe about the threat posed by Latinos.
STOP!
NOW I'M MAD!
Nowhere in this website do I say or imply that Latinos are a threat. Fact is, I don't blame third world illegals from wanting to illegally enter this country. The threat comes from publicly elected officials the likes of Antonio Villaraigosa, who virtually put out the red carpet for them -- and Mr. Bickhart, when I refer to illegals, I mean illegals regardless of their nationality -- of course, the millions of illegals that Villaraigosa invites to our country, aren't Norwegians.
Sounds to us like the same kind of bigotry being ascribed to the Latinos themselves by your comments about stores and muttered epithets. What constitutes a third world community? Any one where Latinos live?
Mr. Bickhart, since you don't know what a third world community looks like, let me help you. Click Here Please.
What do you think Anglos used to say about the ones where African-Americans dominate (and, unfortunately, some still say)? Did African-Americans go out of their way to make other ethnic groups feel any more welcome than you feel when you drive by a store with Spanish language signs?
Mr. Bickhart, your bigoted statement fails to make your point: You are comparing American citizens with illegal aliens! It's bad enough to have problems with our citizens who we can't deport. Antonio Villaraigosa wants to compound our problems by inviting people to Los Angles who don't belong here?
We all have a lot of baggage to rid ourselves of. Mr. Villaraigosa feels that, as there are no longer any majority ethnicities in Los Angeles, we have an opportunity to re-think how we perceive each other and create alliances and partnerships based on our mutual needs instead of our mutual fears.
Speak for yourself Mr. Bickhart. Mr. Supporter presented legitimate issues that cannot be answered with your mushy rhetoric.
If you really care, you'll think about that before you continue to parrot the disinformation coming from paranoid immigrant-bashers.
Let's play cards. There's the RACE card, the XENOPHOE card, the DIATRIBE card; and now there's the PIB card (paranoid immigrant-bashers) -- you lose. Care to point out any disinformation on this web site, Mr. Bickhart. I'll post.
Jim Bickhart
Villaraigosa for Mayor
In a follow-up email letter, Mr. Bickhart sent this:
Antonio has said over and over again in public, on television, before big groups and small, that he is proud to be an American.
I'm a pretty good researcher and have been unable to find any statement ever made by Villaraigosa in which he praised America -- not even on his own website. I have however dug up over ten news articles where Mr. Villaraigosa said he was proud to be Mexican (which he is not). Maybe you know something that I don't. Can you search your archives for a pre-MayorNo incident of any display of American patriotism by Mr. Villaraigosa. I'll post.
And that nowhere else in the world could he have had the success he's had here, especially Mexico. Some people just can't be bothered to listen.
Nowhere in the world can an unqualified person be admitted to a university because of the color of his skin to study law, fail the bar exam four times, and then become a politician. That doesn't make him patriotic. The only thing you prove, is that you don't have to have academic smarts to be a politician.
And what organizations, people and ideas were you in touch with 25 years ago that the rest of us should demand you publicly renounce when it really doesn't mean a damned thing? I'm more concerned with the ideas you hold now that clearly should be renounced.
Your tit-for-tat defense of Mr. Villaraigosa won't work. Mr. Villaraigosa is an elected official. He owes it to us to repudiate his un-American past (and present).
As the cliches go, get over it and get a life. Vote for whoever you want to, or don't vote at all, but don't waste our time with this crap.
DIATRIBE!
