Council race: Social justice activist challenges Tretheway

2010-03-06T04:06:26Z

Efren Guttierrez wants to bring his focus on social justice to City Hall. The 54-year-old real estate broker and community activist is running for a seat on the Sacramento City Council.

The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June election.

Guttierrez is running in District 1, now represented by Ray Tretheway. The district includes North and South Natomas and Alkali Flat.

Guttierrez has worked in real estate for 28 years and is co-owner of New West Realtors in Natomas. He noted that his career pays the bills, but activism is his passion.

“My love has always been social justice advocacy,” he said.

Guttierrez was born in Stockton and has lived in Sacramento for 49 years. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, in 1981.

He said he wants to help low-income residents who are struggling in the dismal economy. Many residents are just barely paying their electricity bills, Guttierrez said.

“The business people and everybody else is taking care of themselves. Now, we need to take care of those at the bottom end. If we don’t, what are we about?”

As a councilman, Guttierrez said he would address the needs of the Latino community, which “has been needing representation for a least a decade now.”

He said he promotes public transportation and likes the idea of bringing small buses to Sacramento.

Guttierrez also noted that poor residents do not have access to healthy foods. He said he is working with the Justice Reform Coalition and other groups to create more community gardens. He added that more farmers markets should be located near poor communities.

He said he wants to examine how people can do their jobs more efficiently. He suggested the idea of businesses gaining tax credits for hiring people who live near their job sites. That would cut down on local youth working at minimum-wage jobs outside of the city, Guttierrez said. “It would mean local people working at local businesses.”

Guttierrez is helping to organize the 10th annual César Chávez March in Sacramento on March 27. He was among those who protested former CNN broadcaster Lou Dobbs’s comments about Latino immigrants.

Guttierrez has raised the least amount of money of the three District 1 candidates. He said he has about $2,000 in campaign funds. Tretheway raised $79,278 in 2009, according to campaign statements.

Angelique Ashby, who is also running for the District 1 seat, raised $26,452 last year. Ashby is a partner in a consulting firm that contracts with businesses and government agencies.

Guttierrez said that he would break “the same old status quo” that supports Tretheway, who he said is supported by big business, developers and corporations.

While Guttierrez is accurate in saying that Tretheway’s supporters include developers — Angelo Tsakopoulos Real Estate Investments and CFY Developers are contributors — Tretheway also has received significant contributions from local unions. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 467 and the California State Pipe Trades Council Political Action Committee are two of Tretheway’s union contributors, according to campaign statements.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Locals join national "Stop Lou Dobbs" campaign

2009-10-22T03:28:05Z

Noon-hour visitors to Cesar Chavez Plaza were able to view more than just a farmer's market Wednesday.

They also witnessed about 20 activists and members of the media in a press conference announcing the "Stop Lou Dobbs" campaign created by the national Latino community group, www.presente.org.

The group formed as a response to anti-Latino sentiment in the media, starting with who they feel is the worst offender: CNN's Lou Dobbs. According to the group's website, www.bastadobbs.com, Dobbs uses his news program "Lou Dobbs Tonight" to spread false information about immigrants and Latinos.

Held only hours before CNN debuts a four-hour documentary called "Latino in America," the group came together to challenge what it called "CNN's hypocrisy."

"I think that CNN can't continue to present this dichotomous view of Latinos as strong people and then (have Dobbs) trash our heritage," said Rafael Aguilera of Sacramento's La Raza network.

Gathering around the statue of Cesar Chavez, several of the speakers included Sacramento's Chicano Consortium director Efren Guttierrez, CSUS ethnic studies professor Eric Vega and Sacramento's Council on American-Islamic Relations director Basim Elkarra.

"The location has always been symbolic of Chavez, a humanitarian who fought for all of us, at the center of our hearts," Guttierrez said.

"Lou Dobbs and others have been spreading hatred through the airways," he said in a speech to the small group of local media and gatherers.

A press release from www.bastadobbs.com said that out of 140 broadcast hours from Jan. 1 to July 23 of this year, 77 hours of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" included segments on immigrants. The website stated, "Dobbs helps popularize the myth that Latino immigrants flood the U.S. with disease (and) a third of our prison system is made up of illegal aliens." The website states both claims are not true.

It also said that Dobbs promoted extremist groups such as Federation for American Immigration Reform and The Minutemen on his show.

"Incitement (of hate) leads to hate crimes," Elkarra said. "Organizations like CNN have a responsibility not to support hate."

"Dobbs hides behind the first amendment, and his speech leads to an increase in attacks against Latinos," Vega said.

Local photographer Francisco Dominguez said he thinks Latinos have suffered racism since this country's inception.

"(Racism) has no business on television (posed) as news," Dominguez said. "There needs to be checks on the program, (especially when) the No. 1 victims of hate crimes are Latinos."

Rob Griffith, a local reporter from Capitol Television News Service, said that while he's never watched Lou Dobbs' show, the Stop Lou Dobbs campaign is misdirected.

"The people behind (Stop Lou Dobbs) misunderstand how the first amendment works," he said. "Efforts to silence opposition violates American freedoms."

Guttierrez explained that www.presente.org has already received 70,000 signatures on a petition to pull Dobbs off the air, but the goal is 100,000. Though Guttierrez urged Latinos and others to watch the CNN program airing tonight, Domiguez said that he was ready to boycott CNN entirely.

"CNN will understand that," he said. "It's the same thing that Chavez did with the grape growers. He was a master organizer."

Guttierrez said that he would watch "Latino in America" out of respect for the people whom the program features. He mentioned that CNN is the most trusted name in news, but added "if this is how CNN builds trust, (they) will lose it."

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Council race: Social justice activist challenges Tretheway

Locals join national "Stop Lou Dobbs" campaign