NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Oregon sees surge in Hispanic candidates, office holders
22 councilors who’ve served
since the elected body was
reorganized in 1995.
Oregon has seen a surge
in recent years in Hispan-
ics seeking and winning
election to public office,
from local school boards
to the Oregon Legisla-
ture. According to the U.S.
Census, Oregon had about
495,000 Latinos in 2017
— 13 percent of the state’s
population. That’s up from
11 percent in 2000.
The recent election
advanced that trend with
Gonzalez’s win and the
possible election of Eddy
Morales to the Gresham
City Council. Multnomah
County is recounting the
votes in Morales’ race
against incumbent Kirk
French because the margin
was so narrow.
Following the May 2017
election, Hispanics were
the majority on the Wood-
burn School Board, reflect-
ing the makeup of the dis-
trict’s enrollment. Latinx
candidates continue to win
seats on other school boards
around the state.
School board members
from Hispanic and other
backgrounds formed the
Color Caucus two years
ago to increase their influ-
ence on the Oregon School
Boards Association. During
that period, the caucus has
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Juan Carlos Gonzalez
was a high school junior
from Forest Grove when
he encountered President
Barack Obama in Washing-
ton, D.C., through the Boys
Nation leadership program.
Meeting the nation’s first
black president made a last-
ing impression on Gon-
zalez, the son of Mexican
immigrants.
“His campaign slo-
gan was hope. He just acti-
vated so many people in the
country to think about the
United States in the way
that he did,” Gonzalez said.
“He was larger than life. I
thought if he could be the
first, I could be first in some-
thing else. Glass ceilings
could be shattered.”
Now
26,
Gonzalez
recently won election to
Metro, the Portland area’s
influential regional plan-
ning council. The agency
is responsible for planning
infrastructure and develop-
ment across jurisdictional
boundaries and protecting
green space.
When he takes office in
January, he will be the first
Hispanic to serve on the
council and possibly the
youngest member in history.
Metro officials confirmed
he’s younger than any of the
Jaime Valdez/Portland Tribune
Juan Carlos Gonzalez recently won election to Metro,
the Portland area’s influential regional planning coun-
cil. Oregon has seen a surge in the number of Hispanic
candidates and office holders.
grown from a handful to
dozens of members, said
Erika Lopez, a Hilllsboro
School Board member and
part of the caucus.
The group is seek-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Partly sunny
Times of clouds
and sun
Cloudy, a shower
in the p.m.
Cloudy with
occasional rain
Intervals of clouds
and sun
47° 28°
45° 31°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
46° 38°
50° 40°
50° 33°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
49° 27°
43° 31°
44° 37°
49° 40°
OREGON FORECAST
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Olympia
51/40
40/28
47/21
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
44/29
Lewiston
49/35
49/30
Astoria
52/39
Pullman
Yakima 44/28
49/33
46/28
Portland
Hermiston
51/36
The Dalles 49/27
Salem
Corvallis
49/30
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
41/22
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
51/32
44/25
41/24
Ontario
47/21
Caldwell
Burns
50°
33°
47°
31°
70° (2017) -11° (1985)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
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Albany
50/33
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
51/31
0.14"
0.15"
0.89"
6.60"
8.58"
8.17"
WINDS (in mph)
46/22
39/7
0.07"
0.17"
1.09"
8.32"
14.84"
11.08"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 37/16
53/34
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
47/28
48/31
51°
41°
45°
31°
75° (1933) -12° (1985)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
51/33
Aberdeen
36/25
42/27
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
49/38
Today
Sun.
SW 4-8
SW 6-12
NNE 3-6
NNE 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
43/21
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:06 a.m.
4:17 p.m.
5:56 p.m.
8:31 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
Nov 29
Dec 6
Dec 15
Dec 22
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 85° in Key West, Fla. Low -26° in Old Forge, N.Y.
Even PCUN — which
previously focused on
working conditions —
recently started recruiting
Latinx candidates. Its politi-
cal action arm, Accion Polit-
ica PCUNista, urged Teresa
Alonso Leon, the daughter
of a farm worker, to run for
the House district that runs
from Woodburn to Salem
and helped buoy her to vic-
tory in 2016, Lopez said.
That same year, the Leg-
islature gained two other
Hispanic lawmakers –
Diego Hernandez of east
Portland and Mark Meek of
Clackamas County.
Lopez was elected to the
Hillsboro School Board in
2017 after participating in
Emerge training, a nonprofit
that recruits and trains Dem-
ocratic women for office.
She learned how to file cam-
paign finance reports, land
endorsements and build up
a resume before running for
office.
The Hillsboro School
District, where 37 percent
of students are Latinx, had
no Hispanic board mem-
bers at the time. The board
appointed another Latina,
Yadira Martinez, earlier this
year.
Martinez, raised in Hill-
sboro, said she sought
the appointment because
she realized the Hispanic
community needed more
involvement and “our
voices need to be heard.”
To win votes from His-
panic voters, advocates do
a lot of canvassing. PCUN
sent out Spanish-speak-
ing employees and volun-
teers for house calls, some-
times visiting several times
to convince a voter to turn in
a ballot or help them under-
stand the ballot choices,
Reyna Lopez said.
51° 35°
BRIEFLY
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
ing a vote on the associa-
tion’s board. A majority of
school boards must agree,
and some, such as Hills-
boro, have already voted in
favor, Lopez said. The cau-
cus expects to find out the
outcome by the end of the
month, she said.
The movement to put
Hispanics in office gained
steam in 2014 after vot-
ers rejected an Oregon bal-
lot measure that would have
provided a four-year driving
card to undocumented immi-
grants. Disappointment over
the measure’s failure stirred
Hispanic leaders to step up
their advocacy and orga-
nizing, said Reyna Lopez,
executive director of PCUN
(Pineros y Campesinos Uni-
dos del Noroeste), Oregon’s
union for farm workers and
tree planters.
The same year, the Color
Political Action Committee
formed to find and support
candidates who reflected
their minority constituen-
cies. Since then, other orga-
nizations with the same pur-
pose have formed, including
East County Rising in east
Multnomah County.
President Trump’s immi-
gration stands during his
presidential campaign in
2016 helped galvanize
unprecedented
political
organization in the Latinx
community.
Lopez ran for office after
her 10-year-old son came
home from school and told
her he was afraid she would
be deported. Lopez, whose
family emigrated from Mex-
ico, is a citizen and can’t be
deported.
But, Lopez said, the inci-
dent “was kind of the nexus
of what was happening in
the national policy land-
scape and … how it trans-
lates into our lives and in
our communities.”
She said her son is hear-
ing “this negative narrative
around people who look
like me or come from where
I come from. It was really
disheartening.”
Then, this year, three Ore-
gon lawmakers proposed a
state measure to repeal the
state’s 30-year sanctuary
law, which prohibits local
police from enforcing fed-
eral immigration law. Voters
earlier this month defeated
the measure after a robust
opposition campaign led by
the Hispanic community.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Portland police officers
on leave after man dies at
hospital
PORTLAND (AP) — Authorities say a
man who was restrained by police in Port-
land later died at a hospital and the offi-
cers are on paid leave while an investiga-
tion takes place.
KOIN reports the incident started on
Thursday night with reports of a person
yelling and running in the streets.
When Portland State University officers
found the man, there was a struggle, so they
requested assistance from Portland Police
officers. The man was restrained and taken
to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Investigators believe the man suffered a
medical event and died at the hospital.
The Portland Police have launched an
internal administrative investigation and
two Portland Police officers will remain on
leave until the review is completed.
Man charged in killings
was under supervision in
Washington
PORTLAND (AP) — Authorities say
a man accused of killing two strangers in
separate downtown Portland shootings was
under supervision in Washington state.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports
James Barquet pleaded not guilty Wednes-
day to aggravated murder charges, first-de-
gree robbery and felon in possession of a
firearm.
A probable cause affidavit says Barquet
killed Carol Horner late Monday, and then
Brian Hansen less than four hours later
with single shots to the head.
Washington State Department of Cor-
rections spokesman Jeremy Barclay says
Barquet was released from prison July 11
after serving seven months for a felony
drug charge.
Barclay says Barquet entered a supervi-
sion program, meeting weekly with a com-
munity corrections officer.
Barclay says Barquet’s last meeting was
Nov. 13. Court records show Barquet’s
supervisor told authorities he was unaware
Barquet had traveled to Oregon.
Corrections
The Nov. 22 article “How a PHS senior
‘Beat the Odds,’” misstated the number
of Beat the Odds scholarships Stand for
Children Oregon gave out per year before
2018. It was three.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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showers t-storms
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20s
flurries
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40s
ice
50s
cold front
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