One voter at a time
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail, Photos, Portland Issues
Meeting voters on Munjoy Hill
Connecting with voters in neighborhoods carries an emotional and personal dynamic that is irreplaceable. I’m not not having volunteers leave impersonal cards or sheets at the door. They get ME. And I get them, and a valuable chance to learn from each encounter.
I called out to one baby-boomer gentleman, walking his dog: “Are you a Portland registered voter?”
Answer: “Yes, who are you?”
“My name is Ralph Carmona, I am running for mayor of Portland, and I need your vote!” I tell him my story and he not only supports me, but is open to doing a yard sign. As it turns out, I had skipped his home completely; it had a “no solicitors” sign on it.
Another older voter had just signed a nomination form for a previous candidate who had been in the neighborhood. We talked and he agreed to take a yard sign for me!
I then saw a young couple with shopping bags, walked over and we talked about my candidacy. The boyfriend was visiting, but gave me his address. They both were mesmerized by the notion of someone from East Los Angeles meeting a Mainer in his fifties, marrying and following her to a Portland they love to make change — a candidate with accomplishments seldom achieved by people who have been in Maine their whole lives. They seemed excited about my candidacy and were supportive.
Later, a few blocks away, a young man drove by and yelled out to me, “Are you the guy running for mayor?” When I said I am, he said he wanted to ask me something. It was whether I supported general assistance. A college graduate, he held two jobs, one at the local Goodwill and another as a cook at a prominent restaurant. He is concerned about losing food stamps to help him through.
I told him general assistance needs to be supported to give people a hand-up — not a hand-out. He agreed. We talked about the difficulties of those his age and he saw my empathy because I have five children in his age range going through the same struggles for a viable future. He then said: You’ve got that integrity that my mom talks about. I want to support and help you in your campaign! That’s a big sacrifice from someone who’s already putting in so much of his time just to get by.
In a completely different neighborhood, I saw a man who had a racing car. He and I talked and he said he really liked my message and was inclined to support me. The next day, as I walked the neighborhood, he drove by and yelled out: “Go get ‘em, Mr. Mayor!”
I had a long conversation with an older man who tried to lock me into the intricacies of Portland’s political history as a reason not to support me. I told him that I do not have all the answers, but I would love to have him as an adviser. We parted on good terms. The next day, one of his neighbors told me, “Do not let him bother you, keep doing what you are doing.”
Perhaps the most difficult conversations have been with voters very hostile about immigrants. One voter even suggested shooting immigrants. In the end, I found common ground even with that person.
I knock on the door of one of Portland’s most prominent political figures. That person talked about key Portland issues and indicated possibly supporting me. Was this because of how I felt about a particular issue? “No,” is the answer, “I know you know who is running, and I believe you will be objective and decisive.” I’ll try to live up to that!
Portland, young and old
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona, Campaign Trail, Photos
Among my conversations last night were talks with two Republicans. One was a woman in her eighties. She said she supported issues over party and was open to supporting me.
Another voter and I talked for almost an hour. He was clearly a prominent and active member of the community. We engaged in animated conversations regarding city call responsiveness, immigration, crime and civil rights. He was a real straight talker. We had real differences. But we also found a common respect in our arguments and in our listening to one another. He mentioned he would consider voting for me and we talked about getting together again. We both parted ways with smiles on our faces.
I was delighted to meet young voters at the Deering Oaks farmer's market, and even persuaded one or two of them to hold up my sign for the camera! Here's Sarah Davis, whose many talents include playing the cello.
This morning, I attended the Portland Farmers Market at Deering Oaks, gathering signatures from Portland voters for my nomination. I got support on the spot from a number of people, especially younger voters excited about the prospect of my vision for a Portland on the Rise. One invited me to a Fair Food Farm Tour on July 30th at 200 Anderson St. in Portland. I plan to be there!
I also attended the 150th Commemoration of Sgt. Alonzo P. Stinson, the first Portlander to give his life in the Civil War. He was killed in July 1861, at the Battle of Bull Run, Virginia. It was the first major battle of the Civil War and a rout of the Northern Union Army. The ceremony took place at 11:30AM in front of Stinson’s granite monument in Portland’s Eastern Cemetery.
I had the opportunity to see Nick, another of the mayoral candidates. In the tradition of positive campaigning, we signed each other's nomination papers.
Latin American group meets with LePage
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
By Susan M. Cover – Kennebec Journal
Ralph Carmona, president of Portland League of United Latin American Citizens, and Marc Mutty, treasurer of the group, met with Gov. Paul LePage today to emphasize the importance of Latinos to Maine and the country.
“The purpose of the meeting with the governor was to see if we can move forward and get beyond the kind of chaotic discourse that’s occurred in the public arena,” Carmona said. “To express our disagreements with him on a number of issues.”
One of those disagreements comes over an executive order LePage signed in January that requires workers at the state Department of Health and Human Services to verify that those seeking assistance are in the country legally.
Carmona presented the governor with a program from last month’s Cesar Chavez ceremony, which LePage did not attend. Carmona has also been critical of the governor for directing that all Department of Labor conference rooms be renamed, including one that was named after Chavez.
Carmona said LePage brought up the issue of the labor mural removal. LePage asked Carmona if he thought it was fair that money from an unemployment fund went to art work instead.
Carmona said the decision to remove the mural goes beyond dollars and cents.
“Working people like all people look at quality of life beyond just a direct benefit or a direct wage,” he said. “They look at all the things around them.”
Carmona said the governor did assure him that he wanted to travel to Lewiston and Portland to hold forums with immigrants.
Mayor’s Corner: “The Humanity of Cesar Chavez is a Guide for Maine’s Future”
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
Twin-City Times, April 7, 2011
By Laurent F. Gilbert Sr., Mayor of Lewiston
Several months ago Joey Lopez, originally from Texas and now director of the Maine Chapter League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and his friend Albeni Dasilva, formerly of Brazil, came to see me in support of Latin American issues.
Lopez and Dasilva invited elected officials and police officers for a Latin American meal at LULAC State Directors location at 40 Strawberry Ave. in Lewiston. It was a wonderful celebration, and it provided an opportunity for L-A officials to get to know L-A LULAC members. Joey Lopez and I became good friends. I introduced him to hockey, and now he is as staunch a MAINEiacs fan, as I am. I recently became a member of LULAC. Together we worked on the DREAM Act, a subject I addressed in an earlier column.
Dr. Ralph Carmona, president of the Portland LULAC, moved to Portland this past year with his wife Vana, who is originally from Maine, and we have become good friends since working on a number of human rights issues. Lopez and Carmona were the principals in the development of the Cesar Chavez celebration on March 31 at the historic First Parish Church of Portland.
With Carmona’s permission, I share with you below what he wrote in the program at Cesar Chavez Celebration:
“At 9 a.m. at First Parish of Portland, March 31, people will gather to celebrate the birthday of Cesar Estrada Chavez. Bobby Kennedy characterized him as “one of the heroic figures of our time.”
“It will be an observance beyond Cesar’s organization of this nation’s poorest rural workers into the United Farm Workers of America. It will be Cesar in his complexity and universality: Cesar the educated man, voices of his prayer, faith, music, environmental sensitivity and human rights, a Cesar who goes to the moral core of collective organizing as a civil right for working people.
“My voice will be of Cesar the All-American.
“The Maine League of United Latin American Citizens comes with a political climate symbolized by February testimony we gave against a “birther” bill before a state legislative committee. The legislation required candidates for elective office to prove citizenship. We opined that the proposal deserved no legislative hearing because it is rooted in an extremist belief that our President is a non-citizen and energizes a racist past. The mere introduction of such xenophobic legislation betrays Maine’s demographic reality.
“For the whitest and oldest state in the union, in contrast to states like Arizona, immigration is a non-issue. But understanding Cesar’s humanity is critical for Maine’s future. Like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, his inner faith energized national sentiment. Through thought and deed, Cesar organized against deplorable conditions affecting poor rural workers.
“A child of racial segregation in a Los Angeles that was almost 90 percent white Protestant during the 1950s, my sense of segregation’s injustice came from Robert Conot’s “Rivers of Blood, Years of Darkness.” The book is about the city’s 1965 Watts Riots and prophesized a coming Chicano Movement revolt in Los Angeles.
“Cesar’s farm worker movement first came to mind in 1968, when Bobby Kennedy embraced him as a presidential candidate. Along with King, Kennedy was assassinated in that tumultuous year of countercultural and civil rights turmoil.
“Student protests got me into college, after graduation in 1969 from a ‘Mexican’ high school engulfed by citywide Chicano student walkouts. It made me a desegregation college activist and campaigner for George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign. I was moved by Cesar’s endorsement of McGovern and joined co-founder, Dolores Huerta, at a UFW rally for him. I was a guest during the 1970s at Cesar’s headquarters in La Paz, California.
“It was a time, Marc Grossman, Cesar’s spokesman reminds me, when Chavez was told to ‘go back to Mexico.’ Last year, his granddaughter, was asked about her immigrant status and a commentator suggested Cesar’s body be shipped back to Mexico. ‘What is astounding,’ Grossman told me, ‘is that the Chavez family has been in this country longer than many Americans.’
“Fleeing from servitude in Mexico, Cesar’s grandfather, Cesario, settled in Arizona and received property through the 1862 Homestead Act. One of Cesar’s uncles witnessed the legendary 1881 gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. In the late 1800s, he ran a business cutting wood, hauling it in wagons pulled by mule teams that built mines. And, of course, his business contributed to the Internet of a pre-state Arizona economy: The building of its railroads. At the turn of the Century, Cesar’s dad, Librado, drove a Wells Fargo stagecoach, was a farmer, local postmaster and ran a country store that was a community center for Anglos and Latinos. The Chavez family helped build the Old West.
“Born on March 31, 1931, in Arizona, Cesar served in the military. Like the Depression-era Okies in John Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath,’ his family lost their property to the banks and migrated to California. From family tragedy came Cesar’s movement for social justice.
“There will be other diverse Chavez voices mindful of a forgotten past when ‘progressive’ leaders equated immigrants with apes and denied women voting rights because they would grow male body hair. Today is a time when ‘others’ of differing gender orientation or immigrant status still feel compelled to hide in life’s public closets and shadows.
“Hopefully, Cesar’s birthday celebration will mark the beginning of a diverse Maine future with opportunity and growth through acts of common humanity.”
I thank Dr. Carmona for allowing me to share his words with you!
I am extremely disappointed with my fellow French-Canadian descendent, Governor Paul LePage, a former fellow mayor of Waterville, for removing the historical mural of the history of the labor strife of immigrants to America.
“They can take a painting down, they can take the names of history down from the conference rooms, but they cannot take our voices and that’s why we’re here today,” said Joey Lopez. He is correct: history is what it is; you cannot hide it in a closet or paint over it because those who lived it will always remember and pass it on, as the Cesar Chavez remembrance has done.
In actuality, Governor LePage brought attention to the mural panels most of us Mainers never knew existed. The murals depicted the labor struggles here in Maine such at the infamous 1937 shoe strike right here in L-A, the paper mill strikes, Frances Perkins, the first woman Labor Secretary under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was instrumental in bringing about Social Security and other worker benefits, as she had Maine ties and has the Department of Labor’s building in Washington, D.C. named in her honor.
Thankfully, Governor LePage brought attention to the mural panels, albeit in a very negative sense. The result is that he has made himself as the governor of our great state the laughing stock of our country with the national attention he has brought by his negativism and sarcasm. Strangely enough, his motto is “People before Politics.”
In my opinion, he has yet to live by his words. The words “Business Politics before People” might be more appropriate. Business and workers need to work together, not one with advantage over the other, in a spirit of fundamental fairness. When Governor LePage says: “We are open for business,” his disrespectful and insulting comments become counter-productive to luring any business to establish itself here in such a negative climate.
If Governor LePage wanted to bring attention to business and economic development, perhaps he should commission a mural to be painted at the offices of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. Then he could strike the balance between business and labor that he claims to seek.
As a Franco-American and as a mayor, quite frankly, I am truly embarrassed. I wonder if Governor LePage has forgotten his roots. I hope that he will heed the advice of his Republican Senators and Representatives and cool his rhetoric for the sake of our great state and make us proud again with our state motto: “Dirigo.”
He should either lead or get out of the way. He has a duty and responsibility to do so!
Anti-diversity is bad for business
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona
(originally published at http://portland.thephoenix.com/news/114630-anti-diversity-is-bad-for-business/)
As he has done with environmental leaders, Governor Paul LePage needs a forum to hear from Maine immigrant and civil-rights leaders. This is made all the more urgent when one considers his “kiss my butt” sound-bite refusal to meet with the NAACP because they are a “special interest.” These words beg the question of how different the NAACP is from business and environmental organizations. Is not a civil-rights group centered on immigration, public education, human capital, and equal employment important for all of Maine and its future?
The immigrant status of what the governor referred to as his “black son” — a 25-year-old Jamaican family friend — brings home the connection between race, immigration, and civil rights. As Sudanese political refugee, American citizen, and Portland community leader Lado Ladoko recently made clear: “If I were from Mexico, I would be an illegal immigrant. It is all about humanity.”
Without input from organizations, like the NAACP, the governor moved on an executive order with inevitable unintended consequences. It creates an Arizona-like obligation for state officials to use “reasonable suspicion” as the basis for questioning the immigrant status of any Maine resident that looks “illegal.”
As substantive public policy, the governor’s order is a symbolic gesture to put “Mainers first” by attacking what he recognizes is a minuscule state problem: undocumented immigration. Is this his way of going after what he perceives are bloated social services? State officials already automatically deny undocumented immigrants such services and Portland’s own ordinance supersedes the governor’s order for local officials.
The governor’s order and words are a go-head for anti-immigrant state legislation with the potential for violating the civil rights of all Maine citizens. This is why the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) hopes to meet with the governor. We want him to understand the centrality of immigration as an economic and civil-rights issue. We want to help heal the breach and explain how racial media spins have a metastasizing public anti-diversity effect on Maine’s economic engine: Portland.
We also know that business and civic leaders do not see the governor’s order and words aimed at immigration and the NAACP as positive signs that “Maine is open for business.” They know the fundamental difference between a local chamber of commerce and NAACP is one rooted in immediate business or special benefits and public interests.
Civil- and immigrant-rights public organizations hope the governor opens his door to hear their concerns over how his state leadership profoundly affects the Maine public interest. When organizations like NAACP or LULAC come knocking on the Blaine House door, we hope that the lights are on and the door is open.
Ralph Carmona is spokesman for the Portland League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
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