RUBEN NAVARETTE JR.: California owes everything to Latinos but delivers very little in return

Here’s the question they’re asking in California: Que pasa with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Latinos?

To the chagrin of California Democrats, the relationship between Newsom and the ethnic group that makes up as much as 40 percent of the state’s population is purely transactional. There is no amor there.

A Sacramento-based political commentator and policy analyst has figured out why that is. And so, I was eager to hear him unpack how Newsom wound up with this problema.

My friend Arnold Torres is no stranger to gubernatorial elections in his home state. In 2006, working as a political consultant, Torres helped another Arnold — Schwarzenegger — get reelected governor of California.

The actor/action movie hero was first elected in the 2003 recall election that ousted the Democratic governor, Gray Davis.

In 2006, Schwarzenegger crushed Democrat Phil Angelides, who was then California State Treasurer, by winning 56 percent of the vote compared to 38.9 percent for Angelides.

Granted, that was back when you could find Republicans in California who had both a brain and a heart. Nowadays, many of them have neither.

Addressing the 2004 GOP National Convention, Schwarzenegger — who came to the United States from Austria in 1968 — greeted the foreign-born with an extended hand.

“America gave me opportunities and my immigrant dreams came true,” Schwarzenegger said. “I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities. And I believe they can.”

You won’t hear anything like that today among the crowded field of Republicans who seek to dethrone Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall election.

You’re more likely to hear the same old racist fear-mongering that tells entitled Californians that their lives would be better without the illegal immigrants who help make their lives possible.

Take Republican businessman John Cox, who was crushed by Newsom in 2018 and who is now running again in the recall election. He recently attacked fellow candidate, and former San Diego Mayor, Kevin Faulconer for being “pro-Mexico.”

Sure. It’s much better that the governor of the nation’s largest border state be anti-Mexico.

Meanwhile, the Newsom camp should ponder what caused his support from Latinos to evaporate. In November 2018, Newsom won the votes of 61 percent of Latino men and 67 percent of Latino women, according to CNN polls.

Today, the story is much different. A recent Emerson College/Nexstar poll on the recall election — taken in early August — found that Latinos are the only racial or ethnic group in the state that favor the recall. Fifty-four percent want to recall Newsom while only 41 percent want to keep him in office.

This is no minor and inconsequential tribe we’re talking about. Latinos now make up 28 percent of the California electorate. Tick them off at your peril.

Torres plans to vote against the recall because he believes “it sends the wrong message to elements in the state that support Donald Trump.”

Besides, my friend doesn’t think that Newsom will get the message of why his appeal is so limited — no matter what the verdict is.

“I seriously doubt that the governor will learn any lessons — no matter what happens — about reaching out to our community,” he said. “Because he will always have the backing of Latino elected officials, at the state or local level, who never get a single thing out of it.”

The way Torres sees it, those sycophantic Latino elected officials are a huge part of the problem. They only tell Newsom what he wants to hear, and so they enable his arrogance, aloofness and ineptness. They act as gatekeepers, and not problem solvers.

“The one thing that the Democrats really need to do is develop a real and honest and respectful dialogue with our community,” he said. “And they’re not doing it. And no one in that inner circle is telling them that they’re blowing their opportunity to have that conversation.”

What good is politics without a dash of poetry?

Here’s the politics: Newsom may soon be bounced out of office by the same ethnic group that helped put him into office in 2018.

Here’s the poetry: What has long been a problem for Republicans has now become a problem for Democrats. The problem, simply put, is that you can’t get elected in California without significant support from Latinos.

The state Republican Party is now a safe space for White people freaked out by demographic changes. Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party increasingly treats that constituency as an afterthought.

California is known for its good weather. But for Latinos, the politics of the Golden State offers only bad choices.

Navarrette’s email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.