Latin Chamber of Commerce Crowd Applauds Gibbons, Cheers for Titus

It wasn't hard to tell Friday which gubernatorial candidate probably has the edge among Hispanic voters between Democrat Dina Titus and Republican Jim Gibbons.

In their first joint campaign appearance, Gibbons and Titus spoke to the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce.
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Gibbons, a congressman who supported the House bill that prompted massive immigration demonstrations, appeared to know he was out of his element. And Titus, the minority leader of the state Senate, was in hers. She got whistles and cheers compared to polite applause for Gibbons.

Gibbons mostly spoke in platitudes, whereas Titus went for the jugular.

But Gibbons, who spoke first, didn't completely gloss over his potentially unpopular positions.

"There are a lot of things we might not agree upon," he acknowledged to the crowd of Hispanic business people at the Gold Coast.

In particular, Gibbons talked about his opposition to driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, saying those who break the law shouldn't be rewarded with privileges.

"It is and has been an issue of abiding by the laws of this state and of this country. ... We are a country of laws."

However, Gibbons then seemed to give some ground, saying, "I'm willing to listen on that issue. My door will always be open."

Gibbons stressed securing America's borders and improving education in order to create opportunities for immigrants.

On immigration, he called for an "efficient, humane guest worker program," not mentioning that he has strongly opposed any type of amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States.

"Our approach also needs to be one that recognizes the needs of our exemplary economy," he said.

Gibbons said the message he has heard from Hispanics is: "They do not want special treatment, unusually special privileges. They simply wanted to be treated fairly and given the same opportunity of every other American in this country."

While Gibbons barely acknowledged having an opponent, Titus' first words in English, after a brief Spanish introduction, were, "I believe if you compare my record and my plan for Nevada with my opponent's, you'll find I'm the best candidate for the job."

Titus said she supported legislation requiring court interpreters for non-English speakers, creating a position for a minority health officer at the state level, barring racial profiling, cracking down on illegal notaries public and securing $1 million for minority chambers of commerce to distribute in grants.

On the other hand, "He's got a dismal record when it comes to voting on Hispanic issues," Titus said of Gibbons, noting his low grades on scorecards from Hispanic groups.

Titus said Gibbons voted to prohibit states from distributing bilingual voting materials. She also said Gibbons voted to allow hospitals not to treat illegal immigrants and "to make criminals out of doctors, teachers, social workers, priests and employers, anyone who helps an undocumented person; and I'm pretty sure that would include a lot of you in this room."

Titus discussed her education platform, which she said would reduce dropout rates and help Nevadans get good jobs, and protecting senior citizens from identity theft.

Gibbons, who at every public forum must fight the perception that he is prone to gaffes, made a couple of minor slip-ups, calling U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "Roberto Gonzales" and referring to "Hispanic-speaking nurses" when he presumably meant "Spanish-speaking."

But Titus made at least one error as well when she listed "freezing property taxes" among her legislative accomplishments.

Titus proposed a property tax freeze that was defeated. However, her proposal was credited with helping steer the debate toward the solution that eventually was passed, a cap on property tax increases.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Sep-16-Sat-2006/news/9688197.html