Fabian Nuñez: Not a ‘working class’ hero - Spending scandal puts to rest the notion of Mexican American politicians as ‘everyman.’

“Don’t worry, I’m not another one of those priggish good-government types who’s going to scold California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez for his lavish, campaign-financed globe-trotting. Nor am I going to make fun of the fact that he characterized his lifestyle — the $5,149 meeting at a Bordeaux wine shop or the $8,745 hotel bill in Barcelona — as being pretty much the same as “how most middle-class people live.” Believe it or not, I actually have reason to be encouraged by the speaker’s antics as well as the self-assessment, however flawed, that he’s typically middle class.

You see, news of his status, as well as of his high-flying tastes (which match his foie-gras-eating, Hugo-Boss-sporting buddy Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa), might finally spell the end of the tradition of left-wing, well-off Mexican American politicians and activists pretending to be in the vanguard of the working class. And that’s a good thing”*

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