By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Cant turn the page
Placeholder Image

“A lot of people are upset when I talk about Mexican child rapes, Muslims clitorectomies, Muslim honor killings…white people don’t do that. America is not used to these types of crimes. We are bringing in cultures where child rape is very common.” – Ann Coulter

The Republican Central Committees (RCC) of San Joaquin, and Stanislaus Counties will have Ann Coulter as their Keynote Speaker at their 2017 Lincoln-Reagan Dinner Event in Modesto, to be held Friday, April 28.
Disbelief, that is what I felt when I received a personal invitation from the Chair of the San Joaquin County Republican Central Committee, Susan Vander Schaaf, to attend the “marquee event” as she stated in the invitation. Furthermore, she assures me that “…is sure to be an evening to remember…” for my guests and me.
Last Wednesday I attended a meeting in Modesto regarding building not only opposition to but awareness of Ann Coulter’s bigotry, racist, homophobic, anti-Muslin, anti-women, and anti-immigrant character.  “It would be a much better country if women did not vote. That is simply a fact. In fact, in every presidential election since 1950 - except Goldwater in ‘64 - the Republican would have won, if only the men had voted.” Ann Coulter says about women’s right to vote. On immigrants, but especially those of Mexican origin and Muslins she says that “Before breathing a sigh of relief that, unlike Western Europe, we don’t have Muslim rapists pouring into our country, recall that we have Mexican rapists pouring into our country.” Mexican rapist? I wonder where she got this from or who she’s been advising.
The First Amendment guarantee us freedom of speech, but such freedom must also be protected. I understand now what Ronald Reagan meant when he said that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” And that we “must protect and preserve freedom here or it will not be passed on to our children.”
So why should this matter to us? Why should we care that Ann Coulter will be in our backyard speaking to Republicans? I mean why not, right? Well, we should care and oppose her presence in our Central Valley. Why? Because most leaders in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties are Republican elected officials, who will most likely be present for this huge fundraising event for the local GOP.
All the Members of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors are Republicans, beginning with Supervisor Jim DeMartini, who is also the Chairman of Stanislaus County Republican Committee. And three of five Supervisors on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors are Republicans, including its Chairman, Chuck Winn, who is an Executive Member of the San Joaquin County Republican Central Committee. Now, I don’t know Supervisor DeMartini, but I do Chairman Winn. He is a man of character, so I am having a hard time placing him in the same room with Coulter, but then again, why has he not come out against her? As an Executive Member of County Republican Party, he had to have voted for the County Party to co-host Ann Coulter, so my question is and if he did, why?
Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties are diverse in population. Minorities are the majority, so I cannot comprehend the reason why all the Republican elected officials in these counties, in Congress and State, are in agreement to host Ann Coulter. She is an individual who’s “hate speech for profit,” should not be welcomed by any of these leaders, people in power in the Central Valley.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” I hope the character of all these Republican leaders in power in our region is not the same as Ann Coulter’s because if it is, we got the wrong leaders. We need leadership that welcomes diversity who can not only stand adversity but who can put country, its people, before Party. And the way it looks right now, their character is resembling Ann Coulter’s. Quite unfortunate, but that’s just the way it appears to be. 

The Chair of the San Joaquin County Republican Party told me a couple of weeks ago that I leave the “tent” as Ronald Reagan would refer to those Republicans who would betray the principles and values of the GOP. But I never did nor did I left -- the tent just got relocated to the far right, the Ann Coulter’s right! So if leaving the far right of the Party means I left the tent, so be it because I am and will continue to defend the moral principles of Reagan himself: decency.
Therefore, I am recalling my article “Turning the Page” that I wrote back on November 11, 2016. I cannot turn the page, Trumpublicans won’t let me!

Al Moncada is a lifelong Republican. He is the former Chairman of Republican National Hispanic Assembly in Los Angeles and a former CA Republican Delegate. He has served as Hispanic Advisor for several campaigns in recent years including CA Lungren for Governor, Bush/Cheney 2000, and Jeb Bush 2016. He has written many articles on immigration reform, and he has called for the Republican Party to be inclusive, not divisive.