Alex Villanueva thought his ‘Quien es más Latino?’ strategy would sink his opponent. Nope

Former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, left, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva share a handshake following their debate for County Sheriff at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Hours before they faced off, Villanueva’s camp released to the news media a 34-page docket titled “A Record of Racial Violence and Harassment” that gathered police reports, lawsuits and more from Luna’s decades-long career, claiming to prove the Long Beach Police Department’s “disturbing anti-Black history.” What he didn’t tell the media was that he was also going to offer a treatise on how he is more Latino than Luna. “And I really had doubt when you’re that young, you can understand the difference of the two.” Luna responded by name-checking one of the most notorious incidents in the history of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department: the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, when deputies brutalized peaceful anti-Vietnam War protesters and killed Times columnist Ruben Salazar with a tear gas canister to the head. “So again, we have the sheriff of L.A. County, who’s supposed to talk about deputy-involved shootings, natural disasters and all these critical incidences — and he’s making up information right here in front of all of you.” Not only was Luna not rattled by Villanueva’s attack, but he returned to his Santa Fe Springs teenage years when asked whether the Sheriff’s Department should use alternative strategies, besides violence, when stopping Latinos on bicycles — a scandal under Villanueva.