Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles supports Fiorina, faces protestors in Santa Cruz

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Fiorina promotion encounters strong protest in Santa Cruz
By Kurtis Alexander [e-mail]
Posted: 10/01/2010 06:02:28 PM PDT

SANTA CRUZ -- A bus tour promoting Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina made a bold turn into largely Democratic Santa Cruz on Friday where it encountered a scheduled protest against the former Hewlett-Packard CEO.

"We're here with a lot of courage," said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. "You known this is not easy." The mission of Aguilar and the Vota Tus Valores bus tour is to rally Latino voters to Fiorina's side. Their method is pointing out what they see as shared positions between Latinos and Fiorina on social issues like opposition to abortion and criticism of gay marriage.

"Don't vote for Fiorina because she's Republican. Vote for her because she shares our values," Aguilar said.

The dozen or so protestors, who met the bus at its scheduled stop at the Santa Cruz Mission, outnumbered supporters. The protestors organized when they heard the bus was coming to town and accused tour leaders of trying to mislead Latino voters.

They noted, for example, how Fiorina supports Arizona's new crack-down on illegal immigration.

"We are here to unmask candidate Fiorina who in reality is not with the Latino community," Erik Larsen, an SEIU organizer said in a statement.

The confrontation between the two groups was noisy, but without incident.

The bus tour is not funded directly by Fiorina, but by independent expenditures.

Fiorina faces incumbent Barbara Boxer in the Nov. 2 election. Polls suggest she's slightly behind but within reach.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16230379