Micah Wright - Last Post... For this class...

During the 2010 race for San Antonio District Attorney, Susan Reed (the current DA) and Nico Lahood (an ADA) faced off in the political ring.  While Nico Lahood, a Hispanic candidate, attacked Reed on her conviction rates, Reed (a White candidate) attacked Lahood on his criminal record.  Paralleling the Lexus Nexus Results of the Bonilla/Jones race from the book, the Hispanic candidate definitely occupied most of the negative media spotlight.

Like most people, I was interested to know what was so important about Lahood’s record that could de-qualify him to become a district attorney. Besides, he had already spent a good number of years working as an attorney - even as a special prosecutor for a number of counties.  Susan Reed argued that because of his criminal record, Lahood could not become a police officer and therefore should not become a DA – she even had the San Antonio Police Officers Association endorsement.

SAPOA Endorses Susan Reed

So what’s the point of the negativity? I’m sure most unaware citizens will not even know who is running for DA, so why not just talk about how good someone is at being a lawyer? I believe the negativity promoted a certain racial stereotype of Nico Lahood.  If the DA, who has been the almost unopposed DA since 1998, comes on TV and says that a specific person is a criminal, who is going to question her authority?

Susan Reed, along with the media coverage, created a specific character structure for Lahood. Instead of being portrayed as a bad lawyer, he was portrayed as a dangerous Mexican. Once the archetype was set, the only thing Nico Lahood could do was embrace it. In his commercials he portrays himself as the poor troubled Hispanic kid who was able to rise above his mistakes, instead of the talented lawyer who was qualified to be DA.

Unfortunately (I voted for Lahood), not enough people questioned Reed (Lahood lost). “The dependence of the news on elites to define what is important and as the ‘go to’ people for comments and interpretations affects how the coverage of racial minorities change over time; it also explains the limited nature of these changes because the news will only be as progressive on racial issues as the dominant ideology allows” (507, IBook). In many political races, whether it is explicitly mentioned, or hinted at in passing, the race of a candidate is always at the forefront.