Which is why the Sheriff should not be elected. The county commission should hire a professional to run the department.
A tough stance on undocumented immigrants touted by Vic Regalado in media advertisements and at public forums has some in Tulsa’s Hispanic community concerned about the Republican candidate’s intentions if he is elected sheriff.
In his television advertisement,
Regalado says he will “fight illegal immigration, which is personal for me.”A 25-second video on Dream Act Oklahoma-Tulsa’s Facebook page posted Saturday night features four young members of the local Hispanic community saying, “Vic Regalado does not represent me.”
Christina Starzl Mendoza, a co-leader of Dream Act Oklahoma-Tulsa, said a goal of the group is to try to ensure undocumented people trust law enforcement because many of them are targets for crime, especially robbery.
“If they don’t feel safe to report that crime to police, that’s an issue,” Mendoza said. “Not only does that allow for the bad people who actually commit crimes to go free, you have a group of people who can’t participate in keeping their community safe.”
Jordan Mazariegos said he knows airtime for ads is expensive, so he reasoned that Regalado has spent a large chunk of campaign funds “to make it a point to target the immigrant community.”
Regalado’s campaign finance reports state he spent $88,350 through mid-February on media advertising.
Francisco Treviño, president of the Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said he reached out to Regalado after he first viewed the TV spot, asking Regalado, “What the hell were you thinking?”
Treviño said it became his understanding the Regalado campaign went the direction it did in ads to garner more votes.
Treviño said the Republican Party “feeds off” staunch platforms on undocumented immigration, with perhaps a majority of voters holding “some sort of anger” toward that population.http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/elections/hispanic-group-concerned-about-sheriff-candidate-vic-regalado-s-rhetoric/article_9b7781f3-1f25-53cc-8567-8186aaa1217b.html