Cruz Bustamante

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Cruz Miguel Bustamante (born January 4, 1953) is an American politician. He is currently the Lieutenant Governor of California, a member of the Democratic Party, and a candidate for Insurance Commissioner of California.

1 Personal
2 Recall Election
3 "It's not what's in my heart"
4 Trivia
5 Electoral history
6 References
7 External link

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Personal

The eldest of six children, Cruz Bustamante was born in Dinuba, California. His family later moved to San Joaquin, California. He attended and graduated from Tranquillity High School in the 1970s. At Tranquillity High School he excelled in both football and wrestling. He then attended Fresno City College. He was elected to the California State Assembly in a special election in 1993. He became the Speaker of the Assembly in 1996. He has served as the Lieutenant Governor since 1999. He was the first Latino elected to statewide office in California in more than 120 years and was also the highest-ranking elected Latino officeholder in the United States until Bill Richardson became Governor of New Mexico in 2003. Bustamante earned his B.A. via correspondence school from the California State University, Fresno in 2003.

With his wife Arcelia, Bustamante has three daughters.

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Recall Election

He was the most prominent Democrat to run in the 2003 California recall election to remove Governor Gray Davis, and placed second to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, losing by approximately 1.3 million votes.

Bustamante had an apparently icy relationship with Governor Davis, a fellow Democrat, during his tenure. They reportedly had not talked in months before the recall election approached. Bustamante's decision to run in the recall election was controversial, as many supporters of Governor Davis had urged prominent Democrats not to run, in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the event. During the recall election, Bustamante ran on a platform slogan of "No on Recall, Yes on Bustamante,"[1][2] indicating he opposed the recall. Bustamante is currently running for California Insurance Commissioner without major Democratic opposition. [3]

Bustamante drew some criticism during the election for his involvement with the Chicano organization MEChA in the 1970s. He also was accused of accepting donations above the state's contribution cap by funneling money through former campaign accounts. He was also criticized for accepting many contributions from Native American casinos.

Bustamante is a moderate Democrat, and in the 2004 presidential primary served as California campaign chair for U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman's campaign. In contrast, other statewide elected officials generally endorsed John Kerry or Howard Dean.

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"It's not what's in my heart"

In 2001, Bustamante was speaking before a group of approximately 400 black labor activists when, reciting a list of black labor groups which came to existance over a hundred years ago, many which still had "Negro" in their title, he mentioned the National Negro American Labor Council, but the word "nigger" slipped out.

Realizing the mistake, he immediately apologized to his stunned audience: "If you heard what I think I heard, I want you to know it wasn't me," he said. "It's not the way I was raised, it's not the way I was taught, it's not the way I raised my children and it's not what's in my heart." [4]

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