About a week before the April 2002 runoff election, a local teacher’s union representative named Susie Luna Saldana (no relation to Rep. Luna) gave a political commentary on Commentarios, Corpus’s venerable open-forum broadcast on Spanish-language radio. During campaign season in Corpus, as you might imagine, the commentaries are heated. Saldana accused Canales-Black of trying to buy the election. Standing nearby, waiting to give his counter view, was Tony Canales. When his turn came, Canales erupted. He ranted that people like Saldana had no right to say such things about his daughter. “These Mexicans, we can buy them two for a nickel,” he said in Spanish. Canales claimed later that “Mexicans” referred to Saldana and people like Rodriguez, not working families. But Hinojosa’s campaign giddily snapped up the tape and turned the recording into a political ad with the lead-in, “This is what the Canales family thinks of you.” The ad was broadcast all over Spanish-language radio, which, as Carranza’s high ratings attest, is a powerful medium in Corpus. The Canales-Black campaign never recovered. On Election Day, Hinojosa prevailed, securing a surprising 39 percent in Nueces County.
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1552
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