This is in response to Virginia Garcia’s letter to the editor in the Thursday, May 29th Pendleton East Oregonian, titled “Barreto’s attacks on illegal immigrants shows ignorance.”
During the election campaign Greg Barreto was targeted as being a racist. Most of these attacks stem from a question that was presented to him and John Turner at a forum in Pendleton, which I attended with Greg. That’s right, as Lars Larson would say, “I have a dog in the fight.” At the forum, Morrow County Sheriff Ken Matlack asked what each candidate’s stance was on the driver card law coming up for a vote. Greg Barreto answered by saying he opposed driver’s cards for immigrants and John Turner said he supported them. As a result of Mr. Barreto’s opposition to the driver cards, the media and a lot of other folks, including Ms. Garcia, have labeled him as a racist, which is the furthest from fact. Greg Barreto’s stance on the driver card issue is based on legality and not racism. If an immigrant is here legally, then fine, get your driver’s license and be totally legal.
I find it interesting that the Barretos have tried to present some facts to the media regarding this allegation of him being a racist. Up to this point the media has neglected to set the record straight.
Fact one: Greg Barreto’s dad, Jacinto (Tom) Barreto, was 100 percent Hispanic and his mom is 100 percent German. This tells me that Greg is half Hispanic and half German. How can his stance on an illegal immigrant driver’s card issue be a racist one?
Fact two: Greg’s paternal grandparents moved to California from Mexico at the turn of the century. Again I ask, how can Greg Barreto be labeled a racist?
So, Ms. Garcia, here are the facts. I am sure if you have further questions or concerns for Greg, feel free to give him a call. His contact numbers and email addresses are on the Barreto campaign web site or you can reach him at the state legislature after the first of the year.