Fernando Gonzales is quietly winning over the public one voter at a time. While king makers and wannabe king makers are throwing manure at each other in the Pima County Board of Supervisor races, Fernando Gonzales and his family and friends are spreading stories of hope and opportunity in the District 5 community.
Fernando is the embodiment of the American Dream and he wants others to share in that dream. That is not a romantic overstatement created by PR firms, or political hacks. It is a simple truth that existed long before Fernando ever thought of running for office.
In fact, it is because he wants other to live the dream he has lived, that the successful small business owner is running for office.
It is the difference between how Gonzales and his opponent, Incumbent Richard Elias, came to live their American dreams that defines their view of what it takes for others to achieve their own.
Elias is proud of the fact that he became a County Supervisor in 2002, after a lengthy career in the government and non-profit development of affordable housing. He earned a degree in History, with a minor in Mexican-American Studies, from the University of Arizona.
Gonzales, is one of eight siblings; a child of first generation migrant workers. With his mother, who was born in Tornillo, Texas along with the rest of his siblings, Fernando spent his childhood working in the agricultural fields both in Arizona and California. A work ethic was instilled early on.
Gonzales is proud of the fact that he and his sister built a successful janitorial service that has employed hundreds of Tucsonans over many years. After high school, Fernando attended Hartnell Junior College and began working for the Monterey County Publics Works Department as an Engineering Aide, and later with Raytheon as a Manufacturing Engineer in the Research and Development Department.
In a little viewed video shot at his campaign kickoff, Fernando describes a turning point in his life that every Pima County resident should hear whether they refuse to consider voting for him or not.
While we see Supervisor Richard Elias, in this Youtube video, opening the doors for rampaging radical activists in the takeover of a school board meeting:
We see Gonzales describing his experience when his mother opened the door many years ago to law enforcement, which ultimately opened up the doors of opportunity for him throughout his life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7BWuHAnTj4
That is the key difference between the two men; while Gonzales wants to open the doors of opportunity for everyone in Southern Arizona, Elias has maintained his power from those who teach kids that the doors are closed for them and those who work to close the doors on high paying job opportunities.
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