“Fabian Nunez, who as California Assembly Speaker became one of the state’s most prominent Latino lawmakers, is taking on a new media career — joining a team of 2012 election analysts with powerhouse Spanish-language Univision Communications.

Democrat Nunez joins a pair of GOP analysts — journalist Helen Aguirre Ferre and Dr. Emilio Gonzalez, who served as director of the Homeland Security’s immigration services — in the new analyst job with Univision. The new team is charged with delivering political analysis  on the issues and the candidates of the 2012 presidential election on Univision’s evening newscasts, “Noticiero Univision,” for the network’s popular Sunday news show, “Al Punto” (To the Point), and its morning program, “Despierta America.” The network will use the team as part of a plan to marshall more social network and interactive coverage with its “Destino 2012? coverage, according to a Univision news release.

”As Hispanics continue to grow innumber and influence, and become  even more engaged with technology and social platforms, Unvision will….keep audiences abreast of the news that will impoact their lives, so in turn they can make informed decisions,” according to a statement Monday by Isaac Lee, president of News/Univision Communications.”

Since leaving his position as the Speaker of the California Assembly and the controversial pardon of his son’s manslaugher case, Nuñez has maintained a rather low profile. I think that this might be a step toward reshaping his image in taking this public step as a media analyst. It will be interesting to see how the viewers of Univision react to him. I’m not too surprised that he’s stepping back out into the public sphere — are you?

“Outside the first court hearing in the case, Fabian Nunez said his son received a tougher sentence because of his father’s political career and the district attorney’s ambitions.

“When you’re dealing with a district attorney like we did in San Diego, who clearly, you know, has aspirations and has always had aspirations for higher office, the approach that they took to my son’s case, and in particular to him, irrespective of the facts of the actual case — they picked on my son from day one,” said Nunez, a Los Angeles Democrat who was termed out of office in 2008.

“You add up an overzealous district attorney with a judge in San Diego who represented that he would, my son, get a much lower sentence and then went back on his word — that’s why we are where we are. It’s just a horrible tragedy all around and I feel horrible,” Nunez said.”

Really, this whole arrest and trial was to some degree politicized, but I think that Núñez and his defense team may have brought that on themselves. Remember when Mayor Villaraigosa was telling us that Esteban was a “good boy” and when politicians and other leaders were writing letters on behalf of the now convicted younger Núñez? If these politicians and other people had not started publicly commenting, maybe the political element would have been lessened. Had Fabian Núñez not asked for any letters, favors from the former Governor, etc. he and his family may have started to regain some goodwill with the California public. And finally, Papa or Mama Núñez should have taken a peek at his child’s myspace account (and the social media for his Hazard Crew friends) for a glimpse into his child’s interests; maybe this tragedy could have been avoided altogether. Many parents who are in high profile positions closely monitor these things because they know the consequences.

Edited to add: the LA Times has a good update of what happened today after the hearing over the now reduced sentence for Esteban Núñez.

The Wave Newspaper reports:

“The father of a murdered college student said he’s outraged that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a snoring noise when asked about his decision to shorten the sentence of his son’s killer, whose father is a former Assembly speaker, it was reported Saturday.

Schwarzenegger made a snoring sound on Thursday, when he was asked about his last-minute commutation for Esteban Nunez, the son of former Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles, who fatally stabbed Luis Santos outside a San Diego State fraternity party in 2008.

“[Schwarzenegger's] arrogant and insensitive,” Luis Santos’ father, Fred Santos, who lives in the East Bay suburb of Concord, told the Contra Costa Times.”

Esteban Nuñez also received some positive comments from Mayor Villaraigosa if you recall.

I sense that even Schwarzenegger realizes that the public won’t forget about his decision to ease up on the Esteban Nuñez sentence. And should Fabian Nuñez ever run for public office again, this issue will certainly to be a thorn in his side.

Well, Latino politicians are giving us a gangbuster start to the New Year first with Fabian Nuñez’s incarcerated child receiving a commutation from outgoing Governor Schwarzenegger, and now current Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar posing as the Godfather. This picture came to LatinoPoliticsBlog and other members of the media this evening from an anonymous Huizar staffer. Apparently, this picture of Huizar imposed on a Godfather poster has been on display in the councilmember’s office for about a year, positioned in front of his desk so that when he looks straight ahead from the vantage point of being seated at his desk he sees this picture.

We have been following the Los Angeles CD 14 race because it involves one of the most Latino political districts in the nation. You can read more about this race here and here.

My thought is that it is unwise for any elected or appointed official to pose or be pretending to be the head of a crime syndicate, even if it is a joke because some people will inevitably take it seriously. This is precisely the kind of image that Latino elected officials should avoid. People already assume that many of us are involved in the drug trade or other criminal enterprises even if we are law abiding and out of the public sphere. But it seems that Councilmember Huizar likes to play fantasy, first dressing up as a charro, and now displaying this Godfather image in his office.

What are your thoughts? Should public officials portray themselves like this in the workplace? Is this just fun and games or a joke to break the ice?

When you read the Governor’s reasoning for the commutation, it makes sense why he issued it. However, it is very obvious that this was a gift to the Nuñez family. If Esteban Nuñez had been the child of Jose Nuñez, the brick layer or car washer, I doubt he would have had his sentence commuted.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Schwarzenegger should have done this or should he have left Esteban Nuñez’s original sentence in tact?

Photo Credit: Taken from Esteban’s now closed MySpace Account, pictured on the right wearing the “wifebeater” style tank.

San Diego 6 has a good summary of why the sentences for manslaughter were handed out this way, and it shows how Esteban was influenced by his friends. This isn’t too surprising when you look at the photos that Esteban Nuñez had published on his myspace account showing him and his friends drinking, partying, posing like thugs, etc.:

Esteban Nunez of Sacramento pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for the Oct. 4, 2008, confrontation that took the life of Luis Santos — also known as Luis Dos Santos.

Ryan Jett, 24, of Sacramento, also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault for instigating the incident, in which two of Santos’ friends were also stabbed and another friend suffered an eye injury.

Two others — Leshanor Thomas, 21, and 20-year-old Rafael Garcia — pleaded guilty to lesser charges and will be sentenced next Friday.

“Had they not all acted together, Luis would still be alive,” Deputy District Attorney Jill DiCarlo said.

Nunez was next to Jett the entire time to “aid and abet” the assault, the prosecutor said.

“He was not a passive participant — he did not play a minor role,” DiCarlo said. “He took on a tough guy, dominating role.”

Hopefully, the family of Luis Dos Santos finds peace and Esteban Nuñez serves out his sentence and avoids this kind of violence in the future. And I hope that politicians such as Mayor Villaraigosa and Kevin de Leon, who were quick to defend the younger Nuñez, think twice about publicly offering support to their colleagues’ children who engage in this kind of behavior. In rushing to defend Esteban Nuñez, these elected officials created an impression that they support deviant behavior.

So here’s the latest:

Ten News in San Diego is reporting that jury selection is being pushed out until Tuesday. And here is a repeat of what is to be decided before the jury:

“Ryan Jett, 24, and Esteban Nunez, 21, are charged with murder, assault, vandalism, conspiracy to commit an assault and conspiracy to destroy evidence in the death of 22-year-old Luis Santos.

If convicted, both face 25 years to life behind bars.

Two co-defendants, 20-year-old Rafael Garcia and 21-year-old Leshanor Thomas, pleaded guilty to lesser charges.”

A few weeks ago, the LA Weekly reported that a hearing was held where the judge ruled that rap lyrics written by Esteban Nuñez could not be brought before a jury, but a text message that Nuñez sent to his co-defendant Rafael Garcia shortly after the killing can be presented to the jury. The message read, “Gangsta rap made us do it.”

Now many of us have heard of the twinkie defense used by Dan White in another high profile California murder case, but I haven’t heard of the ‘gangsta rap’ defense, have you?

It’s also worth listening to this report by KNX 1070.

UPDATED 5/5/2010: Esteban Nuñez and his co-defendant Ryan Jett have pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of Luis Santos. Sentencing is scheduled for June 25, and the judge has indicated that he plans to send both young men to prison but may not impose the maximum 16 year sentence. In pleading guilty, both men will now have two strikes. I have a sneaky suspicion that Fabian Nuñez will get on some sort of prison reform kick or will attempt to revise the three strikes law, which I actually think is worth revisiting for drug offenders, not necessarily murderers. I always thought that Esteban had projected an entitlement attitude based upon how he presented himself online and in the remarks he made that became evidence.

Finally, if you want to read about the actual court room drama from today. The LA Weekly has a nice, brief write up of the emotions and mood projected by the Nuñez family.

“Here’s why the political elite in California are watching this tragic murder case involving alleged killers who come from private schools and lives of power and privilege:

The case has elicited the involvement of California’s Democratic Party political stars, from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to County Federation of Labor chief Maria Elena Durazo — all rallying around the accused while doing nothing to support the family of the widely-loved dead young man, who went, simply, by the name Lu.”

I think that Villaraigosa, Durazo, Romero, and De Leon should have said nothing publicly about Fabian Nuñez’s kid, Esteban and his trials and tribulations, especially without expressing sympathy for the real victim in this case, a deceased young man, Lu Santos. Politically a “no comment on this pending case” would probably have served all of these leaders better than expressing sympathy for Fabian Nuñez and his child, who is out on bail, in my view.

Politicians on both the left and the right have been guilty of this kind of spending. We have seen this in California with former assembly speaker Fabian Nuñez spending campaign cash on French wine and Louis Vuitton. This kind of expending should not be excused, and I think that Latino politicians have to be extra careful in not appearing to be “on the take.” And Rubio should be especially careful, as he has been running on the “fiscal conservative” platform and lists “spending” as the first issue on his website (under the “issues” tab). There is also this idea that Miami, where Rubio is from, is a place known for fraud, just google “fraud and Miami” to get an idea. So Rubio and his people should have definitely been on top of any spending that might look questionable in the eyes of the public.

The Democrats in Florida have already jumped on this Rubio “spending spree” with this short ad:

In concluding, I should note that Marco Rubio has agreed to pay back some of the charges to the state GOP, namely some airfare charges that he says were a “mistake.” But what are your thoughts? Should the public forgive and forget or should we be angered that our politicians think that they can get away with these expenditures, especially at the expense of one’s political party or campaign? If you donate to a party or political campaign, how do you expect those dollars to be used?

I think that whether Fabian Nuñez makes a run for the state treasurer in four years will largely depend how the murder trial that his son is involved in turns out. The trial of Esteban Nuñez is scheduled for April of this year after being rescheduled. If you all remember, the younger Nuñez displayed a very interesting myspace page that has since been taken down. I’m still bothered when I look at the pictures of young Esteban Nuñez. What does this say about his father and his agenda in the public sphere? Tell us what you think. Should Fabian Nuñez return to public life or should he stay in the private sector? I personally think that he shouldn’t even be in lobbying because he represents part of what many people loathe, the revolving door where electeds become lobbyists and continue to feed at the public trough. And Nuñez is certainly young and resourceful enough to reinvent himself.