Cross post from HatCityBLOG
Ugh…the Tribuna is at it again!
The family-run immigrant newspaper with close ties to Mayor Mark Boughton (which includes providing thousands of dollars in contributions to Boughton’s campaign while failing to inform their readership about the donations in their endorsements of the mayor, have sunk to a new low with their latest act of hypocrisy.
Earlier this year, Tribuna Editor in Chief AND current Republican Board of Education candidate, Emanuela Leaf, and her family held an award ceremony entitled “American Dream Awards” in which the newspaper presented awards to members of the immigrant community that they described as “like Tribuna’s founders, have overcome tremendous odds and adversity to make their American Dreams come true.”
While the stories of the members of the immigrant community who received an award that night are quite compelling, one award recipient stood among the others…because he’s one of the most well-recognized anti-immigrant political at the State Capitol who was also the chief architect for the city’s ICE ACCESS program…State Senator Mike McLachlan.
During the gala, community leaders were also honored. The American Dream Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Attorney Americo S. Ventura. State Senator Michael McLachlan (R-24), Alessandro Piovezahn, founder and creator of The LivelyUp Project, an intergovernmental organization in support of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) were honored with the American Dream Leadership Awards.
Faced with this insanity, one has to wonder:
- Why would an immigrant newspaper give an award to the person who’s anti-immigrant policies (including being the architect for the city’s ICE ACCESS program) are well known to anyone who has followed McLcahlan’s anti-immigrant antics as the mayor’s chief of staff?
- Why would an immigrant newspaper that talks about diversity give an award to an individual who’s extreme and offensive anti-gay rights stance is well known to anyone who has followed McLachlan’s antics at the State Capitol?
- Why would a newspaper that talks about the American Dream give an award to a State Senator that support “Tenth Amendment legislation” which proclaims that the State rights trumps Federal Law?
- Why would an immigrant newspaper that talks about the importance of a multicultural community give an award to an individual who’s made headlines by proposing an abhorrent “Birther” bill that deemed so racist that even fellow Republicans distanced themselves from the State Senator?
- Why would an immigrant newspaper give an award to a politician who has been long despised within the immigrant community?
With their history of questionable and somewhat unethical practices, one has to wonder if Tribuna is really a newspaper or just another form of propaganda for Boughton.
