The former U.S. marshal wants to be a U.S. congressman. He's a leader in Sacramento's Latino community, and he's Republican.
He could be retiring after 40 years of presidential appointments and posts under California governors. But at 65, he's diving into the caldron of national politics.
Tony Amador may or may not get his wish to strengthen the weakened hand of the GOP in Washington, D.C., but his candidacy is illuminating.
Amador aspires to the corridors of power after being a child of the powerless.
He was one of 14 kids growing up dirt poor in Murray, Utah, in the 1940s and 1950s. "We bathed in one tub," Amador said, "so you wanted to be one of the first. You didn't want to be the third or fourth in that water."
Amador's parents were undocumented. He worked in the fields, put himself through school, moved to California and became a cop in the Los Angeles Police Department.
That put Amador in the minority in his job, but he never saw himself as a minority. He became a Republican, which puts him in the minority of his party.
But he doesn't see himself as a minority candidate.
He's a candidate for U.S. Congress who happens to be Latino. Amador surely would be better known if he were a Democrat. His Republican roots make him an outsider within California's Latino political circles.
That's why it would be ironic if next year Amador is elected to represent the 11th Congressional District, which winds through San Joaquin County and the counties of Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara.
If he wins, the only Northern California Latino in Congress will be a Republican. Ten years after the death of Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna, one of the few notable Latino leaders from Sacramento will have had to relocate to Lodi to achieve a dream he first had in high school.
"In my yearbook I wrote that I wanted to be a U.S. congressman," Amador said.
Amador, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, recently stepped down as the U.S. marshal based in Sacramento. He oversaw the hunting and transporting of federal fugitives and prisoners from Fresno to Siskiyou County. In July his office assisted in arresting more than 200 fugitives in 34 California counties.
Amador will make his candidacy official next week in Lodi. In the Republican primary, he'll have to prove to conservatives that he is one of them. He's anti-abortion and pro-death penalty, and believes in a strong, fortified border.
"But discriminating against people once they are here? I'm not for that. I support the Constitution, where everyone has rights," he said.
Amador defies political stereotypes. And in California, he represents political progress: His background informs his opinions; it doesn't define him.
Call The Bee's Marcos Breton, (916) 321-1096.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.