In San Diego yesterday to unveil a statue of himself, Pete Wilson was greeted by two large groups: one praising him for jump-starting the city's downtown renaissance and the other calling him a bigot. Each side seemed determined to drown out the other.

About 300 protesters outside Horton Plaza pounded drums, shouted into megaphones and sounded sirens across the street from a ceremony to install the Wilson statue on the grounds of 225 Broadway, a private office building.

Inside the fenced gathering, patriotic songs pumped out of a sound system and an audience of about 500 people dressed in suits and sundresses lifted cups of champagne to the former San Diego mayor.

[...]

Latino groups said there should be no tribute to Wilson's record on immigration.

“Our message is that Pete Wilson has been about white supremacy all along. It is racist to honor this guy,” said Olin Tezcatlipoca, director of the Los Angeles-based Mexica Movement.

Tezcatlipoca's group toted signs depicting Wilson in a Nazi uniform with a swastika.

The complaint is that Wilson championed Proposition 187, the 1994 initiative passed by voters that would have denied social services to undocumented immigrants if the courts hadn't ruled it unconstitutional. In his presidential bid, Wilson made a television commercial showing immigrants running across the border, which some people found offensive.

Gay rights activists joined in the protest. They said Wilson gave them the cold shoulder as mayor, ignoring complaints about police harassment of gays and gay businesses.

“I'm a member of the gay community and I don't feel Pete Wilson's administration represented what is best in San Diego,” longtime San Diegan Ben Dillingham said.

[...]

The land under the Wilson and Horton statues is owned by the Irvine Co., the Orange County real estate giant that bought the property recently. Wilson is a member of the company's board of directors.

I'm your governor Pete Wilson, ya know
The baddest governor to ever grab the mic and go
BOOOM !
Gimme a budget and watch me hack it !
Gimme a beat and I'll show you how to jack it !
I give the rich a giant tax loophole
I leave the poor living in a poophole
At time when AIDS is in a crisis
I cut health care and I raise prices
Sales tax, snack tax, excise tax
Information attack with a newspaper tax
Hit the pocket books of working families
Increase tuition at the universities
Some day I'll command all o' you
Even your kids are gonna pray to me in school
Soon I'm gonna be the president
You might remember the last one this state sent

Chorus:
California uber alles
California uber alles
California uber alles
California uber alles

I'm so proud to know the Great Communicator
Wanna be known as the Great Incarcerator
I'll blow environmentalists away
And I'll be the fuhrer some day
I'll keep cuttin' Public Education
even though we rank 45th in the nation
I've got a plan for all the minorities
Send 'em to the California Youth Authorities
From San Francisco Urban Elementary
to Pelican Bay State Penitentiary
There they can work for the master race
and always wear a happy face
Close your eyes, it can't happen here
Big Brother in a squad car's comin' near
Come enjoy the surf and the sun
and help California number one !

Chorus

Now it's 1992
Knock knock at your front door, yo guess who ?!
It's the suede denim secret police
They've come to your house for your longhaired niece
Gonna send her off to a camp
'cause she's been accused of growing hemp
Don't worry it's only a shower
And now for your clothes here's a pretty flower
Gonna die on malathion gas
The serpent's egg has always been hatched
People starvin' and livin' in the streets
because they tried to mess with me President Pete

Chorus

A group of San Diego gays, lesbians and transgender people joined some 300 Latino protesters Aug. 25 in spoiling a downtown ceremony to unveil a privately funded statue of former mayor, assemblyman, governor and U.S. senator Pete Wilson.

The protesters banged on drums, shouted through bullhorns and chanted, "Tear down the statue, tear down the hate" and "Pete Wilson's gotta go: Racist, sexist, homophobe." The hour-long, nonstop cacophony made the unveiling ceremony, taking place less than 100 feet away in privately owned Horton Square, inaudible to many of the 300 or so well-heeled attendees honoring Wilson for his key role in the revitalization of San Diego's downtown core.