For at least part of Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) seemed to be in the cockpit of history.
After being one of the few major politicians to address Gran Marcha, Saturday’s massive demonstration in downtown Los Angeles against a draconian federal crackdown on illegal immigration – which Nunez said he had expected to draw 100,000 participants but which actually drew many times that – the speaker flew to Washington to help the push for a new immigration law. There he met with the California Congressional delegation, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Mexican Ambassador to the United States Carlos de Icaza, and joined with Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain to push their bill that would create a new guest worker program and allow an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. to become legal residents.
During a round of Capitol Hill meetings and conversations Tuesday that Nunez strategist Steve Maviglio described as “very exciting” in a cell phone conversation with a notable hubbub in the background, the speaker pushed for a version of the bill. On Monday, in the wake of major demonstrations on behalf of illegal immigrants around the country, the Senate Judiciary Committee had passed a bill to the liking of Kennedy, McCain, and their allies. Feinstein, who had previously opposed it, came out for a guest worker program.
But later on Tuesday, progress stalled. Divided Republicans, who control the Senate, delayed moving the bill forward. Most Republicans on the committee had voted against the bill. They want strong border security provisions in any immigration overhaul.
And another major wrinkle emerged, that should not surprise knowledgeable political observers. The nation’s top labor leader came out against a guest worker program.
”Guest worker programs are a bad idea and harm all workers,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement. ”They cast workers into a perennial second-class status, and unfairly put their fates into their employers’ hands.”
Back in California, other top state leaders were stymied by the politics of illegal immigration.
State Treasurer Phil Angelides, the longtime Democratic frontrunner for governor, had declined to answer questions about his views on illegal immigration just the day before Gran Marcha. But his caution availed him not at all yesterday, when he took a pounding on San Francisco liberal KGO radio host Ronn Owens’ show. His biggest problem? Illegal immigration. The host and his callers went after the Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s previously established position that illegal immigrants living in California be able to pay the lower in-state tuition if they attend California State University or University of California campuses. Out-of-state students who are citizens have to pay much higher fees.
And Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to go beyond his Los Angeles Times op-ed piece yesterday on the matter, in which he called for heightened border security, a guest worker program, and temporary legal status for illegal immigrants already in the country while opposing the current push to make illegal immigration a felony offense. Some Republicans had suggested that he turn his scheduled speech to the Bay Area Council on his administration’s economic accomplishments and the unveiling of a state web site portal for businesses seeking to expand to California into an address on illegal immigration.
“He can strike while the iron is hot and be a national leader on this issue today,” said one. But the newly cautious former action superstar stuck to his script and in the end only took a question on illegal immigration in the question and answer session after his speech. There he mostly repeated phrases from his op-ed piece.
It seems clear that at this moment, even California’s top elected officials are finding it difficult to lead on this highly complex and contentious issue.
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17 Comments
1. Ann:It sounds like nothing will happen in an election year unless these school kids cutting class in Los Angeles provoke a violent reaction.
Mar 29, 2006 - 7:08 am 2. Barbara:TEENAGERS BEING TEENAGERS should never be allowed to be an excuse for a VIOLENT REACTION.
Mar 29, 2006 - 7:55 am 3. Bill Bradley:Tempers are running high on both sides and I don’t know that you or I have any influence over what happens in the street.
Mar 29, 2006 - 8:06 am 4. Mark A. York:My little tale over at Cooper’s is true. In 2002 or 3 the state opened cal state to illegals at resident tuition and the place overflowed. They closed it after one semester. Space is California is a real problem.
Mar 29, 2006 - 9:07 am 5. Barbara:True. But according to press reports the kids are being dealt with (school lock downs, and applying truancy laws) and if anyone or any groups instigate violence against what have been peaceful demonstrations and kids being kids …they will be most certainly dealt with by law enforcement…hopefully quickly and harshly.
I hope the press and voters do not allow the candidates to punt this one by saying it is a federal issue. This one issue, i.e., “illegal immigration” has the most impact on California. It allows us a chance to see the views of a candidate and his grasp of economics, civil rights, national security, crime & law enforcement, tax and budget issues, and it provides a window into how a candidate views the human family….as these issues are all rolled up in this one issue…so I want to hear from them …
Mar 29, 2006 - 9:37 am 6. Bill Bradley:Mark, there is only so much California.
Mar 29, 2006 - 10:00 am 7. Rich:Bill, maybe I haven’t read through your previous posts carefully enough, but where do you stand on the proposed guest worker program (in any of its possible instantiations)?
Mar 29, 2006 - 10:43 am 8. AthlonGuy:There is nothing more annoying than getting stuck in traffic because these kids have closed down the freeway to have their protest walk.
Mar 29, 2006 - 10:43 am 9. Bill Bradley:Rich, generally speaking, especially so with respect to things I don’t have all the answers on, I am a political analyst and opinion journalist, not an advocacy journalist.
Mar 29, 2006 - 10:48 am 10. Dana:Athlon says “There is nothing more annoying than getting stuck in traffic because these kids have closed down the freeway to have their protest walk.”
Saturday the buses on Wilshire were messed up for hours.
Silly question: what is the goal of immigration legislation? And what policy would best achieve that goal? Is anything going on beyond posturing, throwing red meat to various ends of the political spectrum? Is their any light or just a great deal of bluster and heat dominating this debate? What have we learned since the 1986 federal legislation? Or Prop 187?
Mar 29, 2006 - 11:34 am 11. Jeff:Illegal immigration has been good to the California Democratic Party and especially Speaker Fabian Nunez. A while ago I looked at the number of voters in each Assembly district and he is elected from a district with the fewest voters, by far, of any in California, about a third of what some districts have. Democrats occupied the 19 districts with the fewer voters. One person, one vote means that all voters will not be of equal value.
Mar 29, 2006 - 12:42 pm 12. Mark A. York:“not an advocacy journalist” Which is good because some see this as a bad thing. Not that I do per se.
Mar 29, 2006 - 1:50 pm 13. Barbara:Here we go… in the Senate…
Mar 29, 2006 - 3:06 pm 14. Bill Bradley:Here we go?
Mar 29, 2006 - 4:56 pm 15. Barbara:C-span Durbin is defending the Dream Act right now…giving illegal immigrants in- state tutition! What a skilled attorney! Gotta Go!
Mar 29, 2006 - 5:06 pm 16. Barbara:Brilliant ! Durbin went thru a measured,articulate, and thoughtful response to critics of “dream act” which is one of his amendments to what they appear to now reference as the Specter -Kennedy Bill . Also as Sessions spoke earlier and provided disinformation on the Dream Act…he corrected the record. I hope Westly’s campaign gets a tape of his defense of this policy… Durbin will come out of this a national star…and Specter a hero …can you imagine.. there were groups and individuals in the Rep party that wanted to deny Specter the chairmanship of Judiciary Committee…we would be in a very different place at this moment on this issue if that had happeded…Man plans and God laughs!
I just re-read Arnold’s op-ed after hearing Sessions “this is amnesty, this is amnesty, this is amnesty” speak…His op-ed really troubles me much more . I am quite sure he will embrace the position that this legislation is “amnesty” therefore “anarchy” knowing for many it’s a war cry….
Mar 29, 2006 - 6:07 pm 17. Barbara:They’re back… and this is great stuff…thank goodness for C-Span…
Mar 30, 2006 - 7:52 am