• Elton Gallegly,  Illegal Immigration

    House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement: “Making Immigration Work for American Minorities”

    Yesterday’s hearing, chaired by my Congressman Elton Gallegly proved partisan and combative with Democrats accusing Republicans of playing racial politics.

    A congressional hearing led by Rep. Elton Gallegly quickly turned partisan and combative on Tuesday, with Democrats accusing Republicans of trying to drive a wedge between African-Americans and Latinos over illegal immigration.

    Some lawmakers are trying “to pit black against brown” by essentially arguing that illegal immigration is the reason minority communities still struggle nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr. led a landmark civil rights march on Washington, said Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

    “This is a very sensitive subject,” said Conyers, who called the idea of dividing minority groups “abhorrent and repulsive.”

    Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, charged that the hearing was an attempt to divert attention from the real causes of high unemployment among African-Americans.

    “We cannot afford to let people who have political agendas divide us,” she said.

    Gallegly, who called the hearing as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, disputed the assertion it was part of a divide-and-conquer strategy.

    “I think it’s shameful,” the Simi Valley Republican said of the Democrats’ accusations. “I hope we’ll bring a little more civility to hearings in the future.”

    You can read a more complete summary of the hearing here.

    I am glad to clue in Conyers and Waters, there is already a racial divide between Hispanics and African-Americans and it has nothing to do with illegal immigration. I know the Democrats need racial demographics in order to win elections, particularly statewide in California, but to bury their head in the sand about the impact of illegal aliens on society is just pathetic.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links for February 22nd through February 23rd

    These are my links for February 22nd through February 23rd:

    • The Koch Brothers and Wisconsin – But, What About Common Cause? – The New York Times has an article that runs under the headline "Billionaire Brothers' Money Plays Role in Wisconsin Dispute." It includes this:

      To Bob Edgar, a former House Democrat who is now president of Common Cause, a liberal group that has been critical of what it sees as the rising influence of corporate interests in American politics, the Koch brothers are using their money to create a façade of grass-roots support for their favorite causes.

      "This is a dangerous moment in America history," Mr. Edgar said. "It is not that these folks don't have a right to participate in politics. But they are moving democracy into the control of more wealthy corporate hands."

      This is really something. Who does the New York Times think funds Common Cause? Non-wealthy, non-corporate interests? Talk about a facade of grass-roots support. Common Cause's 2008 annual report — the most recent one posted on the Common Cause Web site, which is pretty pathetic for a group supposedly in favor of transparency — lists the Ford Foundation, the GE Foundation,and the Carnegie Corporation of New York as among its backers.

      The 2008 Common Cause annual report lists five donors in the top giving bracket of between $100,000 and $999,000. They include:

      Donna A. Curling, whose husband's company, ChoicePoint, was acquired in 2008 for $4.1 billion.

      Mr. and Mrs. John C. Haas, whose family controls charitable and income-producing trusts (the Philadelphia chemical company Rohm & Haas was acquired by Dow Chemical) reportedly worth worth a total of more than $4 billion.

      Markos Kounalakis, whose wife, a real estate developer, has enough money to endow a professorship at Stanford.

      Chang K. Park, whose company supplies 80% of the remote controls for Time Warner Cable.

      What Common Cause is is a bunch of millionaires and billionaires trying to prevent other millionaires and billionaires from participating in the political process the same way they do. In other words, they are hypocrites. The Times could write a story headlined Billionaires' Money Plays Role in Wisconsin Dispute and have the article be about not the Koch brothers but about the funders of Common Cause. But the left-wing interest groups rarely get that kind of treatment in the Times, where these left-wing interest groups are more commonly quoted approvingly as expert sources rather than scrutinized skeptically or suspiciously as targets.

      +++++++

      And, then there is George Soros and his front organizations supporting Obama

    • The Mitch Daniels Defense: It’s for the Children – Gov. Mitch Daniels is already under fire for his decision to refuse to push for the passage of the right-to-work laws in Indiana. But supporters are pointing to two factors that they feel make Daniels’s action understandable: his 2005 executive order that banned collective bargaining for state workers and his determination to make education reform a priority in 2011.

      In other words, comparisons to Wisconsin are unfair: right-to-work laws aren’t the same as collective bargaining powers. In addition, Daniels has publicly declared his support for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts.

      “His reluctance on the right-to-work [law] right now is rooted in his desire to see this education [reform] work,” says Ryan Streeter, editor of ConservativeHome.com and a former colleague of Daniels in the White House. Streeter argues that Daniels has been planning for a long time to make this year about education reform – and that a huge battle over right-to-work laws could jeopardize that.

      “He’s gearing up for a fight. This is not going to be an easy thing. He’s received a lot of criticism just in the local media for his plans,” says Streeter, talking about how Daniels wants to introduce vouchers and expand charter schools.

      Daniels also wants more teacher accountability. “Teachers should have tenure, but they should earn it by proving their ability to help kids learn. Our best teachers should be paid more, much more, and ineffective teachers should be helped to improve or asked to move,” Daniels argued in his State of the State speech last month.

      “In general, he wants to be able to rewrite the contracts so that people can be fired and moved along on merit,” Streeter remarks. “And that in itself is just a huge deal. He’s already part of the way down a path with the teachers and the unions in these discussions and so I think this whole right-to-work event right now just makes that whole other process all the more difficult.”

      +++++++

      If Mitch Daniels wants to run for President, he really needs a quick response social media team that will respond to minor misinterpretations and/or gaffes.

      This response changes some impressions of mine but color me still skeptical.

    • Elton Gallegly’s new clout helps him battle illegal immigration – Rep. Elton Gallegly slides into a black leather chair, picks up the chairman's gavel and raps it lightly to call the meeting to order.

      Flat-screen TVs mounted to the walls of the wood-paneled chamber flicker to life with the Republican congressman's image as he gives his opening remarks at a hearing on illegal immigration and its effect on the American work force.

      "Good morning," Gallegly begins. "I have long said that the way to solve the problem of illegal immigration is fairly simple.

      "First, we must enforce our laws and secure the border. Second, we must remove the magnets that encourage illegal immigration. And finally, we must remove the benefits that make it easier for them to stay."

      Gallegly has given this speech, or some variation of it, hundreds, quite possibly thousands, of times. He has been a consistent and outspoken voice against illegal immigration since he gave up his job as mayor of Simi Valley and headed east for a career in the U.S. House nearly a quarter-century ago.

      ++++++++

      Read it all

    • Wisconsin Licensing Dept. Looking Into Doctors’ Notes – Wisconsin officials are investigating complaints about doctors who handed out medical excuses for pro-labor protesters at the Capitol.
      Dave Ross, of the state Department of Regulation and Licensing, said the agency is looking into accusations that a number of local doctors provided the notes for protesters who missed work during the week. Ross said the department will review complaints with the independent Medical Examining Board as soon as possible.
      Tuesday's statement came a day after University of Wisconsin Health, which employed some of the physicians involved, said it was also looking into the matter.
      Physician Lou Sanner was one of the doctors who provided notes. He told The Associated Press on Saturday that doctors wrote the notes for what they saw as legitimate health issues arising from stress.

      +++++++++

      Let the wrist slapping commence

  • E-Verify,  Elton Gallegly,  Illegal Immigration

    House GOP Set to Mandate E-Verify to Crack Down on Illegal Immigration

    This is what Flap’s Congressman Elton Gallegly said on Thursday.

    The balance between Republican calls to reduce government regulation of business and the GOP’s campaign against undocumented workers is about to be tested by a bill that would mandate use of an illegal-worker detection system, which critics say would cripple U.S. agriculture by depriving farmers of cheap labor.

    House immigration subcommittee chairman Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) said Thursday that he plans to introduce the bill to mandate the use of E-Verify within the next month. The program is already mandatory for government agencies and contractors and used voluntarily by nearly 250,000 businesses to check the legal status of potential hires. But Gallegly said he hopes making it a requirement for all U.S. enterprises will drive out illegal workers entirely.

    “If there was ever a need to do something quickly, when we have 14 million Americans who aren’t working today, I think they deserve to be put in the front of the line,” the California Republican said at a hearing on the use of E-Verify.

    About damn time.

    I think such a bill would have an excellent chance of passage. But, will President Obama who needs the Hispanic vote in 2012 veto the legislation?

    Previous:

    Businesses Fear Expansion of the Illegal Immigration E-Verify Program

  • E-Verify,  Elton Gallegly,  Illegal Immigration

    Businesses Fear Expansion of the Illegal Immigration E-Verify Program

    Protesters at a Chipotle restaurant in Minnesota, where some workers were fired after an immigration audit

    Well, too bad.

    In an early indicator of how congressional Republicans will legislate on immigration, House GOP leaders are expanding an inquiry into an enforcement program that allows employers to check the immigration status of employees.

    The E-Verify program has long been championed by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s immigration panel, which will hold a hearing on it Thursday.

    Many business owners believe that Gallegly and other House Republicans want to make E-Verify, currently a voluntary program for companies, mandatory. Critics of such a move, many of them farmers, warn that it could destabilize the agricultural economy, which is heavily dependent on undocumented immigrants, and jeopardize millions of jobs held by American citizens that are upstream and downstream of farm labor.

    The fact is that agricultural mega-business have been using cheap, illegal aliens for most of their labor for decades at great cost to American taxpayers.

    Why?

    Well, it is way cheaper than hiring native born Americans or mechanizing their farming/manufacturing operations. Hence, more profits. But, the taxpayers are picking up the tab for the illegal aliens and their American born (and american citizen) children e.g. public education, medicaid, criminal justice et. al..

    E-Verify is a sensible reform and if the large agricultural companies cannot obtain enough labor then there is always a guest worker program for which they can apply.

    Let’s get the illegal aliens and their hidden costs out of the shadows and back to their home countries while supplying jobs for Americans.

    I will gladly pay a bit more for my lettuce and grapes.

  • Elton Gallegly,  Illegal Immigration

    Shocker: Over a Million Immigrants Land American Jobs from 2008-2010

    A group of immigrant day laborers stand near a street corner waiting for work in the Staten Island borough of New York August 3, 2010

    And, most of the immigrants were illegal aliens to boot.

    Over the past two years, as U.S. unemployment remained near double-digit levels and the economy shed jobs in the wake of the financial crisis, over a million foreign-born arrivals to America found work, many illegally.

    Those are among the findings of a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data conducted exclusively for Reuters by researchers at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

    Often young and unskilled or semi-skilled, immigrants have taken jobs Americans could do in areas like construction, willing to work for less wages. Others land jobs that unemployed Americans turn up their noses at or lack the skills to do.

    With a national unemployment rate of 9.4 percent, domestic job creation is at the top of President Barack Obama’s agenda and such findings could add to calls to tighten up on illegal immigration. But much of it is Hispanic and the growing Latino vote is a key base for Obama’s Democratic Party.

    Many of the new arrivals, according to employers, brought with them skills required of the building trade and found work in sectors such as construction, where jobless rates are high.

    “Employers have chosen to use new immigrants over native-born workers and have continued to displace large numbers of blue-collar workers and young adults without college degrees,” said Andrew Sum, the director of the Center for Labor Market Studies.

    “One of the advantages of hiring, particularly young, undocumented immigrants, is the fact that employers do not have to pay health benefits or basic payroll taxes,” said Sum.

    From 2008 to 2010, 1.1 million new migrants who have entered America since 2008 landed jobs, even as U.S. household employment declined by 6.26 million over that same period.

    These facts are something that will need to be addressed by my Congressman Elton Gallegly as he takes over the House Immigration Subcommittee.

    Americans are out of work, illegal immigrations are displacing them in the work force because they work cheaper, and the immigration laws are not enforced while thousands of folks continue to come across the boader from Mexico.

    Immigration will be a Congressional issue in 2011 and in the Presidential campaign in 2012.

  • Elton Gallegly,  Illegal Immigration

    Why California Rep. Elton Gallegly was a Solid Choice for Immigration Subcommittee Chair

    Conejo Valley Republican Women Lunch January 15 2010 019

    Representative Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley and Flap, January 15, 2010, Thousand Oaks, California

    NumbersUSA has a great piece on my Congressman Elton Gallegly who was recently appointed Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee.

    Rep. Gallegly is among an elite group of Immigration-Reduction Champions. Only two other House Members have taken more constructive actions in their careers to reduce the flow of both illegal and legal immigration. The No. 3 champion Gallegly will be serving under the No. 1 champion, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith.

    Gallegly has earned a Career “A” Grade from NumbersUSA. He has a perfect score in 5 of our 9 categories, and only one category is less than 92%.

    Last Congress, Gallegly sponsored 3 of our “5 Great Immigration-Reduction Bills” – the SAVE Act, the CLEAR Act, and the Visa Lottery elimination bill. He also introduced his own legislation – the Enforce Immigration Law Act of 2009 that would have required information sharing between the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS to help root out illegal aliens in the workplace.

    But to understand the real commitment Rep. Gallegly has to reducing immigration, one can look back to the 1996 debate that resulted in the passing of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

    Read all of the piece here and you will understand why the appointment of the 16 years more of seniority Gallegy was a very solid choice to fight illegal immigration and lead this subcommittee.

  • Elton John,  Illegal Immigration

    House Republicans Name California’s Rep. Elton Gallegly to Lead Immigration Subcommittee

    California GOP delegation could have sway on immigration issues in Congress

    This is a good appointment for my Congressional district and for California.

    Signaling their approach to immigration reform this year will be hawkish but not rhetorically extreme, House Republicans have chosen a Southern California congressman to head the group of lawmakers that drafts and introduces immigration policy.

    The solidly pro-enforcement Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, was named Friday morning to lead the immigration subcommittee in the House of Representatives, which falls under the judiciary committee. House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, surprised many when he chose Gallegly over outspoken Iowa Republican Steve King, who was widely considered to have the job. King will instead be vice chairman.

    Groups that work to halt illegal immigration praised news of the duo’s leadership, but liberal groups interpreted Gallegly’s higher position as a snubbing of King’s harsh tone.

    “The answer to illegal immigration is fairly simple,” Gallegly said in a news release Friday. “First, we must enforce our laws and secure the border. Second, we must remove the magnets that encourage illegal immigration. Finally, we must remove the benefits that make it easy for them to stay.”

    Gallegly said he would oppose any form of amnesty, and he pledged to quickly hold hearings to scrutinize the Obama administration’s approach to work site enforcement and to expand the use of E-Verify, a program for employer screening of workers’ immigration status.

    Missing from Gallegly’s statements Friday was any mention of revoking birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, a hot-button cause that has been a pet issue for King and other immigration hawks. King introduced a bill earlier in the week that would end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents.

    I am glad Elton has been appointed to this chairmanship. He is tough, but fair on illegal immigration.

    And, he will actually get something done, meaning legislation will be written in the Congress. Getting it through the U.S. Senate will probably be difficult and past President Obama’s veto pen more than difficult – but that is another story.

    Look for movement on E-Verify, employer sanctions and Congressional hearings if the Justice Department will NOT enforce existing immigration law.

  • Elton Gallegly

    Rep. Elton Gallegly Named Vice Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee

    Conejo Valley Republican Women Lunch January 15 2010 019

    Representative Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley and Flap, January 15, 2010, Thousand Oaks, California


    From the press release:

    Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) today was named Vice Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by incoming Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.

    “Congressman Gallegly is a very valued, experienced and effective Member of this Committee and is very familiar with the global challenges facing us today, as well as with leaders around the world who we must work with closely to address those challenges. I greatly look forward to working with him and getting his input on the direction that our Committee should take in the next Congress,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
    “I appreciate incoming Chairman Ros-Lehtinen providing me with this opportunity to serve the full committee as Vice Chairman,” Gallegly said. “The United States and our allies face many challenges and it is critical that the House Foreign Affairs Committee lead Congress in meeting those challenges.”

    Gallegly is a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and currently Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Europe, which he chaired the last time Republicans were in the majority. He is finishing up his third term on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and its Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence Subcommittee. For years, Rep. Gallegly has been in the forefront of homeland security and the United States’ war against terrorism.As a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Gallegly has worked with America’s European allies to fight terrorism here and abroad. He has met with more than 50 heads of state, government delegations, or members of foreign legislative bodies here and abroad. He introduced and passed major NATO expansion legislation and represented the House of Representatives at the NATO summit in Prague at the request of President Bush.

    In 2008, he was the only member of Congress to fly to Pakistan to meet with the country’s then-President Pervez Musharraf the day after the elections that brought a new Parliament to power. He also flew to Israel to meet with then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and then-Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations and other Middle Eastern issues, and to tour Sderot, an Israeli town under siege from rockets fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza.During the 108th Congress, Rep. Gallegly was handpicked by then-Foreign Affairs Chairman Henry Hyde to chair the newly created Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights. As such, Gallegly chaired one of the first hearings on the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, a hearing that led to eight provisions being included in the final bill.

    In January 2004, Gallegly – representing the Foreign Affairs Committee – and former Rep. Curt Weldon representing the Armed Services Committee led a congressional delegation of three other members to Libya to meet with Moammar Gadhafi after the Libyan strongman denounced terrorism and agreed to open his country to international arms inspectors. It was the first American delegation to travel to Tripoli in about 30 years.

    Six weeks later, Gallegly chaired a meeting with family members of the victims of Pan Am 103 to discuss their pending settlement against Libya.

    A great appointment for an excellent Congressman.

  • Barack Obama,  Elton Gallegly

    President Obama Signs Rep. Elton Gallegly’s Animal Crush Bill

    My Congressman Elton Gallegly has been at the forefront of this travesty.

    From the press release:

    At President Obama’s invitation, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) stood with him as the President signed Gallegly’s bill to outlaw animal crush videos at a White House ceremony today.

    Crush videos graphically depict the abuse and killing of animals. In 1999, President Clinton signed into law a Gallegly bill to outlaw the videos and for 10 years the industry disappeared. However, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the law earlier this year and videos reappeared on the market.

    Gallegly’s new law, the Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010, will prevent video depictions of drowning, impaling, burning and crushing of animals. After careful restructuring, both House members and senators believe Gallegly’s new bill addresses the U.S. Supreme Court’s constitutional concerns.

    The House passed Gallegly’s bill by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 416-3 in July and the Senate passed it by unanimous consent last month.

    “Violence is not a First Amendment issue; it is a law enforcement issue,” Gallegly said. “While the torture of defenseless animals is in itself despicable, numerous studies also show cruelty to animals is often the first step leading to violence against people. This law is one step toward ending this cycle of violence.”

    The new law is written with a narrower scope that will most likely pass Supreme Court scrutiny.

  • Elton Gallegly

    Representative Elton Gallegly: Congress Must Focus on Job Creation and Not Job Killing

    Obama Kisses Nancy Reagan

    Nancy Reagan, President Barack Obama, Senator Richard Lugar (R- Indiana) and Representative Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley)

    From the press release:

    “The unemployment numbers released today underscores what I have been saying for months – Congress should be focusing on real job-creation legislation. It should be Congress’s most important domestic priority right now,” said U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura & Santa Barbara Counties).

    According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate reached 10.2 percent in October, the highest rate since 1983.

    “I voted against the trillion-dollar stimulus bill in February because it was unfocused and spent more on social programs than job creation. Unfortunately for the American people, I have been proven right. Unemployment was 7.9 percent nationally when President Obama signed the bill in February. It’s now 10.2 percent and growing. Very few jobs were created by the stimulus, as reflected in today’s unemployment numbers.

    “Of those jobs that were created, more than half are government, not private sector, jobs. That means more deficit spending or higher taxes to cover government payrolls with no goods or services created to stimulate the economy. Likewise, the health care and cap and trade bills being pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will destroy millions of more jobs through burdensome and unnecessary regulations on small businesses and higher taxes on businesses and the American people.

    “We can and must do better.

    “I supported a stimulus package that actually would have created jobs by giving small businesses—which employ half of all Americans—the incentives to innovate and expand, thereby producing new jobs. Congress should repeal the stimulus package passed in February and pass this bill now.

    “I supported an energy bill that would have created more jobs and enhanced our national security by expanding energy production in all areas—including wind, solar, nuclear and natural gas. I urge Speaker Pelosi to allow a vote on this bill.

    “I support a healthcare plan that does no harm by opening up competition and reining in frivolous lawsuits and which helps the working poor and those with preexisting conditions to obtain coverage. Again, I urge the speaker to rescind her $1.3 trillion healthcare bill and push for real reform that creates, not destroys, jobs.”

    As an aside for Ventura County, California political observers: Elton Gallegly is NOT retiring and running for re-election in 2010.


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