SENSENBRENNER DEMANDS DEAN APOLOGIZE

Jim Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is requesting that Howard Dean retract his statements about the Voting Rights Act extension and with good reason. Here’s part of his press release:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) today is requesting Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean retract the DNC’s false attack against Chairman Sensenbrenner’s leadership to renew the Voting Rights Act.
A May 9 blog entry by Albert Morales, a Deputy Director of the American Majority Project at the DNC (http://www.democrats.org/a/p/a_shining_moment_in_the_conscience_ of_man.html) stated, “A Shining Moment in the Conscience of Man. That is what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yet the Sensenbrenner/Tancredo wing of the Republican Party is working to do away with key language assistance provisions, including bilingual ballots and translation assistance at polling locations that have enabled millions of Americans to take part in the electoral process.”

Here’s Sensenbrenner’s reply:

“It’s outrageous that the DNC would attempt to blow-up the broad bipartisan support the Voting Rights Act extension legislation enjoys by launching false attacks. I was a leader in getting the Voting Rights Act extended back in 1982, including helping persuade President Reagan to sign the extension. Last July, I spoke before the NAACP’s National Convention to announce congressional efforts to extend the Voting Rights Act this year, well before vital provisions expire in 2007.”
“I have worked closely with Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate, as well as the Bush Administration, to craft another long-term Voting Rights Act extension. These efforts led to my introduction last week of bipartisan legislation to extend the Voting Rights Act for 25 years, including extending the bilingual assistance provided to citizens for 25 years. Last Tuesday, Democratic leaders such as Senator Reid, Minority Leader Pelosi, Senator Kennedy, Rep. Conyers, Rep. Watt, Sen. Leahy, Rep. John Lewis, Sen. Obama, and others joined Republican leaders, including Sen. Frist, Speaker Hastert, Sen. Specter, Rep. Chabot, Sen. DeWine, and me in a bipartisan show of support for this legislation on the steps of the Capitol.”
“Yesterday, I led a bipartisan majority in defeating an attempt to remove this assistance from the bill. Later, the House Judiciary Committee voted 33-to-1 in favor of my legislation, including the bilingual assistance provision. Republicans and Democrats are working together to ensure no American is denied his or her right to vote based on race or color. It would be helpful if the DNC’s political hacks did not try to undermine this effort,” concluded Chairman Sensenbrenner.

In other words, Sensenbrenner’s saying that that blog post didn’t have anything to do with reality and was, in fact, a bald-faced lie. I’m thankful that Chairman Sensenbrenner spoke out the way he did. If more Republicans responded more forcefully to demagogic attacks, the Democrats would soon look foolish in everyone’s eyes. My hat’s off to Chairman Sensenbrenner.

On another note, I think this is proof that Democrats are, in fact, getting a bit defensive. It’s awfully early for them to be playing the race-baiting card. I think the dynamics of that will change by fall. By then, people will notice that this is the Republican ‘Year of the Black Candidate’, which I recently wrote about.

Not only has the Washington Post joined me in writing about it. Clarence Page, the longtime columnist has a column in this weekend’s Jewish World Review.

First, Blackwell, now Ohio’s secretary of state, will have to beat his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland. That won’t be easy. A psychologist and ordained minister from southeastern Ohio’s rural Appalachian region, Strickland has enough conservative appeal to hold an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.
Nevertheless, after winning Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial primary May 2, as pollsters predicted he would, Blackwell has a lot of excitement on his side. He represents a racial milestone. Victory in November could make him this country’s only elected black governor in its history besides Virginia Democrat L. Douglas Wilder, now mayor of Richmond, who was elected governor in 1990.
That is, unless former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann, who has no opponent in Pennslyvania’s May 16 Republican gubernatorial primary, upsets Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell.
Yes, there are two black gubernatorial nominees this year and they’re both Republicans. Add the Senate races of Maryland’s Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and Michigan’s Keith Butler and you can see why Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is smiling about his efforts to woo black voters back to the party of Abe Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Rumors are swirling that Dick DeVos will pick Butler to be his runningmate in the Michigan governor’s race against Jennifer Granholm. DeVos is currently leading Ms. Granholm 46-45 in the latest EPIC/MRA polling. As my friend Alex McClure points out, the EPIC/MRA poll “typically slants to the left, so DeVos probably has a larger lead.”

Blackwell has done surprisingly well among black voters in the past, compared to most Republicans anyway, and his turnout among white and black evangelicals shows enough strength in the Republican base to potentially surprise his detractors.

Mr. Page is right in saying that Blackwell has done relatively well among black voters. He’s also right in stating that Blackwell’s done pretty well with evangelicals of all races. Don’t underestimate those demographic factors, especially in that specific campaign.

I believe that Blackwell will end up beating Strickland in the end because the biggest reason he’s trailing now is because Gov. Taft is enveloped in an ethical cloud. That’s translating into negative ratings for Blackwell. Once the campaigns start focusing on the future and who’s got the best solutions for Ohio’s problems, that lead will change fast.

WHO'S RUNNING AMERICA?

By Michelle Malkin

President Bush may finally be coming around to beefing up the border with National Guard troops, but it's not stopping foreign governments and activist judges from interfering in the enforcement of our immigration laws. The Mexican consulate is investigating our immigration agents for arresting illegal aliens in northern Kentucky:

The Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis has launched an investigation into the arrests of 76 Hispanic immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Tuesday in Northern Kentucky...

...Gil Esparza, director of the Hispanic Resource Center in Covington, said he is trying to help family members of those detained understand the situation.

Esparza said he is also referring individuals to the Mexican Consulate to ensure their rights are protected.

"I get calls from people scared and crying saying, 'What do we do? What do we do?'" he said.

Some of those arrested, Esparza said, "had kids in school at the time and now they have no mother and father to go home to. ... Then, immigration takes (those arrested) to jail, but nobody in jail speaks Spanish. ... That's my concern. ... I think it's right to go after the employer ... but my people are just looking for freedom. They're looking for hope. My heart breaks for them."

Aguilera said he is concerned that the arrests are part of a growing trend that will put many more immigrants behind bars. He said it is unclear whether those arrested this week face deportation or jail time, if convicted. But, he said the shock waves of the immigrant "round-ups" are causing great concern among the Hispanic community.

"I think it is certainly strange that all of the sudden authorities are taking so much interest in companies that employ immigrants, and are now launching so many of these types of operations, because they probably knew this a long time ago," he said.

"Our concern is that these operations by immigration keep popping up everywhere and we don't know exactly what's going to happen. We would like to know if this is going to stop at some point. We are hopeful that the work of the Senate and Congress will result in some kind of immigration law, so that people that are in the middle of all these operations of immigration are not affected - that the law will allow them to stay here."

Or rather, that continuing to ignore the law will allow them to stay here.

Meanwhile, an open-border zealot on the bench in Chicago rules that a carwash can't ask its own employees their immigration status because it constitutes intimidation:

A federal judge in Chicago has found that a suburban car wash tried to intimidate its mostly Hispanic employees by requiring verification of their immigration status after three workers complained about alleged sexual harassment.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman issued a protective order May 5 barring
Glenview Car Wash from seeking further information about employees'
immigration status until a pending harassment suit concludes.

The class-action suit, filed on behalf of the car wash's male employees in
September by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is based on
charges filed with that agency by Federico Antimo, Elmer Bethancourt and
Diego Perez.

The suit alleges the trio "had been subjected to, among other things,
unwelcome touching and offers of sex from the car wash manager, Anthony
Fillichio."

An attorney for the car wash, Peter Andjelkovich, said there is no evidence
to support the harassment allegations. He said he is reviewing Guzman's
order and considering an appeal.

The car wash simply was trying to comply with federal law by asking
employees to fill out forms verifying that they are authorized to work, he
said. The forms, which are supposed to be filled out before employees start
work, require workers to certify under penalty of perjury that they are
citizens, permanent residents or authorized to work.

Andjelkovich said the family-owned business discovered its personnel files
were incomplete while providing documents to the EEOC.

"There was no evidence of anyone being intimidated," he added.

Here's an understatement:

David Whitlock, an Atlanta-based attorney who specializes in immigration, called the order "highly unusual."

"It's a little odd to hear a judge ordering someone not to comply with
immigration law, but I understand why the judge might conclude this is
intended to intimidate the class," he said.

While we're on the subject of foreign meddling, there's a related development on the Border Patrol/Minutemen/Mexico story from Sara Carter of the Inland Daily Bulletin:

Congressional leaders Thursday called on the Department of Homeland Security to investigate reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has given information to the Mexican government about the locations of U.S. civilian border watch groups.

California Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, and Darryl Issa, R-Vista, along with Texas Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, sent a formal letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff asking for a full investigation into all circumstances and events related to civilian border observation groups and the Mexican government.

The letter was in response to a story published in Tuesday's Daily Bulletin, which reported Border Patrol officials shared civilian groups' locations with the Mexican government when illegal border crossers were detained and at the request of the Mexican consulate, among other things.

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday refuted the report, calling it 'inaccurate,' '' the congressmen's letter stated. "While that applies to those who are seeking to unlawfully enter the U.S., it must also apply to U.S. citizens who are peacefully exercising their right to protest and monitor along the border.

"We are deeply concerned that if the media reports are accurate and the Department of Homeland Security is relaying information to the Mexican government on the locations of these citizen groups, whether formally or informally, their safety is being put at risk and their peaceable goals undermined.''

The letter is here (PDF file).

*Update to the story - DHS has requested the Daily Bulletin retract its initial story. The paper is standing by its reporting. And on the ground:

Border Patrol agents, interviewed by the Daily Bulletin, said they were not surprised by Mexico's report and added that the Mexican consulate would normally request information from the agency and that U.S. officials would acquiesce to their requests.

On Thursday, the union chapter representing Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., issued a statement regarding the Mexican reports. "This Local has nothing to do with any alleged management directives to report the location of the Minutemen volunteers to the Mexican government,'' according to Local 2544's statement.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents more than 10,000 border agents, said he has no doubt officials share information with the Mexican government and that line agents have been complaining for years about the issue.

Local 2544's website is here (hat tip: Allah).

A strong statement from Bush on Monday in defense of our sovereignty would be nice.

But I'm not holding my breath...

***

Polipundit already knows what Bush is going to say...

I can pretty much sum up what El Presidente is going to say in his Monday address. He’s said it all before:

I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship.

Notice that Clintonian weasel word, “automatic.” Notice his unique definition of “amnesty.” “Undocumented workers” (or “illegal aliens” as they should properly be called) will not get “automatic” citizenship; therefore they’re not getting amnesty.

Instead they will be allowed to buy US citizenship for $2,000, provided they go “to the back of the line,” not the “front of the line”:

But what I do think makes sense is that a person ought to be allowed to get in line. In other words, pay a penalty for being here illegally, commit him or herself to learn English, which is part of the American system – (applause) – and get in the back of the line.

El Presidente is proposing to reward 20 million illegal invaders with US citizenship. Yet he’ll claim to oppose “amnesty.” This is not new; McCain and Kennedy claim to oppose “amnesty” too.

Tens of thousands of legal hi-tech guest workers who’ve been working here for several years are not allowed to join the line for citizenship, at the front or back. The 6 billion “decent human beings” around the world, who have never violated US or other laws, are not allowed to join the line, at the front or back.

The privilege of joining the line for US citizenship will be reserved for those who can prove that they’ve been committing immigration fraud, work fraud, forgery, and perjury for at least five years. Yet, this is supposedly not an “amnesty” for them...