Posted on 08/16/2005 6:29:30 PM PDT by The_Victor
Immigrants, legal or otherwise, come to Texas to "put a roof over their heads" and Texas has a responsibility to provide them education and health care once they are here, Republican gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn told a conservative GOP group today.
In a week when the governors of Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency for counties along their border with Mexico, citing the "ravages and terror" caused by illegal immigration, Strayhorn took a conciliatory tone on the same issue. But she also said the state needs help from the federal government.
"I sympathize with those coming over who want to put a roof over their heads," Strayhorn told the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club. "We can't turn them away from the hospital steps."
Strayhorn, the state comptroller who is challenging incumbent Gov. Rick Perry in the March 2006 primary, made her remarks in response to questions from club members who wanted to know if she would be willing to take similar steps as those taken by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.
"We have to protect our borders from terrorists," Strayhorn said, noting that federal law requires states to provide education and health care to immigrants.
A spokesman for Perry agreed.
"The governor has and will continue to remind the federal government that border security is a federal issue, not a state issue," spokesman Robert Black said. "The state will do what it can and help in any way, but this is a federal issue."
Strayhorn, in taking a welcoming tone to immigrants from Mexico, is trying to find voters outside the traditional Republican primary-voting base, which is made up of conservative voters, said Bob Stein, political scientist at Rice University.
"There's a reasonable policy position on (illegal immigration), but it doesn't overlap with the passion" of GOP primary voters, Stein said.
Stein also theorized that Strayhorn, in search for campaign dollars, is unwilling to take a close-the-border stance and alienate large homebuilders and highway construction companies who use immigrant labor and contribute heavily in Republican politics.
The GOP challenger, whose prepared remarks excoriated Perry again for what she called a lack of leadership for the Legislature's failure to pass a school funding bill, pledged to make education the focus of her administration.
But Black noted that Strayhorn said she would issue a school finance plan last year.
"It's time for her to unveil her secret plan," he said.
Asked if she would "at least" do away with bilingual education, Strayhorn, a former school teacher and school board member, said that while total immersion in English is effective, "these kids go home to parents who speak Spanish."
"I can't make a blanket statement that bilingual education is bad," she said, adding that she favors school-based community programs that teach the whole
This is a Republican??????
BTTT
I hope that's the end of her. There's got to be somebody better.
I dont think she really wants to be Governor and if she keeps talking this way she sure wont be.
The dem governor of arizona veteod prop 200 she is a first rate fraud
My first thought when reading this was..."well she just lost the election"...
until I remembered that Texas is NOW over 50% minorities..
I don't know how other minorities feel about the "illegal" ones from Mexico and other places...but, if I were a minority from say, India, Vietnam, or elsewhere, and I did it the "correct" way, I wouldn't take to kindly to catering to illegals...
Also, if I were a black American...I wouldn't want, just like white Americans, to have MY TAXES go to funding social programs for ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS...
Paging Gov. Perry!
If I'm not mistaken, Perry's position is not greatly different.
This was simply a case of a politician saying "I really don't want to be elected, don't vote for me as I am Illegal alien friendly.
another condescending elitist, irregardless of party affiliation.
TEXAS ---DUMP HER NOW!
"This is a Republican?"
And some on this Forum have been angered at those of us that have the AUDACITY to call repubs on the border.
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!
Hillary voted against more border agents and more detainee beds.
Hillary voted for amnesty for illegals in the ag bill.
Hillary is not a centrist she has a 0 rating by the acu.
Ben Nelson is a centrist he has a rating in the 50's.
Hillary wants to use taxpayer money to pay for illegals going to college.
Hillary is a radical liberal that votes like a radical liberal but has the media spreading a myth that she is a centrist. But she will never be able to hide from her radical liberal voting record.
Hillary's voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy and yet she is a centrist. When it comes to Hillary it is what she says in her triangulation scheme not how she votes.
What about the state's responsibility to its CITIZENS?
Absolute nonsense. None of the public agencies or taxpayers have a responsibility towards illegal aliens or towards immigrants. Sure we can turn them away from hospital doors. Many Americans are not getting all the medical care they need because they cannot afford it.
I had no idea we voted to take the responsibility to provide illegals with health care. My son, a young independent businessman, doesn't have health insurance. Too bad he isn't an illegal alien instead of having to pay so much in taxes that he can't afford health insurance.
Well, it depends on how you define "Republican". If you mean a conservative Republican, the answer is a loud no. If, on the other hand, you mean the GOP Big Tent with its RINOs, liberals and moderates, then, yes, Strayhorn is a Republican.
The kind of Republican that loyal American conservatives despise.
C L O S E
T H E
B O R D E R S!
S T O P
I L L E G A L
I M M I G R A T I O N!
Carole Keeton Strayhorn... this is one fugly out of control woman. A nanny state type with an extreme lust for power. And she's a Republican!!
Beam me up Scotty!
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