Posted on 01/14/2008 2:30:37 AM PST by Son House
(KAAL) - Minnesota's Governor is wrapping up his campaign trip to Michigan.
Pawlenty spent the weekend stumping for Presidential hopeful John McCain for the Republican nomination.
Pawlenty hit several town hall meetings saying the Arizona Senator has the character and experience for the job.
Pawlenty used his own Midwestern values to make the pitch.
"We like straight talk - people who are authentic. We like people who are the real deal,” Pawlenty said.
Political experts say Pawlenty's youth and vitality gives McCain a boost with young voters while raising his own profile with republican voters.
Pawlenty has repeatedly denied that he would run for Vice-President with McCain, should the Arizona Senator win his party's nomination.
http://wcco.com/local/pawlenty.illegal.immigrants.2.624884.html
Pawlenty Orders Enforcement Of Immigration Laws ST. PAUL (AP) ―
The scene was almost identical to an announcement two years ago: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty held up fraudulent identity cards as he proposed a crackdown on illegal immigration.
http://wcco.com/local/pawlenty.illegal.immigrants.2.624884.html
Most of Pawlenty’s illegal immigration plan failed two years ago, when Republicans controlled the House. Prospects for the latest package appear even worse now that Democrats rule both legislative chambers. Key Democrats were panning the plan minutes after the governor’s news conference wrapped up.
“He’s doing it again in 2008,” said Sen. Patricia Torres Ray, DFL-Minneapolis. “This is an election cycle and I am very disappointed that our governor has chosen to use this issue as a political issue to advance his political agenda.”
One of the most contentious proposals would prohibit cities from having so-called sanctuary ordinances that prevent police from asking about immigration status. An alternate version would subtract state aid from cities that kept the ordinances.
A 2006 bill to ban sanctuary ordinances went nowhere in the Senate, and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller made it clear the proposal would get little attention in the upcoming session.
“These are warmed-over proposals that could not pass the House of Representatives when his party controlled the House, and I presume if he can find a Republican to author this they’ll get a hearing of some sort. But there’s nothing new here,” Pogemiller said.
Instead, Democrats are more interested in giving resident tuition to the foreign-born children of illegal immigrants at state colleges and universities, a proposal they call the Dream Act and have been pushing since 2006. Torres Ray said that proposal is part of a larger focus on education, one of her caucus’s priorities.
http://wcco.com/realitycheck/Reality.Check.immigration.2.354568.html
Estimates of illegals: from a low of 18,000 to the governor’s high, 85,000. And there’s no way to know how many of them commit crimes, because the state doesn’t keep records.
So where does the governor get his information?
“You have to go out and talk to anybody who lives in the real world,” Pawlenty has said. “Go talk to cops. Go talk to social service workers. Go talk to hospital administrators.”
But getting information that way is INCOMPLETE.
Reports of crime by illegal immigrants are certainly true, but no one has any idea how many. The state doesn’t track it; the evidence is only anecdotal.
We can’t verify it, because the governor says it was given to him confidentially by elected officials and law enforcement.
Nevertheless, it’s why the governor says he’s proposing an anti-crime package targeting illegal immigrants. And not for the first time.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_7907625?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1
His legislative proposals would:
? Forbid city policies that bar local law enforcement from asking about immigration status as part of their routine business, something he proposed in 2006 and the Legislature rejected. Minneapolis and St. Paul currently have such policies. If lawmakers don’t accept the prohibition, Pawlenty will reduce state aid to cities with such policies by 10 percent in his next budget, he said.
? Fine employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants up to $5,000 and potentially forbid the employers from getting relicensed in the state. The proposal, which is similar to one Pawlenty made in 2006, would also encourage employers to use the federal E-Verify system, an electronic database that allows employers to check immigration status.
? Increase the penalties for identity theft and use of fraudulent documents. That crackdown would affect people who use false documents to hide their immigration status, and criminals who use false documents for other reasons.
? Expand the definition of human trafficking to include forced participation in pornography, exhibition or exotic dancing under the crime of sex trafficking.
Pawlenty also announced Monday he had used his gubernatorial power to:
? Require the state to check the immigration status of all new employees, contractors and recipients of state business incentives using the E-Verify program. Pawlenty said he didn’t believe the state necessarily had been hiring or funding illegal immigrants, but it should lead by example.
? Require the Department of Public Safety to review the millions of photos in its driver’s license database to “catch duplicate photos and examine them for possible fraud.”
? Formalize the relationship between state law enforcement and corrections officials and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Under the order, several dozen state employees would be trained in immigration matters and would work with the federal agency as needed.
************* VP ALERT ****************
Kind of like Mr. Clinton choosing Gore because Clinton’s military weakness. Window dressing.
I’m torn. McCain is a non-starter for me but I’d consider voting for him if Pawlenty is on the ticket, so we’d have a chance to get a real conservative governor.
Decisions, decisions.
Governor Tim Pawlenty is NO CONSERVATIVE!
He spends time worrying with Rod Styger about global warming as the world encounters record cold.
Pawlenty rammed ethanol down our throats for the benefit of his corn growing supporters in Minnesota despite ethanol production using up supplies of groundwater, food prices escalating, and getting virtually the same energy back as you put into it.
He supported and signed a baseball stadium for Carl Pohlad, a billionaire, who spent the last 5 years contributing money to a handful of politicians whose support he needed, including tim pawlenty. I wonder how many of those Mn Twins standing along side Pawlenty when he signed the baseball stadium bill were on STEROIDS that day....
I volunteered some years back on his Governor’s campaign. I will NEVER support this lunatic Pawlenty ever again.
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