Elected Democrats in Santa Cruz County betray Party
Article in the Nogales International
December 20, 2005
John Michael, Sonoita, Arizona
Several of Santa Cruz County’s officials – elected as Democrats – are formally supporting Arizona Senator Jon Kyl’s attempt to be re-elected. That seems odd. Kyl with one of the most pro-Administration voting records in the Senate exhibits even more loyalty than Rick Santorum (R-PA). Santorum at least has been distancing himself recently from President Bush and the Republican war in Iraq.
In general Democratic Party programs and policies aim at giving equal opportunity to all citizens, quality public education and access to health service for all, a higher minimum wage and a generally humane approach that takes account of all sectors of American society not only the richest 2% of the nation. Sen. Kyl’s voting record is the opposite of most of those Democratic goals.
So why do Santa Cruz County officials support the incumbent over the Democratic candidate, Jim Pedersen? They answer, "his commitment to border security."
Superficially that makes sense in our County. We are conscious of the flow of both illegal immigrants and drugs over the International Border and along our roads and through (in some cases even under) our back yards. So I looked at Jon Kyl’s record on immigration and border security. Below is what I found.
Jon Kyl states on his web site that he “led efforts to increase funding for border security.
In the Senate Jon Kyl voted against appropriating $140m for 1,000 new border patrol agents on March 17, 2005. At least he was consistent. On January 16, 2003 he voted against appropriating $750 million for additional border security funding.
A Kyl campaign brochure asserts he is “a leader in immigration reform.” That’s no doubt a good thing and it certainly is what Santa Cruz County’s Democratic officials cite. Isn’t it interesting then to learn the following?
In a Judiciary Committee vote in 1996 Jon Kyl voted against levying higher fines on businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Then on May 18, 1998 he voted to allow firms to lay off American workers to make room for foreign workers. And way back when he was in the House of Representatives in 1990, he voted against reimbursing state governments for education and health costs for newly legalized aliens.
As a resident of Santa Cruz County and a Democrat I appreciate the concern that our elected Democratic officials have regarding illegal immigration and border security. In conversation they acknowledge that it is a very complex issue as did Carmen Noriega in a recent Shades of Red column.
Even working collectively within Santa Cruz County we cannot solve this problem. One thing we can do is to ask questions and seek answers that recognize the complexity of the issue of immigration and secure borders. A second action we can take is to work with candidates and elected officials that want to truly address this problem and not posture with simplistic solutions to a complex problem.
What is the best policy to address the millions of men and women who immigrated illegally but have been working for months and years in the United States? These are people who pay social security and payroll taxes. How does our Nation deal with the immigrants’ children who have been born here and are citizens?
Should there be some punishment for the thousands of employers that hire immigrants who are undocumented? What is the best way to organize a program that will allow eager workers to satisfy the demand for cheap labor that creates the flow of illegal immigration in the first place?
Is an approach to the problem to raise the basic wage in the United States so that citizens will be able to live on the kind of jobs that now are filled by illegal immigrants?
I don’t have the answers. But neither does Jon Kyl. During the Senator’s current term – since 2000 – the estimated number of illegal immigrants in Arizona rose from 200,000 to 500,000. His response is to stress deportation of any immigrant currently in the United States illegally and creation of a guest worker program that in essence is a form of indenture.
So it will be helpful to me as a voter for the Democratic officials in Santa Cruz County to give another explanation of why they are supporting a Republican to represent us in the U.S. Senate.
