Quite a few people are in high dudgeon over California Democratic congressional candidate Francine Busby and her apparent solicitation of votes from illegal aliens, including my own colleague Kim Priestap. As a hard-nose on the illegal alien issue, the thought of this happening infuriated me, so I started looking into it myself. And my conclusion? As Dorothy Parker said, “there’s no ‘there’ there.”
From the full context of the discussion, it’s clear to me that Ms. Busby was asked if one needed to prove one was a legal voter in order to “help” her campaign — with the clear implication of volunteering to work for her,not simply vote. She replied that they do not check IDs for volunteers, and anyone was welcome to assist. And under current law, they I do not believe they are required to verify the immigration status of an unpaid volunteer.
Whether or not that should be the case, that’s the way it is under current law. And whether or not Busby should be held to a higher standard than the legal minimum is another question.
Yes, it is possible to interpret the discussion as a solicitation for voter fraud. But it’s a hell of a stretch.
I’m not a lawyer, but if I were defending Ms. Busby, it’d be a slam-dunk. “No, your honor, my client was not soliciting voter fraud. She took the question to mean ‘can I volunteer for your campaign without proving my immigration status, as I do not have the papers on me at this moment?’, and replied that her campaign, in compliance with the law, does not require such proof from unpaid volunteers. The issue of voting was never in question; the discussion was entirely about campaign volunteer work.” It might not be true, but it’s enough to generate reasonable doubt.
At the very most, we have a Democratic candidate who is accepting the support of a potential illegal alien. This is absolutely nothing new, and not against any laws.
I hope she is defeated in Congress, as it is attitudes like hers that have put us in such a bind regarding illegal aliens. But I’m afraid this is hardly a smoking gun.
I find it amusing that no one seems to have mentioned that it would have been illegal for Mrs. Busby to have attempted to “hold a higher standard than the legal minimum”. If she was asked what was required to volunteer for her campaign and she demanded additional paperwork beyond the “legal minimum”, she could have been held accountable for violating anti-discrimination statutes.
Hmmm.
*shrug* considering the legal minimum is the I9 form I really don’t see how that’s exculpatory.
Jumpin Joe says: “once you emerge from your dorm room that reeks of petulie oil and ass and quit living in a world of washed up theories from pinko lib professors, you just like most before you will abandon the theories for the realities of the real world….
–… and you prefer, what, neoconservatism’??
Here the “reality”
– Thousands of Soldiers to death and injury
– Our economic solvency .. gone
– Our global reputation .. gone
– Our Moral authority … gone
Yet all I hear from people like this is “Yes, thats exactly right. We need MORE of that”. God, I just love love LOVE watching all these conservatives get all worked up as the party goes further and further down the tubes. They resort to blaming the media, blaming professors/college institutions, crying like children about “[waaah], what if a Republican would do that??[waaah]”, even “blame the Kennedy’s”, while posturing how tough minded they are, all because they STILL can’t get over the fact that they voted for the utter moron who made it all happen… TWICE!
ed, if an academic discussion bores the hell out of you, you shouldn’t have chosen to get involved in the first place. Like, ignore things that sound “pretentious” rather than trying to engage with the ideas and then saying “I’m bored!” when your opponent extrapolates upon his own. (I know it’s more fun to name-call and blame shit on people and move on, but sometimes a dialogue is good. Your fractured national fabric could sure as hell use more of it.)
I don’t doubt that programmers need to be submerged in a professional environment to actually become good at their jobs. I, however, do not need to read the right-wing tabloid papers, or to listen to what Shortsleeves McSixPack has to say about immigration, to develop a principled understanding of this issue, provided I’ve had a cursory look at the relevant empirical data.
As for your offense at the term “underclass”, you can be offended by whatever words you choose. The point stands: your society needs people to do things that most people don’t want to do. I think your federal government ought to increase minimum wage to roughly what San Fran has it at ($11/hour, or thereabouts, which has had no detrimental effect on their local economy). There is an underclass because people who equate good governing with growing the GDP think it’s bad to guarantee all of those who choose to work a living wage. (The problem here, obviously, is that GDP and quality of life indices often intersect, but are not interchangeable and oftimes completely disconnected from one another. See: Amartya Sen’s discussion of China’s vs. India’s economy, in his Development as Freedom; or, consider Chile’s growth in GDP under Pinochet, concurrent with a rapid decline in QOL.) You don’t like the term underclass? Then you drive through a rough neighbourhood of Queen’s, or Detroit, or L.A., and you try to think of a better word for it. The term I choose to use has packed into it a normative measure, namely, that those with the power to do so ought to be advocating on behalf of those in dire straits. You automatically assumed that since I identified a stratum of society that don’t earn enough money to elevate their status (or to pay for health insurance), I’m insulting them. Yes, we should brush ’em under the rug instead. (Once again, the fact that you’re intimately familiar with low income earners does not thereby make you a moral authority on their behalf. Both of my parents came from immigrant farm families who started with nothing and overcame hostile nativists, so I guess that cancels out your perspectival authority, don’t it.)
Anyway, I’m bored too, ed. You’re a smart guy, but you ain’t too polite, and as far as being open-minded, well, it’s obvious that you won’t be contributing to the vanguard of new solutions to old problems. It’s cool that you’re self-taught–many of my smartest friends haven’t finished high school either–but your auto-assumption that anyone who values theoretical knowledge as a buttress to real-life dilemmas, is a naive liberal, is demonstrative of the poisonous anti-intellectualism that the GOP so effectively (and unfortunately) wields. Read Kevin Baker’s latest article in Harper’s. Only in America could a presidential candidate’s fluency in French and aristocratic tastes be used as a negative talking point. Only in America would people rather have someone who almost failed out of two gentleman’s degrees and who dresses up like a cowboy as their leader, rather than a war hero who has read philosophers other than “Jesus Christ” (Dubya’s favourite!)
Anyway, God’s Ol’ Party seem to have a real selective interpretation of their Good Book. It is obvious to anyone who has read It, rather than having It read to them by some mega-church ass clown, that Jesus would want amnesty, and guaranteed healthcare, for all of the illegals in your country, plus their relatives back home. If it affects your lifestyle, good: Christianity is supposed to hold charity and sacrifice as its paradigmatic virtues. That’s pretty much indisputable, unless you’re Fred Phelps or one of his inbred spawn. I’m not a Christian, but for those of you Republicans who are, you need to start reading some gospel because you sound like a bunch of Pharisees.
Hmmmm.
No actually you’re the only one interested in this argument. I’m the one interested in the debate over Busby’s call for illegal aliens to vote.
It’s nice that you want to diverge into something that you’re interested in but I’m not, and quite frankly I don’t see where I have to indulge you.
So either shift back to the topic at hand, or … frolic.
Elections tomorrow so we will be rid of these liberal gadflys soon enough. They will be found licking their wounds over at Kos, not understanding why he is oh ofr life on picking candidates to back.
Bemused, you’ll forgive me if I say ed’s a hell of a lot more on topic than you are. You brought up the pretentious, pseudo-intellectual bullshit as a form of bullying over the issue, and now you’re whining that others don’t want to play your little game of “how smart I am.” And as 1) the author of the piece that triggered this and B) the section editor of the page, I think my opinion on relevance carries a smidgen more weight than yours.
J.
Sorry, Jay Tea, I thought the topic was all but dried up, since we had established that Busby did not, in fact, state that undocumented people can vote, but only that they can answer phones/hand out flyers/etc. I kind of thought that discussion had concluded, despite protestations to the contrary.
Anyway, I enjoy your blog, have bookmarked it, and look forward to lots of interesting posts leading up to the mid-terms. Thanks again.
Is that mid-term elections, or mid terms at your boarding school?
HAHAHAHA! Well, since I have already claimed to be a graduate of a Master’s program and an employee of a healthcare organization working in policy analysis…
epador, it’s okay if you’re stupid. It doesn’t make it okay, though, for you to take up space on the internet. I was referring to the fall congressional elections. How could any thinking person think otherwise? I mean that–how? I presume you’re not illiterate…
Shit, you’re stupid, aren’t you? Right! I was being redundantly redundant by even asking.
Damning video of Busby kissing her victory goodbye………
THERE IS NO MISTAKE WHAT SHE MEANS, THERE IS NO WIGGLE ROOM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9vbngizSI
And thanks go to Busy for showing why democrats want ILLEGAL ALIENS in the country. Why to vote of course!
Stoopid democrats, voting is for citizens.
Republicans in this district took millions in bribes over decades. Republicans in this district looked the other way and underfunded the border patrol so money could be made on the sweat of immigrants for decades. Republican issues, both.
Honest people working for honest representation is a win-win situation. Busby will win because America is still great!
Bemused,
Well, it did matter…
Second, did you know Kerry received a Purple Heart for a wound that required a band-aid as the sole treatment? The Purple Heart on the band-aid thing was not tactful, but equating that with spitting on someone, namely a returning soldier?
Third, why would you pretend to know where I get my information? Typical look down the nose at everyone liberal on display complete with cuss words and more venom than you can fit in a mason jar…
I know what many professors have said because of first hand accounts and listening to tapes. Beyond the ramblings of a few professors, look at the treatment of any conservative, no matter how credentialed, asked to give the commencement address for college graduations. Professors resigning, people standing up and turning their backs on them as they speak and other petty actions.
Also look at how apolitical their remarks are compared to the shrill politics that come from many people on the left giving commencement addresses.
Last, why would you call an opinion a fact? We won’t know whether the invasion of Iraq was or was not a mistake for some time. Pretentious to say the least.
I don’t care what the poll of the day says and I didn’t care about it in 2003. I was sold on the need to remove Hussein based on the never adhered to cease fire agreement and his violent actions toward this country (firing on our planes patrolling the agreed to no fly zone). To not see where there was no other future outcome than to one day have to confront him once and for all is to be near blind in my opinion. Frankly, I don’t care what our attention deficited microwave war society that couldn’t fight and win WW 2 to save their skins thinks about the war. Even at that though, the same polls show the same people that have turned against this war are in favor of finishing the job. I only hope our leaders will have the strength to see this through.
Oh, and sitting out Iraq sure helped you guys up north on the terrorist front. Home grown none the less…
Thank God for “domestic spying…”
Guess what, their war is against the west (which you live in) not just America or England. Wave your arms and tell them you mean them no harm and they will kill you anyway. Given enough time, they would likely behead you with a sort of sharp knife while your arms are tied behind your back. But hey, you know it all. You have all of the answers. You can cuss and call people stupid while being redundantly redundant. Wow, you have it all.
Please keep talking though. Keep looking down you nose at those you see as being of less value than you. Let everyone that encounters you know what a liberal is and we’ll keep winning elections. Bemused, apropos name. Get used to that feeling.
Thanks…
i love you.
i love shakespeare.
🙂 🙂 🙂