Ron Nehring, who heads the California Republican Party, admitted Tuesday that he -- and as far as he knows, any party officials -- never saw the green card that would prove that Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen hired as the state GOP's chief operations officer, was a legal resident.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division said Tuesday the law is clear that "it is the responsibility of the employers to check and see that someone is legally in the country and eligible to work."
Whoopsies. This may lead to a fine or something, but the greater damage is in extending the story in the news. The Reeps can't stand the Chronicle, for it's supposed left-wing bias. It must be killing them to see their party's dirty laundry aired, day-after-day, on the front page.
Right now, they are just hoping this goes away, and quickly, if only because it would avoid giving their opponents the opportunity to lob shots at them:
"This is the typical GOP hypocrisy," said Luis Miranda, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee Tuesday. "They will scapegoat immigrants to try and win elections, but they will look the other way when it comes to rewarding their cronies."
Nativo Lopez, national president of the Mexican American Political Association, said the GOP case illustrates that on immigration and border security, "it's good for (Republicans) when it's convenient for them -- and as long as it comes from a country of their choosing.
"But they are perennially focused on the southern border, and it smacks of racism when they posture against immigrants of color from the south."
It does not look like Nehring is stepping down over this one, though if this keeps up, he may be forced to. He has accepted responsibility for the scandal and promised to put in place more thorough hiring processes. Meanwhile, those lower in the food chain are sniping at the Chron for running this story in the first place.
GOP northern region vice chair Jerry Maltby said Californians should "start worrying about the 12 million illegals, not the ones with green cards," he said. "If you guys take more time and write about the immigration problem, rather than worrying about what one guy did and didn't do, it would be more relevant."
Sorry, Maltby, once the media has their claws into a juicy scandal they aren't about to voluntarily give it up. This story has legs and they will run it until it collapses.
Actually, what I am most interested in right now is what Karen Hanretty has up her sleeve. She didn't take to well to being told to STFU and is now promising a series of expose posts over at the insider Hill newspaper's blog. She filmed a video yesterday, promising a series of posts that will:
...provide a timeline that raises a number of questions for the California Republican Party, as well as for Grover Norquist with Americans for Taxpayer Reform, who is also involved in this intriguing and developing story.
She then goes on a little rant about what Republicans need to do and provides a bit of a hit as to what she has in store for her upcoming series:
They are going to have to clear their ranks of incompetent leaders who refuse to follow their law and try and do things behind closed doors.
That means our Republican party is doomed.
I almost can see shades of what the netroots tries to do in term's of Hanretty's plan to take her party back. In true Republican form, it is someone already within the party structure, and in fact the former spokeswoman for the CRP who is actually challenging the leadership. And of course she is using the most insider of all insider blogs to make this pronouncement. She is pissed to be out of power and is willing to tear down the party to build it back up. Expect to see some serious resistance from the status quo.
Hanretty has a big megaphone, especially with her regular TV appearances and will provoke a strong reaction from those she goes after. I guarantee she has some dirt on Norquist, Nehring and others. It may provide some more fodder for a few more A1 stories by Marinucci.
Make sure that you have some popcorn stocked up. This one is not over folks. |
