Thread: Fabian Nuñez lashes out in Assembly immigration fight

Nuñez lashes out in Assembly immigration fight
BY SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press
08/22/2006 09:40:56 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO - The rancorous national debate over illegal immigration spilled into the California Assembly on Tuesday as Democrats yanked an immigration resolution after a testy, partisan exchange that drew an outburst from Speaker Fabian Nuñez.

The Los Angeles Democrat emerged from his office to silence Republican critics who were lambasting the nonbinding resolution.

"We're pulling the bill. You've got a problem with that?" he asked before uttering an expletive about Republican nitpicking and leaving the chamber, slamming the door that joins the Assembly to his conference room.

Democrats wanted a vote on a nonbinding resolution urging Congress to pass immigration reform. It called upon President George W. Bush and Congress to reject "mean-spirited" and extreme immigration laws, referring to a House bill that called, in part, for making it a felony to be in the country illegally.

The move by Democrats to withdraw the bill came after lawmakers bickered over whether the measure also promoted decriminalizing illegal immigration.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, described the resolution as the most divisive document to come before the Assembly this year. He demanded that Nuñez come to the floor to defend it.

"If we're telling Congress, `Do not make illegal immigration criminal,' why don't we tell all the thieves in California who steal, `You're not a thief?"' Spitzer said.

fterward, he told a reporter he was not offended by the speaker's retaliatory remarks.

But Morgan Crinklaw, a spokesman for the Assembly Republican Caucus, said Nuñez's language "was completely unprofessional given the seriousness of the issue of illegal immigration."

Nuñez did not respond to requests for further comment.

His spokesman, Steve Maviglio, said the speaker is "passionate about immigration." He also said many members in the Democrat-controlled Legislature had expected the resolution to pass before Republicans raised objections.

Democrats had hoped to send a resolution to Congress in an effort to add California's voice to the national debate over illegal immigration. Assembly Democrats argued that Congress should give an estimated 12 million immigrants in the country illegally a path to citizenship, while Republicans said the resolution endorsed illegal immigration.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_4222848

He's a real sorehead when he loses!

I admire those CA Republicans. They're tough.

Duplicate article. Posted earlier. Please watch the duplicates.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=33156

labor, They have to endure a constant barrage of insults about being racists too!