Boehner’s Amnesty Advocate Becky Tallent in Talks with Jeb Bush Campaign for Immigrat
Boehner’s Amnesty Advocate Becky Tallent in Talks with Jeb Bush Campaign for Immigration Adviser Gig
by Matthew Boyle
13 Feb 2015
Washington, DC
House Speaker John Boehner’s on-staff amnesty advocate Becky Tallent is in talks with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s potential presidential campaign for a job, meaning if she takes it she’d leave Boehner’s office.
Tallent is former chief of staff to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)—having personally crafted the amnesty bill McCain and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) introduced in the twilight years of the George W. Bush administration—and then also worked on immigration policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center.
“Jeb’s team is looking to hire Rebecca for policy,” a former George W. Bush White House aide told Breitbart News.
“The fact that they’re talking to Becky speaks to the focus that Jeb puts on getting immigration across the goal line,” a former senior staffer for McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign added.
Neither Tallent nor Jeb Bush’s spokeswoman Kristy Campbell have responded to requests for comment yet, but the mere fact that Bush world is discussing this openly means that Tallent is definitely interested. It’s not finalized, and there’s plenty of things that could derail the opportunity for her and for the Bush campaign. But nonetheless, the mere fact they’re talking is newsworthy—even if Boehner keeps her. If Boehner keeps her after this, it’d mean he is keeping someone on his staff who would even consider working for a politician who believes crossing the border illegally is an “act of love.”
In 2013, when Tallent handled immigration policy for the Bipartisan Policy Center—and was pushing the Senate “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill—Jeb Bush and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour conducted a joint roundtable on the need for amnesty in their view.
“I want to set the stage in a broader way at first about why embracing our immigrant experience, our immigrant heritage, is important for renewing America’s greatness,” Bush said in his opening statement at the event. “I think our country is the only developed country, mature country if you will, that could grow at 3.5, 4 percent per year for the next decade. We have abundant resources. We have great talent. We have the ability to rebuild our demographic pyramid right now that has eroded dramatically as a declining fertility rate—Haley and I are getting older—all the societal changes that are taking place make it imperative for us, I think, to have immigration reform as a key element of an economic strategy for sustained growth. This is a huge opportunity. I don’t view immigration as a problem. I view it as embracing an enormous opportunity for us to fulfill our potential as a nation. It’s within our grasp to do it now.”
Tallent has since handled immigration policy for Speaker Boehner—after the Ohio Republican hired her in December 2013—and has been behind many of the efforts by Boehner to reignite efforts to grant amnesty to illegal aliens and import hordes of cheap foreign labor to take jobs away from American workers. The latest effort she is behind is helping bring back to life the once-dead border bill—a bill that only has 48 miles of double layer fencing, even though 700 miles are required by current law, and it doesn’t stop Obama’s catch-and-release of illegal aliens—from House Homeland Security committee chairman Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX). Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a chief sponsor of the Senate version of the McCaul bill, laid out on the Senate floor this week why Tallent is trying to revive the dead McCaul bill: It’s part of an effort to provide cover to Republicans so they can vote on eventual amnesty and guest worker increase bills while saying they secured the border, even though they didn’t.
Boehner’s office has kept Tallent secretive, frequently refusing to allow her to speak to the public or to media about her views on immigration. Before he hired her though, back when she worked for Bipartisan Policy Center, she appeared on C-SPAN to detail how she believes American workers aren’t good enough for many jobs in this country.
“There are jobs that American workers will not do,” she said in the appearance, among other controversial remarks.
Not many on Capitol Hill had heard of Tallent’s decision to open job talks with Bush’s campaign to join it as a policy adviser on immigration, but when reached throughout the morning Friday several GOP staffers expressed outrage.
“I hadn’t heard that but it doesn’t surprise me in the least,” one GOP congressional aide said. “In a way it would be good because then she couldn’t keep poisoning the minds of credulous staffers and members. I’m sure Jeb’s $100,000-per-ticket donors would be pleased. If they don’t get her, maybe they can recruit someone from Luis Gutierrez’s office.”
“It’s only natural,” another GOP congressional aide added. “Ms. Tallent, Mr. Bush, and the wealthy donors who prize them share identical goals on immigration.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...n-adviser-gig/
Jeb Bush Campaign Throws Boehner Under Bus: Confirms Talks with Pro-Amnesty Staffer A
Jeb Bush Campaign Throws Boehner Under Bus: Confirms Talks with Pro-Amnesty Staffer After Speaker’s Denial
by Matthew Boyle
13 Feb 2015
Washington, DC
453 comments
A spokeswoman for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s potential 2016 presidential campaign has confirmed a previous Breitbart News article reporting that Speaker John Boehner’s on-staff amnesty advocate Becky Tallent has been in job talks with Bush’s campaign—undercutting a previous on-the-record denial from Boehner communications director Michael Steel.
“We have been in touch with hundreds of policy experts,” Bush’s spokeswoman said in an email. “We have not offered Becky Tallent a job. Would refer you to Speaker Boehner’s office regarding Becky’s current position. It is my understanding she is not planning to leave it.”
In other words, what Bush’s spokeswoman is saying is that yes, they’ve talked with Tallent—and hundreds of others—and nothing has been finalized or set in stone yet, and that Tallent isn’t ready to leave Boehner world yet. That confirms exactly what Breitbart News reported earlier on Friday.
“House Speaker John Boehner’s on-staff amnesty advocate Becky Tallent is in talks with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s potential presidential campaign for a job, meaning if she takes it she’d leave Boehner’s office,” this reporter wrote in the lead of the story, adding later in the piece that “the mere fact that Bush world is discussing this openly means that Tallent is definitely interested. It’s not finalized, and there’s plenty of things that could derail the opportunity for her and for the Bush campaign. But nonetheless, the mere fact they’re talking is newsworthy—even if Boehner keeps her.”
Breitbart News cited two heavyweight political sources to back up the story about the talks.
“Jeb’s team is looking to hire Rebecca for policy,” a former George W. Bush White House aide said.
“The fact that they’re talking to Becky speaks to the focus that Jeb puts on getting immigration across the goal line,” a former senior staffer for Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign added.
Boehner’s staff—several sources tell Breitbart News—instead of getting all the facts and responding to the request for comment on the matter or ignoring the story, went into a frenzy behind closed doors. Tallent told several people in Boehner’s office the story wasn’t true—not unexpected, since she wouldn’t want to broadcast to her current employer she’s been in talks for a potential gig with a different employer. But instead of leaving it there, Boehner’s communications director Steel took to Twitter to argue the Breitbart News story was inaccurate.
“This story is not true or accurate,” Steel said via Twitter.
Steel, Tallent, and Boehner’s other communications adviser Matt Wolking—who was involved behind the scenes in attempting to quash the original story—have not responded to a followup request for comment. They also haven’t answered specific questions about whether Boehner plans to continue employing Tallent in the wake of the revelation she would speak with the campaign of a politician who believes illegal aliens crossing the U.S. border illegally are engaging in an “act of love.”
This is not the first time Steel has provided inaccurate or misleading information to reporters. For instance, most recently he claimed that there would not be retaliation for Republicans who voted for a GOP alternative to Boehner for Speaker of the House at the beginning of this Congress. That obviously was not true, as Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) lost original cosponsorship of a major bill that he had been previously been promised, and Reps. Richard Nugent (R-FL) and Daniel Webster (R-FL) were kicked off the powerful House Rules Committee. Webster was one of the three members who announced their candidacy as a Republican alternative for Speaker of the House, running with Reps. Ted Yoho (R-FL) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX). A total of 24 Republicans voted for a GOP alternative to Boehner, and one voted present on the day of the speakership vote in early January.
The former Bush White House aide source for the original Breitbart News story mocked Boehner’s aides for their handling of this matter.
“Instead of letting a Friday process story die, Michael Steel’s uninformed, bull in a china shop tactics have yet again further discredited himself and the Speaker’s office,” the Bush White House aide said when asked for further comment after the Bush campaign spokeswoman confirmed the original story.
Tallent is a particularly controversial adviser because of her strong support for amnesty for illegal aliens, though Boehner and his staff don’t think she deserves public criticism. She was the chief of staff to McCain in the mid-2000s—and spearheaded, alongside the office of the now late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill in the twilight years of the George W. Bush administration.
She ended up working for the Bipartisan Policy Center for some time after that, leading that pro-amnesty group’s immigration work. During her time there, she made several appearances on national television—including a C-SPAN appearance in which she claimed that American workers don’t work hard enough to take on jobs in this country, and that’s why Congress needs to grant illegal aliens amnesty and bring in more cheap foreign labor from overseas.
“There are jobs that American workers will not do,” she said in that C-SPAN appearance, among other controversial remarks.
She is now behind an effort in the House to help revive the once-dead border bill from House Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX). That bill has only 48 miles of double layer fencing, despite the fact that current law requires 700 miles be built. It also doesn’t stop Obama’s catch-and-release policies for illegal aliens who get caught crossing the border.
On the Senate floor this week, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)—a chief sponsor of the Senate version of the McCaul bill—laid out why Tallent is trying to bring it back to life. Flake said it’s part of a larger effort to help Republicans eventually vote on a bill to grant amnesty to illegal aliens in the U.S. right now and also to push legislation massively increasing the numbers of foreign workers imported into the U.S. The border bill, Flake argued, would allow Republicans to say they voted to secure the border, even though the border wouldn’t actually be secured because of it.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...eakers-denial/
Boehner Camp Denies Jeb Recruiting Pro Amnesty Czar Becky Tallent
by Robert Wilde
14 Feb 2015
Monday Breitbart News reported that House Speaker John Boehner relies heavily on adviser Becky Tallent to craft his immigration amnesty policies. Now Breitbart News senior political reporter Matt Boyle revealed on Breitbart News Saturday, Sirius XM Patriot radio, that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush is recruiting Tallent to help him shape his immigration strategy.
Breitbart Executive News Chairman and host of the show, Stephen K. Bannon, asked Boyle if he thinks Tallent will stay with the Speaker to “spread her radical open borders poison up on Capitol Hill” or take her talents to the Bush camp?
Boyle said that, when he exposed on Friday that Jeb Bush has been in job talks with Tallent, Boehner’s office came out and denied the story. The Speaker’s Communication Director, Michael Steel, went on Twitter to say that it was untrue. “Then a couple hours later, we get a call from a Jeb Bush spokeswoman saying, yes, in fact we are talking with her,” Boyle laughed.
Bannon asked why doesn’t the Speaker fire Steel for lying, which prompted Boyle to retort, “Because that is his job.” Boyle explained that Boehner is a “master in the art of deception,” so the fact that his chief spokesman lies for him doesn’t surprise Boyle.
“Every big piece of legislation Boehner’s pushed through, he’s lied to the members of the Republican conference. They tell them there are things in it that aren’t in it. There is legislation that members aren’t allowed to read before they vote on it… Out of the Speaker’s office it is normal to engage in deception,” exhorted the Breitbart writer. “It is the new normal in Boehner’s office, and everyone of his staffers is expected to be just like him. That’s why Michael Steel continues to be employed by Speaker Boehner.”
Boyle went on to explain that Steel’s tactics include sharing untrue information with reporters, telling them that he is speaking off the record. By phrasing his statements in that manner, reporters are duped into thinking that what he is saying is true. Moreover, Steel calls for secret meetings and engages in deception on Boehner’s behalf. Boyle thinks that it would be best for him to make all his communications with the media public.
Boyle referred to the tug-of-war between Bush and Boehner over Becky Tallent as RINO (Republican In Name Only) on RINO violence. The fact that the struggle is so intense, observes Boyle, “just shows how influential she is.” Becky Tallent, according to Boyle, “believes that American workers can’t, and shouldn’t, and won’t do the jobs that exist in this country. She believes in wide open borders, we should import cheap labor from around the world to do the jobs of the truck drivers, factory workers, and all blue collar workers.”
In addition, he stated that Tallent is in favor of extending H1-B visas to highly skilled STEM workers from China, India, and elsewhere, creating cheaper labor for hi-tech jobs. All of this happens to be Bush’s viewpoint as well.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...becky-tallent/
