http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... s0320.html

Funds reveal irony in immigration debate

Mar. 20, 2006 12:00 AM

The immigration issue has become so heated and twisted that those who benefit greatly from the surge of illegal immigration are among the biggest supporters of Arizonans who want it all to stop.

A look at campaign finance statements shows that industries that rely on the labor of undocumented immigrants are also heavy contributors to staunch illegal-immigration foes.

For instance, Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has introduced several bills aimed at making life difficult for those here illegally. Yet he has received $1,000 from a home-builders association, $480 from a hotel group and another $280 from growers.

"I take NO money from anyone that I know that employees 'illegal' aliens," Pearce wrote me in an e-mail.

But it is no secret which industries thrive on this underground labor. Some businesses will speak abstractly about the "shortage of workers" to pick crops, for example. Or you can ask the migrants themselves, as the Pew Hispanic Center did.

In a study released late last year, immigrants reported working in construction, manufacturing, agriculture and hospitality.

With home-building being such a big industry here, it's no surprise the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona spends a lot of money on legislative races. Some $32,353 went to 37 Republican candidates. The list contains the names of those who have been sponsors and supporters of anti-illegal-immigration bills: Sens. Karen Johnson, Thayer Verschoor, Barbara Leff and Dean Martin and Reps. Chuck Gray, John Allen, Pamela Gorman and Rick Murphy.

The home builders have also donated $68,000 to the Republican Party and close to $50,000 to Republican-front organizations. Most money spent on Democrats went to the party, not individual lawmakers.

The Western Growers Political Action Committee also contributed to the campaigns of Pearce, Martin, Gray and Leff.

The Hotel and Motel Political Action Committee spread contributions around that same group, including Pearce, Martin and Leff.

Debbie Johnson, president of the Arizona Hotel and Motel Association, said Pearce probably got campaign cash because he controls the House Appropriations Committee, which helps decide the state's tourism budget.

She did say donations might be aimed at keeping some lawmakers at bay. "Some people we donate to and work with so they are - how do I put this? - so they are not anti-tourism or anti-this issue," Johnson said.

Meaning that they don't support sanctions on businesses that hire undocumented workers, at least not until there's a proper guest-worker program in place.

When Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, introduced a bill that would have required businesses to verify the Social Security numbers of their new hires, the hotel lobbyists contacted friendly lawmakers, including Leff, Johnson said.

"We got her involved," Johnson said. The bill died in a committee whose chairwoman was Leff. "It's important for us to have a comprehensive program."

The hotel industry and the growers are actively pushing Congress for a guest-worker program. But on the local level, they're just looking to avoid bills that would hurt their business. A little pain for their undocumented workforce is OK, so long as the overall flow of labor is not interrupted.

So, twisted as it seems, it makes sense for these industries to support rabidly anti-illegal-immigration state lawmakers as they wait for cooler heads in Congress to bail them out with a guest-worker program.

Until then, if undocumented immigrants want the "get-tough" bills to stop, their best bet would be to organize a political action committee and start giving heavily to Republicans.



Reach Ruelas at (602) 444-8473 or richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com.