Thread: US Illinois Senator wants represen MEXICO & US! HUH!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ack=1&cset=true

Cicero lawmaker's hat in Mexico race
State senator seeks role as adviser to Fox

By Oscar Avila, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Ray Long contributed to this report from Springfield
Published September 22, 2005


If state Sen. Martin Sandoval succeeds in his next election Saturday, he will serve in Mexico City as well as Springfield.

Sandoval is running for a seat on an advisory council created by Mexico President Vicente Fox in 2002 to incorporate Mexicans living in the United States into his government's policymaking.

Sandoval would be the first elected official in the U.S. to serve on the advisory council. That raises the peculiar prospect of the Cicero Democrat offering policy advice in an official capacity to Mexican Cabinet members while creating laws in Illinois.

The possibility has some observers praising his vision while others blast his judgment, calling the potential moonlighting arrangement a conflict of interest.

As it turns out, no law or rule prohibits it, in Mexico or in Illinois. Mexican officials call it an honorary position.

Sandoval, who was born in the United States to Mexican immigrants, said he realizes that some might raise eyebrows at the thought of a man who swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution influencing policy in Mexico City.

But he views the advisory council as a historic opportunity to demonstrate the undeniable links between Mexicans in the United States and those in their homeland.

"Like many other first generation Mexican-Americans, I want to be involved in shaping the future of America," Sandoval said. "But I am also a product of two countries. I think I am a natural."

Fox acknowledged those links when he campaigned here in 2000. As president, he formed an Institute for Mexicans Abroad to coordinate all Mexican Cabinet agencies that serve immigrants in the United States.

As part of the institute, Fox also created an advisory council of 115 U.S.-based representatives to float policy suggestions to the Mexican government.

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Isnt this a conflict of interest? This really needs to be questioned and looked into, thier has be something that prevents such a person from doing.

P

Sandoval is running for a seat on an advisory council created by Mexico President Vicente Fox in 2002 to incorporate Mexicans living in the United States into his government's policymaking.

Sandoval would be the first elected official in the U.S. to serve on the advisory council. That raises the peculiar prospect of the Cicero Democrat offering policy advice in an official capacity to Mexican Cabinet members while creating laws in Illinois.

The possibility has some observers praising his vision while others blast his judgment, calling the potential moonlighting arrangement a conflict of interest.

As it turns out, no law or rule prohibits it, in Mexico or in Illinois. Mexican officials call it an honorary position.

Originally Posted by Pometheus

Isnt this a conflict of interest? This really needs to be questioned and looked into, thier has be something that prevents such a person from doing.

There should be a law against representing the interests of another country at the same time... I can't imagine that most U.S. voters would like that at all... (I wonder if he's got a large number of illegal immigrants in his district that vote?)

Sandoval ... was born in the United States to Mexican immigrants

I wonder if Illinois Senator Martin Sandoval was born to illegal immigrants.

Perhaps, it would explain why he was one of 4 members (out of 58 total in the Senate) who sponsored both the bill for in-state tution (which passed in 2003) and the bill for the matricula consular ID (which passed in 2005).

But why do we keep voting for these people?.. The whole issue would be moot if people voted him out of office next year.