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Governor hopefuls split on public housing for illegal immigrants
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer | June 22, 2006

BOSTON --Two of the candidates running for governor say they oppose a Senate plan that would require local housing authorities to check the immigration status of anyone applying for housing.

The amendment, tucked into the Senate version of the state budget, would also give priority to citizens and legal immigrants over undocumented immigrants.

Democrat Deval Patrick and Grace Ross of the Green-Rainbow Party, speaking at a candidates forum at Faneuil Hall Thursday night, said they oppose the plan.

Patrick said what's needed is a more balanced and comprehensive approach to the immigration issue on both the state and federal levels. He said denying housing could add to the problem of homelessness and end up costing the state more in the long run.

"We've got to start connecting the dots," he said. "Every time we make a short term political judgment it costs us in the long term."

Ross said the plan would "essentially pit us against each other" and takes attention away from other bigger problems.

"It's really critical not to use status against a small sector of people," she said.

Democrats Tom Reilly and Chris Gabrieli -- and independent candidate Christy Mihos -- said they support the proposal.

Mihos said illegal immigrants are costing the state millions.

"You talk to housing authority people who actually run these authorities and they will tell you this is a huge problem for them," Mihos said. "We can't even take care of our own veterans, our own elderly."

Reilly said as attorney general he's gone after companies that exploited undocumented immigrant workers, but he supports the Senate plan.

"There is nothing wrong with inquiring and asking someone to verify their status," he said. "And there is nothing wrong, with limited housing, with giving preference to American citizens."

Gabrieli said it's reasonable to expect that taxpayer-supported housing should go to citizens, but said the state should do more to protect all undocumented workers from unscrupulous employers.

"I expect publicly elected officials to hold those companies accountable," he said.

During the hour-and-a-half-long forum candidates also touched on a range of other housing issues, from how to encourage suburban communities to build more affordable housing to public housing maintenance, to the merits of so-called "cluster housing" -- more densely built housing that can drive down housing costs.

One of the sharpest political exchanges of the night came after Patrick was asked about his decision to go to work as a board member of the parent company of embattled mortgage giant Ameriquest, given charges of predatory lending against the company.

Reilly, who has tried to use Patrick's connection to the mortgage company to chip away at the candidate's base of support, seized on the question.

"These are people who as part of their business plan have turned the American dream of owning your own home into an absolute nightmare for generations of people," he said. "Why in God's name he ever went to work for a company like that is beyond me."

Patrick, who said he is stepping down from the board at the beginning of July, said he had more success helping reform the company from the inside than he would have from the outside.

"There is a view out there that the only way you can effect change is from the outside," he said. "If I thought that, I wouldn't be running for governor."

In 2005 Patrick received $360,070 as a board member for ACC Capital Holdings Corp., the parent company of Ameriquest.

Patrick also accused Reilly of trying to score "cheap political points."

Ross said the larger issue was the problem of predatory lending companies which she said continue to prey on vulnerable homeowners in Massachusetts.