Thread: Feds suggest state GOP broke law in hiring immigrant to key

Feds suggest state GOP broke law in hiring immigrant to key post
Carla Marinucci, Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writers

Wednesday, June 27, 2007


California Republican Party officials might have violated federal immigration law by hiring an Australian immigrant for a top finance post without ever demanding to see his proof of legal residence, immigration officials said Tuesday.

Ron Nehring, who heads the California Republican Party, admitted Tuesday that he -- and as far as he knows, any party officials -- never saw the green card that would prove that Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen hired as the state GOP's chief operations officer, was a legal resident.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division said Tuesday the law is clear that "it is the responsibility of the employers to check and see that someone is legally in the country and eligible to work."

The Chronicle reported Sunday that Kamburowski -- an Australian immigrant who was hired as the GOP's chief operations officer in March to oversee the party's multi-million-dollar campaign accounts -- was ordered deported in 2001, later was jailed on visa violations in 2004 and since has filed a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit against U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials, according to court documents on file in U.S. District Court.

Both Kamburowski and his attorney, Michael DiRaimundo, say that since he arrived more than 12 years ago, he has become a permanent and legal resident of the United States.

In a telephone interview with The Chronicle, asked if he ever saw a green card for Kamburowski, Nehring said, "I did not. Personally, no," adding that he was unaware of whether any other party officials had seen such documents.

Party officials said Kamburowski never disclosed his past legal troubles or his lawsuit against U.S. officials when he went to work for the Republican Party in the nation's most populous state.

Kamburowski resigned Sunday. The state GOP has hired an interim chief operations officer and is looking nationwide for a new director.

Nehring, speaking to The Chronicle Tuesday, also disputed suggestions by a leading GOP official that conservative activist Grover Norquist came to California and helped introduce Kamburowski to California party members.

Tim Morgan, treasurer of the Republican National Committee -- who said his calls for more vetting of Kamburowski's hiring went unheeded by the GOP state board -- wrote Tuesday in The Chronicle that earlier this year, when the state position was open, Norquist "accompanied Kamburowski on his visit to California to meet (GOP) board members, providing Nehring's 'friend' an unexpected element of gravitas" as a candidate.

Nehring, asked if Norquist had a role in introducing Kamburowski to Republicans here, said, "Not that I'm aware of."

Nehring said he remembered a Norquist tax-themed press conference in Sacramento, but asked about other meetings with Republicans earlier this year, he said, "I don't recall anything else off hand."

Nehring said he had never had any conversations with Norquist regarding Kamburowski or his hiring at the California GOP.

John Kartch, spokesman for the Norquist organization, Virginia-based Americans for Tax Reform, also maintained in an e-mail to The Chronicle that "neither Grover nor anyone from ATR introduced Mr. Kamburowski to anyone in California in connection with his employment there. No one at ATR was involved in getting Mr. Kamburowski interviewed or accepted for that job."

But Jon Fleischman, publisher of the widely read GOP Web site FlashReport.org. and a member of the state GOP board of directors, told The Chronicle that he was invited to at least two meetings with Nehring, Norquist and Kamburowski in March, when the state's chief operations officer job was open.

Those included a March 12 meeting of Nehring's "San Diego Center-right Coalition," held at the offices of the San Diego Republican Party, which Kamburowski attended and later an intimate lunch the same day with Norquist and other top party insiders.

"Grover was there, as was Nehring and Kamburowski and some of the other people who worked for Grover, and we spent a little time talking to him," recalled Fleischman.

"It was very clear, it was a 'Come on down to this meeting, meet Mike Kamburowski, say hi to Grover' and all mixed together," he said. "It was clearly part of the credentials that were presented -- the work (Kamburowski) had done for Grover. Clearly."

Other Republicans said Norquist and Kamburowski then went on to Northern California and Sacramento for similar meetings with other influential party insiders.

In a week in which the Congress is debating immigration reform -- and airing Republicans' bitter criticism of the government's border control and immigration enforcement -- the issue of the state GOP's hiring of immigrant workers for top level political jobs has become fodder for both national party operatives and late-night comedians.

The Chronicle reported last week that the state GOP applied for, and received, an H-1B visa specifically to fill the post of political director and announced that Christopher Matthews, a Canadian with no statewide campaign experience, has been tapped for the job. Matthews was named the party's deputy political director and director of information technology -- a post that critics said many Californians were qualified to do.

"This is the typical GOP hypocrisy," said Luis Miranda, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee Tuesday. "They will scapegoat immigrants to try and win elections, but they will look the other way when it comes to rewarding their cronies."

Nativo Lopez, national president of the Mexican American Political Association, said the GOP case illustrates that on immigration and border security, "it's good for (Republicans) when it's convenient for them -- and as long as it comes from a country of their choosing.

"But they are perennially focused on the southern border, and it smacks of racism when they posture against immigrants of color from the south."

And that underscores what many critics say is another critical aspect of the immigration debate: that when it comes to the volatile issue of who gets legal immigration status, "there's privilege and there's connections, and that's what happened," said Hoover Institution research fellow Bill Whalen, who was an adviser to former Gov. Pete Wilson. "This guy (Kamburowski) was connected, he breezed through the (hiring) process -- and now it's blown up in their face."

Nehring told The Chronicle he worked with Kamburowski 7 years ago at Americans for Tax Reform, the Norquist organization, and believed him to be a talented and experienced political operative.

Nehring declined to answer questions about Kamburowski's qualifications for the top finance job or how the Australian was vetted for the job of handing millions of dollars in California campaign funds -- calling those personnel matters.

But he said Kamburowski's employment was ultimately the decision of the party operations committee -- which includes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- and its board of directors.

"Everyone had an opportunity to interview and reach a decision," he said.

Asked if he had any regrets about the matter, Nehring said, "I regret that we did not have in place systems for the thorough vetting of all new hires in the party at the time, and we will put those in place going forward.

"Certainly, we make the best decisions when we have complete information and we didn't in this case."

Nehring wrote to the state GOP board Tuesday night, saying that "it is only right that I, and not the board of directors, accept full responsibility" for the current troubles. And he vowed to require far stricter levels of background checks and investigation in the future, saying that he believes the moves will help the party build "tremendous momentum toward improving our party's 2008 election prospects."

Now, some GOP directors are signaling that they want to put the matter behind them.

"We as a group decided that we need to move forward and not look back," said Tom Del Becarro, a member of the GOP's operations board which voted to approve Kamburowski's hiring.

GOP northern region vice chair Jerry Maltby said Californians should "start worrying about the 12 million illegals, not the ones with green cards," he said. "If you guys take more time and write about the immigration problem, rather than worrying about what one guy did and didn't do, it would be more relevant."

E-mail the writers at cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com and lwilliams@sfchronicle.com.

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Send them to jail and have them fire all others who are not americans. No wonder the Republican party has gone to H***.