Thread: CA: Lots of tough talk at state GOP convention

Lots of tough talk at state GOP convention

Carla Marinucci,Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Political Writers

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle



In a midterm election year when angry voters are turning on Democrats and turning out at Tea Party protests, California Republicans are talking up volatile issues that have historically resonated in hard times, including getting tough on environmental regulations and undocumented immigrants and their children.

But even in the overwhelmingly conservative venue of the state GOP convention in Santa Clara this weekend, some Republicans expressed concern that efforts by candidates to revive the thrust of Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration measure, and roll back California's landmark climate change legislation may hurt the party's long-term outreach to Latino and independent voters in the nation's most populous state.

The attempt to find a rallying point for the widespread angst about the economy proved to be a tough balancing act for the GOP during Saturday's sessions, especially as it tries to expand its voter base. Only 31 percent of California voters are registered with the GOP, and no congressional district has a majority of Republicans.

California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who is challenging front-runner Meg Whitman for his party's gubernatorial nomination, was the most vivid example of the lengths to which candidates will stretch to win the party's right flank. He called for an end to all taxpayer-funded services to undocumented immigrants, including denying their children public education and health care.

"We're just out of money ... and one of the reasons the state's in trouble is because of illegal immigration," said Poizner, who argued California spends up to $10 billion annually on services for illegal immigrants.

"I'm going to be the truth teller in this campaign. As governor I'm going to stop illegal immigration once and for all," Poizner said to loud cheers from the audience Saturday night.

Poizner also urged changing the welfare system to reduce available benefits from a period of five years to two - and children, he said, should be included in that cutoff.

The statements were greeted with alarm in the Latino community, where a news report on Univision - the largest Spanish language network - characterized Poizner's statements as the beginning of "a frontal war against our community."

With just three months until the June 8 primary, the increasingly vocal efforts by Republicans to draw sharp contrasts with Democrats on key issues was evident throughout the weekend as more than 1,000 GOP activists gathered at the Santa Clara Hyatt to hear from their statewide candidates.

Among the GOP grassroots, there was anger, too, at what they and candidates called the excess of big government and big spending as characterized by President Obama's health care proposals, which many called disastrous.

Former Rep. Tom Campbell, who is competing for the Republican Senate nomination, framed the issue as an ethical imperative.

"This path we are on is unsustainable, but it's more than that. It is morally wrong," he said. "It is a betrayal of our children and grandchildren."

Their frustration was evident at an afternoon Tea Party rally where organizer Mark Williams opened by saying, "Hello fellow insurgents. It's time to take back the Republican Party."

There - a few feet from vendors selling T-shirts bearing slogans like "I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy" and "Impeach Everybody" - Republican leaders tried to win their support.

Throughout the convention, several candidates railed against efforts to control greenhouse gases - including the climate change bill that is a hallmark of the administration of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whitman called the bill, which polls show is popular with moderate and independent voters, a job-killer; and GOP Senate aspirant Carly Fiorina lambasted what she called the "massively destructive" effort to impose tougher environmental regulations that could cost 3 million jobs.

Their speeches, panels and rallies showcased both divisions - and fury - within the party over how Republicans should appeal to voters fed up with the state Legislature and the governor in a state grappling with a $20 billion deficit.

On illegal immigration, both Poizner and Whitman sparred, with the former eBay CEO putting out a flyer that proclaimed she is "100 percent opposed to amnesty" and if elected "will ban undocumented students from attending California's higher education system."

But other Republicans, like state Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), worried that the conservative tack on immigration would further alienate Latinos, the fastest growing voter bloc, from the GOP. Roughly 19 percent of the California electorate are Latino, and party leaders estimate a third of that to be Republican.

"This isn't the California I know," said Maldonado, Schwarzenegger's nominee for lieutenant governor and a 2010 candidate for the job.

"Education is a right. We know what that did to the GOP in the past - and it wasn't productive," he said, referring to former Gov. Pete Wilson's 1994 re-election campaign that used grainy images of Mexicans crossing the border with the phrase, "they keep coming" to warn against illegal immigration.

"We need to be multiplying (GOP numbers), not subtracting," said Maldonado, whose father was a Mexican-born bracero farmworker. "That doesn't get you elected."

And even a Tea Party favorite, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine, a conservative rival of Fiorina for the U.S. Senate nomination, said he's convinced that in these tough economic times, voters want candidates to focus on "massive growth in government, massive deficit spending - and creating jobs the old-fashioned way, not by borrowing from the government."

He said Republican candidates hoping for an edge in 2010 who want to raise the issue of illegal immigration should be careful to do so in a respectful manner.

"If the discussion makes us look like we're demagoguing and race-baiting," he warned, "it's not helpful at all."

www.sfgate.com

Wake Up California. Steve Poizner's statement "stop illegal immigration and end it once and for all" ... well ... that's our goal, that's our law. I don't know anything about him except for these words in this article, but those are the words every candidate for office this year should be saying, and saying it loud and clear, and if there is an uproar in the Hispanic or Latino community, then you know it is only from that portion of that community that is illegal and can't vote to begin with.

Americans must unite and not be led down a false path being forged by people who aren't even supposed to be in our country to begin with. So the "advocates" need to realize they've lost all favor with the American People, because they aren't advocating for illegal aliens, they're advocating against the best interest and general welfare of US citizens.

To claim we're "fed up" is actually a gross understatement. We're way beyond "fed up". We're mad as hell and we aren't going to take it any more.

Make 2010 count folks. Kick these traitors to the curbs so we can shut down illegal immigration "once and for all".

But other Republicans, like state Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), worried that the conservative tack on immigration would further alienate Latinos, the fastest growing voter bloc, from the GOP. Roughly 19 percent of the California electorate are Latino, and party leaders estimate a third of that to be Republican.

What the hell is so conservative about expecting the law be enforced and being against rewarding those who entered this country in violation of our immigration laws!

Why would this alienate American citizens who are also latino? And are they the fastest growing block because of illegal immigration?

I fear-- Poizner will have a tough time. Reasons?? Well illegal voters, apathetic voters, sympathetic voters and non-American voters.
Non-American voters, to me, are those (and there are many), who want to allow open borders. They put their alien families and their ethnic heritage in front of their loyalty and duty to America. Some in office violate their oath every day.

Another problem, very often, is black legislators who, somehow conflate the illegal immigration problem with the long ago issue of slavery and welcome the illegals to take the jobs of Americans. The irony in this issue is that our young black citizens are the ones hurt the most by this invasion.

I believe we need a moratorium om immigration for a few years. We don not have control of immigration now.

"Hispanic Americans, (General):

1.) Now America’s largest minority: People of Hispanic descent outnumber African Americans and all other racial/ethnic groups except whites. "

We need time to ensure that all people are here legally, time to remove those who are not and time to allow those who are here legally to assimilate. We do not need to be like Western Europe, which I believe to be about 5 years from losing total control of their own countries.

But other Republicans, like state Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), worried that the conservative tack on immigration would further alienate Latinos, the fastest growing voter bloc, from the GOP. Roughly 19 percent of the California electorate are Latino, and party leaders estimate a third of that to be Republican.

"This isn't the California I know," said Maldonado, Schwarzenegger's nominee for lieutenant governor and a 2010 candidate for the job.

"We need to be multiplying (GOP numbers), not subtracting," said Maldonado, whose father was a Mexican-born bracero farmworker. "That doesn't get you elected."

Maldonado has made millions hiring illegals for his strawberry farms. That's all he is worried about, since amnestied illegals generally don't vote GOP, especially if the candidates are non-Latino.

"I'm going to be the truth teller in this campaign. As governor I'm going to stop illegal immigration once and for all," Poizner said to loud cheers from the audience Saturday night.

Poizner also urged changing the welfare system to reduce available benefits from a period of five years to two - and children, he said, should be included in that cutoff.

The statements were greeted with alarm in the Latino community, where a news report on Univision - the largest Spanish language network - characterized Poizner's statements as the beginning of "a frontal war against our community."

IMO, Univision is degrading the Latino community by implying an association with illegality and support for it.

Since when does a 'community' give a television network the right to speak for them?

Originally Posted by MW

"I'm going to be the truth teller in this campaign. As governor I'm going to stop illegal immigration once and for all," Poizner said to loud cheers from the audience Saturday night.

Poizner also urged changing the welfare system to reduce available benefits from a period of five years to two - and children, he said, should be included in that cutoff.

The statements were greeted with alarm in the Latino community, where a news report on Univision - the largest Spanish language network - characterized Poizner's statements as the beginning of "a frontal war against our community."

IMO, Univision is degrading the Latino community by implying an association with illegality and support for it.

Since when does a 'community' give a television network the right to speak for them?

I agree 100% and Americans need to stand up and speak out against this linking every Hispanic and Latino as culprits in illegal immigration, because they are not. Most American Hispanics and American Latinos feel the same way every other American does.

We have one flag, one language, one nation and one community in the United States. Either you're with US or you're against US. If Univision wants to make money from Spanish speaking illegal aliens, then it needs to pack up, ship out, follow them home and start a revolution there, not here. We've already had ours, we won, and that's it.