Thread: Opponent’s supporters bring up fine Meuser’s company pai

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 3:13 P.M.

Meuser hirings spark questions

Opponent’s supporters bring up fine Meuser’s company paid for hiring illegals.

ANDREW M. SEDER aseder@timesleader.com

Illegal immigration has become an issue in the race between Dan Meuser and Chris Hackett for the Republican Party nomination in the 10th Congressional District race.

A fine against Meuser’s company 11 years ago has become a point of contention between the candidates.

The 1997 fine against Pride Health Care Inc., now Pride Mobility Products in Exeter, was the focus of a letter sent Tuesday to the Meuser campaign by a former area district attorney who supports Hackett.

Mark R. Zimmer, a Honesdale attorney and Wayne County district attorney from 1992 to 2003, raised the matter and his confusion over perceived legal discrepancies in the two-page letter. He asked Meuser to release documents regarding the $41,000 fine and the incidents that necessitated it – for which Meuser appealed and finally agreed to pay a lesser sum.

Meuser, of Harveys Lake, stood by his previous comments Tuesday night and said no documents will be released. He maintained that three workers provided false information, including fake Social Security numbers, when hired. Federal immigration authorities fined the company $41,000. The company, then based in West Wyoming, paid $23,000, and the case was closed.

Now that Meuser is running for Congress, the matter has been raised once again and Hackett’s supporters said it won’t be settled until Meuser releases all the documents.

Zimmer questions Meuser’s account of the incident and how employing just three illegal immigrants can result in a $41,000 fine. Based on federal immigration law civil penalties, Zimmer said the fines should be no higher than $6,000.

He also questioned Meuser’s contention that he didn’t know he had hired illegal immigrants.

“ . . .under the Immigration Reform Law that existed at that time and currently, employers face penalties only when they are found to have knowingly hired unauthorized workers,â€

Meuser and Billary have a lot in common . Releasing documents brings problems . He should fit right into the government . has a ready passed his OJT . He's 1 of the boys now . HA another one

Meuser is for enforcing ALL the laws and totally against SHAMNESTY.

1:10 AM
Records on fine for illegals gone, Meuser says

Pride Mobility’s lawyer says the records were deleted as part of a routine file-clearing.
ANDREW M. SEDER

Calls for Dan Meuser to release records detailing an 11-year-old fine his company paid for hiring illegal immigrants can’t be satisfied because the records no longer exist.


Supporters of Chris Hackett, Meuser’s opponent in the heated Republican 10th congressional race, have publicly called on Meuser to release documentation of the case involving Pride Mobility Inc., of Exeter.

Joseph D. Burke, attorney for Pride Mobility, said the records were deleted as part of a routine file-clearing. If they were available, Burke said, they would show some of the allegations made by Hackett supporters are untrue. Among the allegations is that there were more than three illegal workers and that the fines weren’t for a first offense.

“The fact is that more than 13 years ago three illegal aliens defrauded Pride Mobility by providing our business with false identification. The assertion that there were more illegal immigrants is absolutely false,â€