Thread: Opposition to Maryland Dream Act Amnesty for illegals overshadowed

Warning ALIPAC Activists: Please contact Maryland legislators NEIL C. PARROTT and Edward R. Reilly and tell them you want to volunteer and donate to turn things around in Maryland by making calls, walking neighborhoods, putting out signs, and working polls on election day to DEFEAT IN-STATE TUITION FOR ILLEGALS In Maryland on Election Day Nov 6, 2012!

Effort to block in-state tuition for illegal immigrants loses steam

October 05, 2012|By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun

Despite an aggressive petition drive to force a referendum on the state's Dream Act — which allows in-state tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants — the campaign to defeat the measure in November remains a low-budget, grass-roots operation without much evidence of an organized effort.

With the Nov. 6 election just a month away, opponents have yet to register a ballot committee with the State Board of Elections — typically one of the first steps in waging a high-profile referendum battle.

The measure's foes achieved a stunning success when Del. Neil C. Parrott mobilized an online petition-gathering operation after last year's General Assembly session and quickly rounded up enough signatures for a referendum. But the effort appears to have lost momentum.

"If we're going to do something, it needs to happen soon," said Parrott, a Washington County Republican. He said there will be more anti-Dream Act activity, but there are no firm plans yet.

The freshman lawmaker surprised veterans of Maryland politics with his ability to gather enough valid signatures to challenge the Democratic-backed legislation through his innovative site, mdpetitions.com. But now, with the efforts to defeat the law in the shadows, there are questions whether Republicans can back up their petition prowess at the ballot box.

Sen. Edward R. Reilly, an Anne Arundel County Republican who opposes the Dream Act, said grass-roots sentiment was "at a fever pitch" when volunteers fanned out around the state to collect signatures after the 2011 General Assembly session.

"Since it made it to the referendum stage, there is no umbrella committee that's organized and funded to promote it," Reilly said. "It's still a hot-button issue when I talk to people one-on-one, but there's nobody pushing for it."

Del. Michael Smigiel, an Upper Shore Republican, said he was surprised that there was no sustained campaign once the measure was placed on the ballot. Supporters of the law are "much more adamant and coordinated in their efforts," he said.

The fight over the Dream Act — and a similar effort to overturn Maryland's congressional redistricting map — have been overshadowed by the higher-profile ballot issues of same-sex marriage and expanded gambling.

Passions on the marriage issue are driven by competing views of morality, while interest in the gambling measure has been stoked by enormous spending by rival casino companies. Other issues have a hard time competing for attention.

A recent Baltimore Sun poll found that Maryland voters are almost evenly split on the Dream Act, which would extend in-state tuition to students who attend three years of high school in Maryland and whose families can show they have paid state taxes. Other polls have suggested a stronger majority in favor of the law.

The law also requires that students who take advantage of the provision attend community college for the first two years. If voters approve, Maryland would become the first state where such a measure has been upheld in a referendum.

Conservatives say they are gearing up to keep that from happening. But it appears they will have to play catch-up as they work to counter a campaign by supporters of the measure.

"The other side is very well-funded with government money," Parrott said. "It's not surprising that they're organized and on the street right now."

Kristin Ford, spokeswoman for Educating Maryland Kids, said the pro-Dream Act ballot committee has bought $54,000 in radio time in the Baltimore area. Ford said she expects the campaign to spend more than $1 million on paid media out of a total budget of about $1.5 million. The group is a broad-based coalition that includes labor unions, churches and the immigrant rights group CASA of Maryland, she said.

"We've had a lot of folks bring money to the table," Ford said. She said the pro-Dream Act group will begin running radio ads this week and will have ads on television from mid-October through Election Day. None of the money Educating Maryland Kids has raised comes from government sources, she said.

CASA political director Kim Propeack said the group receives government funds for social services it offers but uses none of that money for political advocacy.

On Saturday, CASA of Maryland plans a pro-Dream Act march from Langley Park to the University of Maryland, College Park that it expects will draw about 1,000. Opponents knew of no activities on a similar scale.

On each weekend until Election Day, the Maryland Industrial Areas Foundation plans to send clergy and lay people to churches, synagogues and mosques to press for votes for the Dream Act. Alisa Glassman, an organizer for the group, said the foundation has trained 540 people to act as advocates.

For now, the anti-Dream Act campaign centers around a website called Help Save Maryland, run by Germantown conservative activist Brad Botwin.

Opposition to Dream Act stays low-key - Baltimore Sun

By: Dawn White
Updated: October 10, 2012
your5state.com

FREDERICK, MD - The Maryland General Assembly passed a law in 2011 giving in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants.

However, Washington County Delegate Neil Parrott has been hard at work collecting signatures and getting the measure on November's ballot as a referendum.

"If you're legal in the country and you're an alien, you have to pay the out-of-state rates for going to school in Maryland, but if you're illegal and you're an alien and you want to go to school, then you're going to pay the in-state tuition rate, which means we're paying for two-thirds of the college tuition. It's just not fair," said Parrott, (R) - Washington County.

Parrott doesn't think it's fair for taxpayers to have to go into their wallets and spend their money when legal residents in nearby states have to pay out-of-state tuition.

"For instance, if an illegal alien went to the University of Maryland College Park, the taxpayers would be paying for over $16,000 dollars per year per illegal alien," Parrott said.

Frederick immigration lawyer Robert Barry Toth says the issue isn't that simple.

"The law itself requires that the people that ally for this prove that their parents have paid taxes, state taxes, for the last three years, and they're continuing to pay taxes," Toth said.

Toth believes children of illegal immigrants should get in-state tuition since their parents, not them, were the ones to come into the country illegally.

"Looking at it from a humanitarian standpoint, I think why are we being mean to children," Toth said. "What does that say about us as a society, as a people?"

Maryland voters will get to make the final call when they vote on question 4 next month. It will read:



"Question 4
Referendum Petition
(Ch. 191 of the 2011 Legislative Session)
Public Institutions of Higher Education - Tuition Rates

Establishes that individuals, including undocumented immigrants, are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates at community colleges in Maryland, provided the student meets certain conditions relating to attendance and graduation from a Maryland high school, filing of income taxes, intent to apply for permanent residency, and registration with the selective service system (if required); makes such students eligible to pay in-state tuition rates at a four-year public college or university if the student has first completed 60 credit hours or graduated from a community college in Maryland; provides that students qualifying for in-state tuition rates by this method will not be counted as in-state students for purposes of counting undergraduate enrollment; and extends the time in which honorably discharged veterans may qualify for in-state tuition rates.

For the Referred Law"

To read the law the legislature passed, click here.

On the Ballot: In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants?

October 15, 2012|By Matthew Hay Brown, The Baltimore Sun

Say radio advertisements violate campaign finance rules

The Maryland Democratic Party is asking state prosecutors to investigate what it says are "serious campaign finance violations" by a group that opposes the state's Dream Act.

The director of the group called the claims "bogus." Brad Botwin, who founded Help Save Maryland six years ago, described the challenge as "another violation of my First Amendment rights."

he Dream Act, if approved by voters next month, would extend in-state tuition breaks at the state's public colleges and universities to some illegal immigrants who have graduated from high school in Maryland, whose families have filed state income taxes, and who meet other requirements.

Help Save Maryland has aired radio ads saying the legislation would have "serious consequences for our state's budget and our children's future" and directing listeners to its website. There, the group has posted a seven-page document challenging elements of the legislation.

In a letter Monday to the state prosecutor and the state elections board, lawyers for the Maryland Democratic Party said the ad and document amount to political advocacy against the Dream Act, for which the group should have registered a ballot initiative committee. That step would enable voters to see where Help Save Maryland gets its money.

The party urged Deputy State Prosecutor Thomas M. McDonough Jr. and Jared DeMarinis, director of the campaign finance division of the state elections board, to "take appropriate action to prevent the further broadcast of advertising by Help Save Maryland in opposition to Question 4" until the group registers as a ballot initiative committee and includes a proper authority line in its advertising.

David Sloan, executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, said in a statement, "Marylanders deserve to know who is funding a group that is peddling lies and grossly misrepresenting the facts to influence the outcome of a ballot measure of critical importance to our state."

Botwin said Help Save Maryland is an educational and outreach organization that does not fall under the campaign finance rules the Democrats cite.

While Help Save Maryland's website urges viewers to "stop taxpayer-funded in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants," Botwin said neither the radio spots nor the website take a position on Question 4.

"I understand what this is," he said. "They're nervous. They're getting very nervous. Things are tightening up."

Also Monday, the pro-Dream Act coalition Educate Maryland Kids announced three new ads on cable television and said it would expand the airing of a radio spot from two stations to five.

The television spots feature Democratic Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown; Baltimore County businessman John Hawks, a longtime Republican; and a group that includes public school teachers, a Catholic priest and a student who is an illegal immigrant.

In each, the speakers say that a student who has studied for three years in a Maryland high school and whose family has paid taxes should be eligible for the in-state tuition breaks.

The coalition, which includes the Maryland Catholic Conference, the Maryland State Education Association, CASA de Maryland and the Service Employees International Union, said it would spend more than $1 million on advertising in the Baltimore and Washington markets before the Nov. 6 vote.

Democrats seek investigation of anti-Dream Act group - Baltimore Sun