Thread: DHS Nominee Controversial on Immigration Issues

Friday, January 9, 2009

Homeland Security nominee controversial on immigration issues

By DENA BUNIS
The Orange County Register
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WASHINGTON – When Janet Napolitano was nominated to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell quipped that the single 52-year-old was perfect for the job because she has "no life."

Rendell caught flak for the remark's sexist overtones.

But Napolitano laughed it off, friends say. Arizona's governor doesn't sweat the small stuff. She's not touchy about what people say about her and she doesn't wear her ideology on her sleeve.

They say she's practical. She's a workaholic. She's smart. She's a good politician. She loves public service.

Napolitano, a Democrat, will face the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday. Committee Chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman says she's a shoo-in for confirmation.

If Napolitano does become the third leader of the Department of Homeland Security since its creation five years ago, she will inherit the most dysfunctional agency in the executive branch. She'll need to find managers for 22 disparate agencies and their nearly 200,000 employees.

And she'll have to tackle for the nation what she's confronted as a border-state governor- immigration – one of the most emotional issues of our time.

Supporters say she's perfect for the job. Critics say her ability to navigate political minefields is also her weakness – that she dances around issues and you never know where she really stands.

"There's no way she'll be eaten alive because she's tough as nails,'' says state Democratic Rep. Krysten Sinema of Phoenix. "I don't think people will treat her like a chump because she's smarter than anyone in the room.''

But Rep. Dana Rohrabacher calls her the "worst possible choice." She'll say one thing and mean another on immigration, says the Huntington Beach Republican, who believes illegal immigration is the nation's most pressing national security problem.

Straddling immigration

Napolitano was elected governor in 2002 by less than 12,000 votes, not exactly a mandate. Arizona was then a totally red state. It was facing the biggest deficit in the state's history. But she managed to work with the GOP legislature to pass a budget and has done so every year. In 2006 she became the first Democratic governor in 25 years to win re-election and her approval ratings hover around 60 percent.

When people criticize Napolitano it usually involves her views on immigration.

Supporters say it's not that she's not clear on where she stands; it's that her ideology doesn't get in the way of her doing what's necessary.

"She's not ideological, period,'' says Simena. "Her goal is to find a working solution, not to appease the base on either side.''

Pro-immigrant advocates were furious that she signed a bill requiring employers to use a federal Web-based system to check someone's employment status. And they also weren't thrilled that Napolitano declared a state of emergency at the border in 2005 and sent 300 National Guard troops to the border.

"It's great politics,'' says Alfredeo Guttierez, a Spanish language radio talk show host in Phoenix who ran against Napolitano in the 2002 gubernatorial primary. "The political calculus is on point. You call out the National Guard and that satisfies the far right. And then she relegates them to being a construction crew. That mollifies the left with the fact that they are there.''

Gutierrez called the employer sanctions bill she signed "the worst piece of legislation in the United States.''

Those who oppose giving any quarter to illegal immigrants say that in her heart she's for open borders and amnesty. They say Napolitano's enforcement efforts have been politically motivated.

"Napolitano is fond of saying if you build a 50-foot fence that those intent on crossing the border will find a 51-foot ladder,'' Rohrabacher said. "She's opposed to building the fence. Why doesn't she just say so?"

Those in the middle say they can work with her.

"She gets it,'' says Frank Sharry, head of America's Voice, a Washington, D.C.-based group dedicated to immigration reform. "Do I agree with every decision she made as governor? No." But, Sharry said, "as a border governor she understands the policy and gets the politics."

It's not all business

Friends say Napolitano's insistence on surrounding herself with really smart people and her no-nonsense approach to her job shouldn't leave the impression that this she is a dour person.

"She's got a great sense of humor and she's just someone you like to hang out with,'' says Andrew Gordon, a Phoenix lawyer who is one of Napolitano's oldest and closest confidantes. Gordon, who has run Napolitano's campaigns, says the governor loves opera, plays with a weekly woman's tennis group and is a voracious reader of everything from history to cheesy mysteries.

Asked what was the most exciting thing she'd ever done, Napolitano said climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

In Washington, Napolitano will be surrounded by intense security. The DHS secretary has a larger than usual detail than other cabinet members.

As governor, Napolitano tones down the trappings.

Arizona doesn't have a governor's mansion. Napolitano lives in a two-bedroom condo in downtown Phoenix.

"It's a converted older apartment building she had remodeled,'' Gordon said. "After she was there a couple of years someone opened the oven and the cardboard was still in there.'' He added, "She's a gourmet eater. Not a gourmet cook.''

Colleagues traced her popularity to her down-to-earth and accessible manner. At events people call her Janet, something friends say she relishes rather than being put out that they don't use her gubernatorial title.

Born in New York City, Napolitano moved to Arizona soon after graduating from the University of Virginia Law School. She became a law clerk for the Ninth Circuit Court and after a stint at practicing law won election as state Attorney General and then governor.

Napolitano wasn't born into a political family. Her father was the dean of the University of New Mexico Medical School. Her mother didn't work outside the home.

But there is a theory about her draw to politics.

Napolitano and Caroline Kennedy- daughter of President John F. Kennedy and maybe the next senator from New York – were born within two days of each other. Their mothers had adjoining rooms at New York Hospital.

The joke, says Gordon, is that maybe her parents took home the wrong baby and hence the political genes.

Napolitano cut her political teeth in Washington in 1991 when she was on Anita Hill's legal team during the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was questioned about her work with Hill when the Senate confirmed her in 1993 as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for Arizona.

She backed Obama early

While Napolitano isn't viewed as a politician who has taken many chances in her public life, she did take a gamble in January of 2008 when she surprised friends and colleagues and came out early for Obama. At the time, Obama was trailing Hillary Rodham Clinton the polls and in money. And Napolitano had been close with the Clintons.

She took heat from women activists in Arizona who called her a traitor. But friends say she saw something in Obama, starting with his 2004 convention speech. Napolitano had spoken before the young Illinois senator and the two met backstage. They became fast friends.

"She felt very strongly that Obama really is a unique leader,'' Gordon said.

When Napolitano became governor she went through every department and cleaned house where she thought it was necessary and brought in many new managers.

That's what Rep. Loretta Sanchez is hoping the new secretary will do.

Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, is the vice chair of the Homeland Security Committee and chairs the border panel.

"She's inheriting a really, really difficult situation,'' said Sanchez, citing a report by the General Accountability Office that highlighted bad morale and poor management at the department. "She needs to get good managers in there.''

Contact the writer: (202) 628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/napo ... ys-friends

But Rep. Dana Rohrabacher calls her the "worst possible choice." She'll say one thing and mean another on immigration, says the Huntington Beach Republican, who believes illegal immigration is the nation's most pressing national security problem.

And I am sure Rep. Dana Rohrabacher knows and he is an honest man...very few of those in DC

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