"Wedge issue" for political hopefuls
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
By Monte Whaley
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 11/26/2007 12:10:41 AM MST


Greeley Mayor Tom Selders in his Town Hall office. (Post / Cyrus McCrimmon)Hazleton, Pa., Mayor Lou Barletta decided in May 2006 to do something about the illegal immigrants streaming into his city — a move that's landed the city in court but made him one popular politician.

Barletta, a Republican, easily won re-election to a third term as mayor this month in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1.

After a 29-year-old resident was killed by two undocumented adults last May — the shooter had been previously arrested nine times — Barletta pushed through a law that punishes landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that employ them.

"A lot of people crossed the aisle for me, and I know it was all about illegal immigration," said Barletta, who is not ruling out a run at a national office.

Illegal immigration's influence over other local races across the United States and in Colorado is hard to determine, even in Greeley, where incumbent Mayor Tom Selders lost over charges he was soft on the issue.

Selders had gained national attention when he went to Washington, D.C., to decry illegal-immigration raids such as the one at Greeley's Swift plant in December.

But dealing with undocumented workers will loom large as a political issue in coming years, especially if the federal government continues to be unwilling or unable to tackle the job, officials say.

"For many groups and lawmakers who don't really want to fix immigration, this is just the wedge issue that will help them in a political campaign," said Julien Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.

In Pennsylvania, Barletta never hesitated in putting illegal immigration at the forefront of his re-election run. Immigrants make up 10 percent of Hazleton's 30,000 population, and yet few pay taxes to keep the city running, he said.

Police spent six months investigating the May 2006 shooting and used a good portion of the city's $9 million budget.

"Officers could have used that time and money investigating other crimes and helping other people out," Barletta said.

"It was after that that I decided to take a stand and fight back."

The law that Barletta pushed through was struck down by a federal judge, but not before similar ordinances were passed by dozens of other towns across the nation. The city is appealing the judge's decision.

Several hard-line groups hailed Barletta's election win as a sign that mayors and council members who don't take illegal immigration seriously will be thrown out of office.

"His stunning victory should send a strong signal to politicians both local and national whose courage in the face of mobs has thus far been significantly less noticeable," said the Center for Individual Freedom.

As a whole, however, illegal immigration wasn't as pivotal on Nov. 6 as some claim.

Democrats — seen by some as soft on the issue — gained control of the Virginia Senate and expanded control on Long Island, N.Y.'s Suffolk County.

In Colorado, illegal immigration was a nonissue in nearly all of the state's 55 municipal elections involving candidates, said Sam Mamet, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League.

"The issues were the usual run-of-the- mill kind, like zoning and land use," Mamet said.

The one glaring exception was in Greeley, where Selders was replaced as mayor by Ed Clark, a retired police officer.

Selders was targeted by two outside groups that peppered the city with mailers portraying him as being weak on gangs and crime.

But there were other factors at play in the election, said Steve Mazurana, political science professor at the University of Northern Colorado.

Selders also was a victim of an anti-incumbent and anti-tax mood among voters, Mazurana said.

"Some members of the City Council went down with the mayor for issues other than illegal immigration," Mazurana said. "It was an election where locally there were plenty of other things working against him."

Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7557626