Thread: TX Conservatives:Don't Re-Elect Burt Solomons! (UPDATE)

I have edited some of the following political advertisement which I received in the mail from Peter Morrison, a self-described Texas "conservative activist" who publishes a state-wide email newsletter, "The Peter Morrison Report". This concerns the Republican primary contest in the 65th District of the Texas House of Representatives, where Mike Murphy is challenging incumbent Burt Solomons. All opinions expressed are those of Mr. Morrison. The Texas State Legislature convenes every other year.

A Plea to Fellow Conservatives:
Please Don't Re-Elect Burt Solomons!

"I have to admit, last year's (Texas) legislative session was very frustrating for those of us concerned about the illegal alien invasion of our state. With the federal government firmly under the liberal control of the Democrats, our only hope of dealing with the problem was at the state level, with our supposedly conservative Republican majority in our state legislature. With the amount of frustration on this issue felt by the grassroots, I though it should be pretty painless to help along some productive legislation filed by some of our conservative friends in the house.

"I was in for quite a surprise. It turns out many Republicans care more about playing nice and brokering deals with the liberals and the Cheap Labor Lobby than doing anything to solve the illegal immigration problem in our state.

"I also hate to have to tell you this, but in the whole House the one Republican who kept getting in the way of doing something to solve the problem of illegal immigration was none other than your state representative, Burt Solomons. You see, early last year he teamed up with every Democrat in the Texas House and betrayed the conservative leadership in the House to support a (edit) liberal Republican for Speaker. This betrayal got him a plum committee chairmanship, the State Affairs committee.

"A lot of bills trying to address the illegal immigration problem went through this committee. As chairman, Solomons had the power to bring these bills up for a committee vote to let them die. He chose to let almost all of them die. (Statistical table provided showing comparable results for bills in Solomons' State House and the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee chaired by Sen. John Carona. Summary - Solomons' House State Affairs Committee had 38 immigration-related bills introduced compared with 13 in the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. Sen. Carona allowed a committee hearing on all 13 bills; Solomons on only 5. 10 bills were voted out of Carona's Senate Committee; only 1 was voted out of the House Committee. 6 Senate bills were placed on the Legislative Calendar, and 2 were passed into law. NONE of the bills introduced into the House Affairs Committee chaired by Solomons was placed on the Legislative Calendar or passed into law. "Numbers provided by the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) www.ircot.com ")

"For bills trying to fix the illegal immigration problem, Rep. Solomons' committee only passed 1 bill out of 38 filed, or less than 3%. By contrast, Senator Carona in the Senate passed over 75% of immigration-related bills out of his similar committee.

"Some people have wondered why the House Republicans, and Burt Solomons in particular, are such cowards when it comes to dealing these issues. Some have said that Solomons and the rest of the liberal Republicans coup cut a backroom deal with the Democrats. If the Democrats would support the ouster of the conservative leadership, then liberal Republicans in positions of power would guarantee no immigration-related bills came up for a full House vote.

"This came to a particularly rotten head on the voter ID legislation, which would have added the simple and sensible step to require everyone to show valid state issued ID like a driver's license in order to vote. (edit) ...when vote ID legislation came up in the House for a vote, the liberal Republicans like Burt Solomons stood by and let the Democrats filibuster it through a process called "chubbing". All the work of conservative activists to get this legislation passed was wasted by the poor,cowardly leadership of Solomons and his allies.

"This brings me to why I am writing you today. I believe the Republican primary election in 2010 could represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Voters are tired of back room deal-making incumbents like Burt Solomons and are desperate to elect new leaders who will stand on principle.

" Luckily someone stepped up in your district to challenge Burt Solomons and hold him accountable for his betrayal of conservative principles.... ...Mike Murphy...is challenging Burt Solomons for the Republican nomination in this year's primary election.

"Unlike Burt Solomons, Mike is a true conservative who supports defending our border.... Mike Murphy...will work hard to support common-sense immigration and voter ID legislation.

"I encourage you to find out more about Mike by visiting www.TexansforMurphycom. Correction: www.texansformurphy.com
(Note: this link comes up for me as an error, but here is his "Texans for Murphy" site on Facebook:
http://ko-kr.facebook.com/group.php?gid ... &ref=share )

Sincerely,
Peter Morrison
http://www.PeterMorrisonReport.com

P.S. - "If we keep re-electing people who sell out our conservative principles, nothing is evey going to change for the better. Please take time to examine the issues and hold public officials like Burt Solomons accountable. I've spent quite a bit of time talking with Mike Murphy, and I can tell you he is a true grassroots conservative. ...

Pol. Adv. paid for by Peter Morrison"

Introductory paragraph to all the above:
("My name is Peter Morrison and I am a conservative activist out of Lumberton, Texas. (information about publishing newsletter) In the past two years I've also supported a non-partisan organization called the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT), an umbrella group run by Rebecca Forest out of Austin that worked in the last legislative session to push along legislation trying to deal with the problem of illegal immigration."

Removed "Fellow" from beginning of title.

Related:
In the interest of fairness, encumbent Burt Solomons's own positions on issues can be read on his official website:
TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - MEMBER BURT SOLOMONS
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/di ... lomons.php

Thanks 2step!! I never would have known about this if it weren't for you. 2 votes that I KNOW I will do: Medina, and Giovanni (who want to make English the official language of Texas). That's all I have so far.

Do you have any other recommendations for me? I usually vote republican here in Texas, except for the governor and senate. I LOVE Granger! She is a REAL Republican. I have personally sat in her office and discussed issues with her, including illegal immigration. She makes time for her constituents, unlike the traitor republicans that Texas is festering with. Perry, Hutchison, and Cornyn, please screw off! We've had enough of you!!

I know nada, DarthIllegal, about illegal immigration or its politics in Texas that I have not learned here or from information from North Texas Citizens for Immigration Reform! The latter excellent group recently officially merged with the state-wide anti-illegal immigration unbrella group mentioned in Morrison's opinion piece: the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT). You might sign up to receive IRCOT's email alerts at their homesite (link provided in the article). Also, conservative activist Peter Morrison of Lumberton gives information, opinions, and recommendations in his email newsletter; if interested, you can sign up to receive his "The Peter Morrison Report" at his website cited in the article.

Since our legislature doesn't meet this year, the ALIPAC Activism and FOCUS Campaign for Texas (2010) right now is concentrating on a lawsuit brought by IRCOT and another group. http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-186596.html

I also think Kay Granger is terrific. I wish it were she and not the "other Kay" running for Governor. We also are blessed with my excellent personal Congressman, Dr. Michael Burgess, an intelligent and thoughtful conservative whom there is almost no need to write or call because he already is "on our page" if not ahead (of me, at least) on issues of which bring us here. Also, here are ALIPAC's own candidate endorsements:

ALIPAC's 2010 CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS!
http://www.alipac.us/2010_campaign_endorsements.html

Welcome to ALIPAC!

I just received a personal telephone call from Burt Solomons. He sent out a voter survey which I completed and returned. Under "Other Issues" I had written that his "consistent blocking of bills related to illegal immigration in the Texas legislature was not appreciated, and that I would be voting for his opponent, Mike Murphy." He said he called because he wanted me to know that this was not true, and that any information I had received from Peter Morrison was the result of the latter's personal animosity toward him. Solomon said that Morrison had "personally bankrolled" Murphy's run for the Texas House, and that several of his constituents had called his office asking about his political advertisement which was mailed to their homes.

Solomon said he wanted me to know that he had 1) run for Speaker of the Texas House, but had been defeated; he implied that the current speaker was perhaps more liberal on this issue than he would have been; 2) had himself sponsored one anti-illegal immigration bill last year which he could not get out of his own committee; 3) had worked with other Republicans in every way possible to get a bill requiring a Photo ID to vote in Texas passed, but had been unable to get it past the Democrats' "chubbing" (TX term for filibuster); and 4) that he did not have the power ascribed to him as committee chairman if he had wished to do all he was accused of in Morrison's advertisement. He said that the 2 bills which were passed out of the Sen. Carona's Committee dealt entirely with border security. He concluded that he believes that illegal immigration and border security are major issues both in Texas and nationally, but stated that he refuses to base his actions on "what Peter Morrison thinks I should do".

Since it is so late, it will be tomorrow before I will be able to call the office of my excellent Republican TX State Senator, who co-sponsored the Photo ID bill last year, and ask if they can shed any light on Rep. Solomon's true actions as chairman of the House State Committee in matters of immigration legislation during the last legislative session.

However, I was extremely impressed that Rep. Solomons evidently not only reads surveys like these personally, but that he would take his own time to call me. So please bear the above in mind when reading what Peter Morrison wrote.

Update, 02/19/10: I just spoke with an aide in TX State Sen. Jane Nelson's office. She said she has "no knowledge" of the bills introduced into the House State Committee on the specific issue of immigration last session or of Rep. Solomon's actions on the matter. It was to be expected that they would not wish to become involved in another political race, but I thought I would call and ask if they had any first-hand knowledge about the validity of Morrison's information anyway.

WOW!! That's impressive! An actual phone call!! Please give me an update as soon as you get one. I'm curious to see what is going on. Thanks for the info!

GOP rivals for State House District 65 tangle over budget, immigration issues at forum

11:09 PM CST on Thursday, February 18, 2010

By DIANNE SOLÃ

February 26, 2010

I received the following new political advertisement regarding immigration by mail from the State Representative Burt Solomons Campaign:

INTRODUCING STATE REP. BURT SOLOMONS' LONE STATE IMMIGRATION REFORM PLAN

BURT'S PLAN CALL FOR:

* VERIFICATION OF CITIZENSHIP IN THE WORKPLACE

* VERIFICATION OF CITIZENSHIP IN OUR JAILS

* MORE DPS TROOPERS ON OUR BORDER

* PHOTO VOTER ID REQUIREMENT

Burt Solomons. Republican Results. Not Rhetoric.

Burt's Lone Star Immigration Reform Plan

Verification of citizenship in the Workplace
Washington has dropped the ball. Employers should not knowingly be hiring illegal immigrants. My plan calls for ALL Texas employers to quickly and cheaply use the E-Verification system to check the immigration status of employees.

Verification of citizenship in our jails
For too long Texas taxpayers have been paying to incarcerate illegal alien criminals. My plan calls for State immigration background checks to be conducted on criminals that are booked into our jails. If a criminal is found to be here illegally, they can be quickly turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for Deportation.

More DPS Troopers on the Border
It seems to only in times of crisis does Washington decide to beef up our border patrols. My plan will keep DPS Troopers on patrol in our Border regions. Since Washington won't do it, we need to put more state law enforcement in the area and equip them with helicopters and technology.

Photo ID requirement
To prevent voter fraud, safeguard against identity theft and protect the integrity of our elections, my plan requires a valid Texas Photo ID in order to vote. We can't wait anymore for the federal government to act.

"Let's get it done in Texas, even if Washington won't"

(Burt Solomons) Strong Supports Republican & Tea Party Values

Burt Solomons
Republican State Representative
www.BurtSolomons.com

In my opinion Mr. Solomons is expressing his support for two measures which may or may not pass the Texas Legislature next year and for proposals which are out of his hands:

1) Requiring that all Texas employers use the federal E-Verify system. I believe that Mr. Solomons personally sponsored a state bill to implement this during the last legislative session in 2007-08, but it did not pass.

2) Requiring use of a Photo ID to vote in Texas. This state bill was backed strongly by almost the entire Republican delegation during the legislature's last session; however, it did not pass.

Verification of citizenship in our jails:
Mr. Solomons fails to specify how he intends to do this and how it would be paid for. Current partnerships with local authorities and the federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency are 1) COPS in local jails; 2) 287(g) and 3) Secure Communities cooperative programs between local law enforcement agencies and ICE. To participate in these programs, local law enforcment agencies must apply, qualify, and pay out of their own funds to do so. There currently is a waiting list for local communities applying to be admitted to the 287(g) program. The City of Houston has decided that it cannot to participate in both the Secure Communities and 287(g) programs because of the economic downturn, and has cut the latter. Further, federal funding has been cut from the 287(g) program with the aim of limiting it to the apprehension and deportation of "violent criminal aliens". It simply is not true that "if a criminal is found to be here illegally, they can be quickly turned over to ICE for deportation." A large number of illegal aliens committing minor offenses are simply released by ICE back out into the community, if they answer the local community's detention call at all, because they say they do not have the resources to deal with so many illegal aliens.

More DPS Troopers on the Border
This would require a great deal of extra funding which would seem unnecessary - especially the part about providing "helicopters and technology" out of state funds for this when U.S. taxpayers already have paid through their federal taxes to install one and one-half "virtual fences" which do not work very well along both the Mexican and Canadian borders, and seen helicopters purchased for use by their state national guards disappear into the Middle East to be used by the U.S. military as part of our dual war efforts there.

These are just my thoughts.