http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/05/..._005_18_06.txt

Brian Bilbray
Bilbray touts stance on immigration

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO ---- Brian Bilbray, 50th Congressional District hopeful, said Thursday that the No. 1 issue in the minds of most voters is illegal immigration. The Republican candidate said he is the one with the track record, determination and understanding of the issue to best achieve reform.

In an editorial board meeting with the North County Times, Bilbray talked at some length about what he believes that needs to be done to solve the problem, from interior enforcement, to drying up the labor market for illegal immigrants through the use of a high-tech Social Security card.

On April 11, a special election was held to temporarily fill the 50th District seat formerly held by Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The decorated war hero resigned from office last year after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering millions in government business to two defense contractors. He is now serving more than eight years in federal prison.


Since no single candidate captured more than half the votes on April 11, it forced the election into a June 6 runoff. Of the four candidates who are vying for the temporary assignment, Democrat Francine Busby is his chief opponent. The winner will serve out the remainder of Cunningham's term through the end of the year.

At Thursday's meeting, Bilbray said he is adamantly opposed to a proposed bill that would give illegal immigrants a pathway to legalization ---- if they entered the country before 2004, went through background checks and medical exams, paid fines, learned English and stayed employed.

Calling the proposal nothing more than amnesty, Bilbray said there are 100 million people living in other countries who have applied for legal residence in the United States.

If you allow illegal immigrants to jump to the front of the line, "you have overlooked the fact that they broke the law and rewarded them for that," said Bilbray, who served as the 49th District congressional representative from 1995 to 2000, before losing his seat to Democrat Susan Davis.

"The only way for an (illegal immigrant) to get citizenship is to leave the country and get into the process," he said.

He said that rather than tracking down illegal immigrants, the government needs to dry up the labor market for them, by creating a high-tech Social Security card they would need to present to prospective employers before getting a job. Then the government could come down hard on employers who have workers without such documentation. Eliminating work opportunities would force illegal immigrants to return to Mexico.

"Everything that works well works slowly ---- it's about evolution, not revolution," he said. "Putting down the screws will slowly reduce the problem."

Such a move would not have a negative impact on the economy because it could be brought on-line over a seven-year period. That way, as people got the message, little by little, they would head back to their own counties, he said.

Asked about President George Bush's plans to put National Guard troops on the border with Mexico, Bilbray said he supports the idea, but he criticized Bush for playing politics with the issue.

"This was a president trying to look like he was doing something tough," Bilbray said.

Besides, he said, National Guard troops have periodically been on the border with Mexico for the last 15 years, and much of the existing heavy fencing that exists today was erected by those troops.

He said it frustrates him that some people are complaining about the proposal for National Guard troops, claiming it will unleash a militarization of the border. Mexico has had its troops on the border for years, he said.

He also accused Bush of focusing public attention on the border itself, when in fact the issue reaches much farther north.

"There is a shell game going on here, with the president saying, 'Let's take all these people and put them on the border,' but he is not talking about allowing Border Patrol agents to come up and check documents at the Home Depot," he said.

Bilbray also discussed the topics of energy, campaign finance and ethics in Washington.

He said that while Busby has criticized him for taking campaign donations from oil companies, there was nothing inappropriate about that since he spent six years in Congress working on energy-related issues.

His work on energy was not driven by helping special interests, he said, but by wanting to help create legislation that would benefit the San Diego area. He touted the fact that he worked on legislation that proposed eliminating gasoline additives such as ethanol and methanol.

Additives such as MTBE and methanol and ethanol actually create more pollution, in terms of total emissions, than the fuel the state was already using, he said.

"There are not too many Republicans who have the kind of environmental background that I do," Bilbray said.

As far as campaign finance reform, Bilbray said he was one of the only Republicans to challenge then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to bring campaign finance regulation up for debate on the House floor.

"That's a pretty scary thing to do," Bilbray said of standing up to his party's leader.

Bilbray, who has worked as a Washington lobbyist, said that one of the best things Congress could do if it wants to reduce the influence of special interest groups would be to create a two-year budget cycle. The budget would be authorized right after each congressional election, when members are less under the gun to campaign for re-election, he said. That way, he said, members would be more inclined to resist outside pressure from lobbyists and their campaign donations.

Bilbray said that if he is elected to the temporary job in Congress, he would spend the next six months working behind the scenes to build a compromise solution to the problem of illegal immigration.

"There is nothing you can't accomplish if you don't worry about getting the credit," he said.

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.


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Comments On This Story

Note: Comments reflect the views of readers and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff.
Breezy wrote on May 18, 2006 11:09 PM:"Bilbray's my man.. do doubt."

bilbray ? wrote on May 18, 2006 11:13 PM:"As a republican I support my president. i dont like bilbray saying that the president is playing politics and then he goes ahead and does the same. Our president is being sensible, bilbray should get in line instead of looking for support from radical outlaws like the minuteman."

I think: wrote on May 19, 2006 4:22 AM:"What bb should do is stay home and take care of his mom."

way to go wrote on May 19, 2006 5:38 AM:"I'm so dissappointed with the President's solution to the illegal immigrant problem. I have never wavered in my support for him until now. I agree with Bilbray--putting illegals to the head of the immigration line is disastrous and very unfair to all other prospective citizens now waiting."