Mark Green's Immigrant Experience
Recently, Mark Green has tried to make immigration -- specifically undocumented immigration -- an issue in the gubernatorial race.
A new baseless Green attack ad (which the Journal Sentinel dismantles here) alleges that Doyle is soft on undocumented immigration. And Green has frequently used the fact that he is the son of immigrants to claim special insight into the issue.
Here's Green's standard line on the topic from a May press release: "As the son of immigrants, I strongly support legal immigration. America is and always will be a nation of immigrants who come here in search of a better life. My family is proof positive of just that. But as we welcome newcomers with open arms, we also must demand that our laws are respected."
So what was Green's immigrant experience like?
According to the JS:
A new baseless Green attack ad (which the Journal Sentinel dismantles here) alleges that Doyle is soft on undocumented immigration. And Green has frequently used the fact that he is the son of immigrants to claim special insight into the issue.
Here's Green's standard line on the topic from a May press release: "As the son of immigrants, I strongly support legal immigration. America is and always will be a nation of immigrants who come here in search of a better life. My family is proof positive of just that. But as we welcome newcomers with open arms, we also must demand that our laws are respected."
So what was Green's immigrant experience like?
According to the JS:
It was the second time in the United States for [Mark Green's] parents, Jeremy and Elizabeth. The two had met in Elizabeth's native England, where she was a nurse and Jeremy a doctor. Their first stop in the states was in Boston, where Mark was born in 1960, when his father was working at the old Boston City Hospital.
When their visas expired, the family wound up in Australia.
The longer they were away from America, the more they wanted to return. Then a letter came. A friend Jeremy Green had met along the way was opening a health clinic in Green Bay and needed doctors.
[Jeremy] Green was interested, but the two-year wait before they could seek permanent visas had not passed. So they were stuck until a surprise call came from the American Embassy, telling them to come in and apply.
They later learned that folks in the United States, with the help of then-U.S. Sen. William Proxmire, had been working to cut through the red tape.
Moral of the story for undocumented immigrants: Don't cross the border illegally. When faced with legal hurdles like Visa waiting periods, just wait for your well-connected friends in the States to contact a powerful politician, perhaps Congressman Green, to expedite the legal process and get you in. You see, that's what Green means by respecting and maintaining the integrity of our red tape...er, I mean, laws.
Now is that so hard?
Now is that so hard?
posted by Seth Zlotocha at Monday, October 09, 2006
8 Comments:
Doyle vetoed Senate Bill 567 which would have required people to show proof of citizenship to receive state benefits.
Although his convoluted veto message makes refeence to Medicaid - it was another pandering veto to go along with those for the trial lawyers.
Oh - and nice job blowing Menards off to Iowa over a few acres of wetland. Nice priorities.
Convoluted veto? It's pretty clear what Doyle said about the bill: A federal act that went into effect on July 1 of this year (see here for more on that) requires Medicaid recepients to show proof of citizenship before attaining benefits (at a great cost to many of those beneficiaries). That's exactly what SB 567 proposed to do, so Doyle vetoed it because of its redundancy.
What's convoluted or confusing about that?
As for Menards, my understanding is that there was an issue over wetlands protection. Has Mark Green said that if he was governor he would've ordered the DNR to allow the wetlands to be destroyed?
Oh, I see here that Green would've magically found a way to keep Menards and protect the wetlands.
Wow. It sure is easy to appear like a superhero when you don't provide details on how you're actually going to do it.
Problem Seth - Wisconsin Works, BadgerCare and SeniorCare are administered by the state and are not fully covered under the fed rules. Just like Doyle, use half the facts to hide another bad veto.
And as for Mendards - over four years a leader would have found a way to make this work. The problem...Menards would not poney up the cash to team Doyle and they were DENIED. They should teach them a lesson...
Anon,
Read the JS story I link to above on the federal bill -- it includes Medicaid, BadgerCare, SeniorCare, and other programs.
Wisconsin Works is not included in the federal bill, but it's already against federal and state law for undocumented immigrants to access welfare. To date, I'm not aware of any substantial allegations that there is abuse of the system when it comes to Wisconsin Works. Are you? If there isn't, adding another hoop for poor people to jump through before getting access to Wisconsin Works jobs would have terrible effects on the program, just as the federal bill on Medicaid threatens many legal beneficiaries of that program (read the JS article if you don't believe me).
And, speaking of missing the facts, John Menard has donated $10,000 (the individual maximum) to Doyle's campaign over the past three years. I guess Governor Doyle has more integrity than you and the GOP thought, huh?
No - Doyle does not have more integrity - he will say or do anything to stay in power.
He is an incumbent who has never broken 46%. The undecided voters will break for the challenger and Doyle will be out. It can't happen too soon.
You can spin it any way you want - 600 jobs leaving 4 weeks out hurts Doyle.
I don't think it's me or the Dems who are spinning on this one. To be sure, you're a long way off from your initial comment here.
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