Ellis campaign bungles sanctuary policy, begins to circle drain
Matt Stiles reported before Thanksgiving that the State Senate campaign of current city councilmember Mark Ellis committed a big blunder:
Mark Ellis' state Senate campaign has sent an e-mail to supporters calling two of his Republican Houston City Council colleagues "recalcitrant" and "boneheaded" for not supporting his effort to change the police department's illegal immigration policy.
The e-mail, which Ellis said he did not authorize, calls on supporters to "bombard" the offices of council members Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and M.J. Khan with phone calls, faxes and e-mails voicing opposition.Ellis said the two have not yet supported his effort to persuade Mayor Bill White to allow a council vote on a resolution that would rescind a 1992 order stating that police not enforce immigration laws.
The proposed resolution, which White said he would not support, even if Ellis persuaded a majority of council members to sign on, calls on the police to determine the immigration status of all people arrested on Class B and C misdemeanor charges, such as criminal trespass or failure to pay toll-road tolls. It also would require proof of U.S. citizenship for people to receive "taxpayer-provided social services."
Ellis said he had planned next week to publicly pressure Khan and Sekula-Gibbs to support the effort, which he said reflects his belief that the police should help federal authorities crack down on illegal immigrants.
"Immigration reform is probably one of the biggest issues that's facing us locally, statewide and the country," he said. "I don't think it's appropriate for municipalities to be working against the federal government."
Ellis said he didn't authorize the language in the e-mail, calling it his campaign's first faux pas, and that he admonished 21-year-old campaign manager Andy Seré for sending it. Seré said he didn't want the word choice to distract from the immigration debate.
Seré said? Ha ha ha ha ha. Hasn't Seré said quite enough already?
This is probably the most interest that the Ellis campaign is likely to generate before Ellis faces reality and bows out of the senate race (or loses by a large margin). Like Chris Elam, we can't help but wonder why Ellis wouldn't have more seasoned help working his campaign, which clearly doesn't seem ready for prime time.
Sadly, the bungled opportunism (or general ineptitude, if one prefers) of the Ellis campaign does detract from legitimate criticism of HPD's sanctuary policy. Proponents of that policy (Mayor White and local left-of-center bloggers) continue to insist that HPD can simply ignore federal law if it desires. That policy is not only misguided, but dangerous. It is simply unacceptable that HPD as a matter of policy is banned from enforcing some laws.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/26/05 05:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (0)
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