Mike DeWine Doesn’t Get It on Stopping Illegal Immigration

Evans-Novak Report Analyzes Immigration Legislation, Implicating Mike DeWine in the Current Stalemate

Ohio’s incumbent Senator in the May 2 Ohio primary has demonstrated yet again why his continued presence there is not desirable.

Here is an immigration-related excerpt from the latest usually-weekly Evans-Novak e-mail (link not available). The first four paragraphs discussed where Democrats are with the issue, so I’ll begin at Paragraph 5 (bolds are mine):

5) The comments of House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Sunday–that a guest-worker bill would be inappropriate until border security had been finished–represents a change of direction, a new recognition that the immigration bill is dead. Senators rejected cloture on a stand-alone border-enforcement bill after the compromise on the immigration bill died. This could become a weapon for Republicans in some races. No Democrat supported the enforcement bill, although several Republicans as well voted against it. Most Republican senators apparently don’t understand the political benefit of putting Democrats on the record against border security.

6) The result was a wasted week of the legislative calendar, and the pathetic sight of majority Republicans on the floor whining about amendments as if they were members of the minority. Frist is mostly to blame for this outcome, as he appears to have lost control of the Senate. (Reid and Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) are the most powerful at the moment. Reid has already gotten the better of Specter now on both asbestos litigation reform and immigration, even though Specter has won on Supreme Court confirmations. )

7) In this immigration debate, Frist had already failed the minute he turned the floor over to Specter, letting the Democrat-inspired Judiciary Committee bill come up as a substitute to his own bill. Were he more assertive, Frist would have scuttled Specter’s bill as a Democratic product that could never pass, and proceeded to his own border security bill. Senators could have added guest-worker amendments on the floor. Common sense dictates that the immigration bill most likely to pass on the floor is one that is constructed on the floor, amendment by amendment. The Judiciary Committee just was not a good place to build a passable bill, because four or five of the Republicans on the committee were in agreement with the Democrats on key provisions liberalizing immigration law.

Mike DeWine is one of the “four or five” Republicans on the “Democrat-inspired Judiciary Committee” agreeing with the Democrats that immigration law should be liberalized.

Bill Pierce isn’t inspired by Judiciary Committee Democrats — He says that legislation to truly secure our borders must be in place, and only then can a discussion begin about dealing with those who are already here illegally.

Bill Pierce is right on this issue. Mike DeWine is wrong. This is just one of dozens of reasons why Bill Pierce deserves the votes of all conservatives in the GOP Primary on May 2.

Note: I have endorsed Bill Pierce for Senate, and have provided nominal financial support for his campaign. BizzyBlog is a member of Blogs for Pierce. The graphic above is mine, and has not been approved by the Pierce campaign.