I looked wetter than Michael Phelps when I arrived at an NRCC meeting today. Nine GOP women candidates probably think I have gills.
While I was trudging through five-inch deep puddles, readers were responding to the accusations against Meg Whitman in California.
I’m a lifelong Californian and love the state and its people, even though it’s been governed for the last 15-20 years by the progressive version of the Keystone Cops. But, if people are going to throw Whitman under the bus for hiring an illegal, then almost none of us can run for office. Day laborers, kitchen staff, or domestic help: hiring an illegal is winked at all the time. Voters can hold it against Whitman, but I reserve the right to call “hypocrisy” on my fellow Californians.
Also . . .
Even if Meg Whitman got a no-match letter from SSA, there are plenty of reasons why she might not have taken action. The government has made a point in the past of warning employers that a no-match letter is not in and of itself sufficient reason to terminate an employee. And immigration lawyers will warn their clients that if they take any action against an employee who has facially valid documents, they risk all kinds of civil rights trouble. If anything this episode points out the need for e-verify.
And . . .
Today’s issue of the Morning Jolt is, as always, inspired. You’re right about the California governor’s race, but Michelle Malkin has a point. And I would add this comment to her point. You can’t groom local and state candidates if you don’t financially support them. Conservative blogs, magazine sites (cough-NRO-cough) and talk radio gurus are so busy encouraging everyone to send money to Nevada, Delaware, Florida, and Alaska that local Republican candidates’ fund raising is a disaster. We haven’t had a Democrat county commissioner ever, but we might get one this year because the Democrats are pouring money into the race, and the Republicans are sending their money out-of-state (now that most have given up on the Governor’s race). We need to flip 6 state House seats to regain control, but our two local Republican candidates, both of whom are great candidates with a real chance of winning, can’t raise the money they need to run a very basic local campaign.
I understand that if you live in NYC or Washington, there’s no point in getting too excited about the Republican candidate for anything local, but elsewhere in the country that’s not the case. It would be great if the NRO folks would remind everyone that charity (and campaigning) begins at home.