No federal laws in this land
By: Ken Garcia
Examiner Staff Writer
March 27, 2009
San Francisco’s Democratic Party leadership met this week to grapple with thorny immigration issues. After two hours of finger-pointing, character assassination and nasty personal attacks, they essentially agreed that federal laws shouldn’t apply here, that felony convictions for illegal immigrants are fine, and that the mayor and the Police Department should redirect their agencies to, well, concentrate on other tasks.
In other words, just another beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Some members of the Democratic County Central Committee have been on a tear of late accusing the Police Department of racial profiling and being heavy-handed in dealing with the (illegal) "immigrant community." This was translated into dueling resolutions on city immigration policy — one that demonized Mayor Gavin Newsom and one that said legal protections should not extend to people who commit violent
felonies.
I’ll let you guess which one passed.
Leaders of the Democratic committee want the federal government to stop raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is outside The City’s authority. However, San Francisco law enforcement agencies are required by law to report to ICE any foreign nationals arrested and booked on suspicion of felonies — a requirement that also applies to juveniles, according to findings recently upheld by the City Attorney’s Office.
Scott Wiener, a member of the local Democratic Party, tried to make that clear to his colleagues, for which he was thoroughly lambasted. Then, the membership passed a resolution praising President Barack Obama for closing "horrific institutions like Guantanamo" and demanding that the mayor stop "criminalizing" the immigrant community without a shred of factual evidence.
Just for the record, neither the mayor nor the Police Department is involved with ICE raids, which are run by the Homeland Security Department.
"It’s a strange thing for the local Democratic Party to say we don’t trust President Obama’s immigration policy," mayoral spokesman Nathan Ballard said. "They’re saying that the San Francisco Police Department shouldn’t be allowed to follow federal law.’’
People at the meeting said there was a lot of emotional testimony from immigrant mothers in San Francisco, most of which involved deportation due to the ICE raids.
Yet, there’s no getting around that little felony crime-reporting requirement, which seems to elude a majority of the local Democratic Party leadership. Wiener was accused of being "Republican-like" for daring to push that position.
The general consensus was that it was cold as ICE.
SoCal state legislator blows smoke — again
You’ve got to hand it to state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach. When it comes to stamping out public smoking, she’ll huff and she’ll puff and they’ll be no ifs, ands or butts.
This week, Oropeza reintroduced another bill to ban smoking at state beaches and parks, with a $250 fine for anyone found lighting up in the open spaces. A similar measure from the Democratic lawmaker died in committee last year, and this is the fourth time Oropeza has introduced a smoking-ban bill.
Oropeza contends that it would protect people from secondhand smoke, help prevent forest fires and also provide an able assist on state littering laws. One understands the general idea that California needs money, so why not zoom in on the last of the state’s tobacco heathens?
Several cities have already banned smoking on municipal beaches, but this bill would extend to about 350 state parks and beaches. As we can tell from any outdoor concert or event, however, San Francisco generally does not enforce ordinances on smoking — whether they involve tobacco or not.
Oropeza also said cigarettes interfere with the digestion of marine animals. We’ll just take her word for it.
For bee’s sake: Berkeley aims to protect the little stingers
From tree-sitters to Krishna parades, Berkeley still insists on being a town apart.
Now the hive of weird news activity is buzzing about the latest entry of the city’s wacky chronicles, which is a proposal that would turn all its parks and open space into protected bee habitats.
The idea, which proponents say is a local effort to offset the global decline of bees, has yet to be fully vetted, since there’s little doubt that some parent groups might see a problem mixing swing sets and stingers.
The city is proposing that any bee "landscaping" be put at least 30 feet from children’s play areas. That sounds nice, except for the fact that bees fly. The plantings are also supposed to be kept away from barbecues and garbage cans, but strangely, bees seem to find their way to cookouts no matter their locations.
Berkeley officials, who have a long history of passing foreign-policy resolutions and injecting themselves into debates about flag burnings, see the bee buildup as part of the environmental movement.
That raises a question: If Berkeley becomes to bees what it is to tie-dyed T-shirts, will more of our pollinating friends hibernate to the East Bay?
And how will San Francisco respond? After all, The City’s eco-friendly mayor, Gavin Newsom, has rarely come across a green initiative that he did not champion. And now that he’s running for governor against Jerry Brown, they’re competing for every environmental morsel.
I can hear it now: Gov. Moon-bee.
Arnie pledges not to run, unless it’s for ...
When was the last time you heard a politician say they were not running for another office? Yesterday? Two hours ago?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the cast, insisting to the Los Angeles Times that he has no plans to seek a senate seat — or anything else, for that matter.
"I’m not running for anything, because I know it’s the right thing," he said. That is, he added, unless we change the U.S. Constitution.
That small maneuver would allow the Austrian-born film star to run for president one day. There are probably some Republican consultants who would lobby on his behalf, since the Bushes have pretty much run their course.
Yet now that Schwarzenegger has gone against his long-held pledge not to raise taxes, the GOP faithful would be hard-pressed to go to the mat for the star of "The Running Man."
We’d advise you not to read his lips.
Follow The Examiner
