By: HARRY ESTEVE Republican Ron Saxton has launched a new TV ad putting illegal immigrants on center stage in the governor's race, saying so many have moved to the state that they now make up "Oregon's second largest city." More are "pouring in," the ad states. The commercial attacks Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski for taking a soft line on "illegal aliens" by allowing them to obtain driver's licenses and vote in state elections. The TV spot was panned by migrant rights groups and by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who charged Saxton with "spreading false and unverified claims" about illegal immigrants voting in Oregon. "I looked at the past 15 years of general elections," Bradbury said. Of more than 10 million votes cast, only 10 prompted investigation into citizenship, he said, and of those 10, only two were prosecuted. Saxton campaign manger Felix Schein called Bradbury a Democratic partisan, and said it's not surprising that he hasn't found cases of illegal immigrants voting. "If he did, he would be partially at fault." |
Ramon Ramirez, executive director of Oregon's tree planters and farmworkers union, said he thought Saxton would stay away from the issue of illegal immigration. Instead, the candidate's latest ad has many Latinos livid -- and inclined to fight back, Ramirez said. "He's promoting fear and discrimination and xenophobia so he can't be serious about winning the governorship. It's a sign of desperation when you have to go to that level," Ramirez said. Schein said the issue has become important to a large number of Oregonians "who are expressing concern about the number of illegal immigrants coming into the state and, frankly, the state's willingness to accommodate them." Before the ad, Saxton appeared to have softened his position on the children of illegal immigrants. In the primary campaign, he once said that they shouldn't be allowed to attend public schools even if they were born in the United States. Later, he said he disagreed with a state Republican Party resolution seeking to deny citizenship status to children of illegal immigrants. And, during a TV debate last week, he said illegal immigration policies should focus on adults, not children. Jim Ross, campaign manager for Kulongoski, called Saxton's ad off base. Kulongoski, he said, is ahead of most governors in preparing the state to implement the federal "Real ID Act," which requires proof of citizenship before someone can get a driver's license. Saxton's new ad "is right out of the Republican playbook," Ross said. "The Republican playbook is immigration and taxes this year. He wasn't getting any traction on taxes, so he's switched to immigration." The immigration ad is another in a series of Saxton ads that attack Kulongoski's leadership. Previous ads have gone after the governor's support of tax increases and new taxes. Schein called immigration "one of a host of issues we've been talking about. We'll move on to other topics obviously before the election comes to an end." Kulongoski, too, put up a new TV ad but it doesn't mention Saxton. Instead, the ad features a woman talking about the drop in the number of drug houses in her neighborhood. She attributes the drop to the governor's efforts to put meth ingredients behind the counter in drugstores. Kulongoski, she says, "really put himself on the line to fight for us." Ross said the campaign plans to continue putting out ads that talk about Kulongoski's record -- but they're also ready to respond to Saxton's attacks if they decide that's necessary. "We're going to have to wait and see where this race goes," Ross said.
©2006 The Oregonian |
