New Democrat Update

ROMANOFF MOVES IMMIGRATION DEBATE TOWARD SOLUTIONS

In the last few days, the political jockeying around a special legislative session concerning illegal immigration has exposed the true intentions of state Republicans and Democrats. In a word, Democrats, led by House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, have been about progress. Republicans, led by Gov. Bill Owens, have been all about politics.

While recognizing that a national solution is needed, Democrats are committed to finding ways state government can help. In fact, the last legislative session was the most productive in Colorado’s history. According to Romanoff, "This year, Colorado passed more bills to curb illegal immigration than any other non-border state in the nation. We did more to solve the problem of illegal immigration than Congress has done in a decade."

Those accomplishments include making it a state felony to sneak illegal immigrants into the country or force adults into indentured servitude or prostitution. A state trooper unit is being created to work on these cases with the federal government.

State contractors are now required to check workers’ immigration status, and contracts with the state can be canceled if the employers knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Forgers who produce fake employment documents will now be fined $50,000.

Of course, those achievements did not serve Owens’ and his party’s political objectives. Republicans believe that keeping a wedge issue like illegal immigration as alive as possible will motivate conservatives to go to the polls and improve their chances in the fall.

They had hoped that Initiative 55 - a ballot measure that would have denied public services to illegal immigrants - would help get all of that done. Then the Colorado Supreme Court took 55 off the ballot for violating the single-subject constitutional requirement.

Realizing that not much else politically is working for his party these days, Owens threatened to call a special legislative session to put a 55-like measure back on the ballot. With a focus on helping to actually curb illegal immigration, Romanoff brought the ballot initiative’s proponents and opponents together to find common ground. Out of those discussions, the group recommended that the legislature approve a package of laws that makes it more difficult for illegal immigrants to use public services and discourages employers from hiring them.

Both sides agree that this set of proposals will be more effective than 55. Former Gov. Richard Lamm, who has been leading those in favor of 55, was quoted in the Rocky Mountain News that a new ballot initiative “would be completely redundant.” In the end, Owens had no choice but to include the consensus set of proposals in his call for a special session.

Like he did with Referendum C - the Colorado Economic Recovery Plan, Romanoff has skillfully changed the terms of a highly visible and divisive debate into one focused on real solutions. His leadership has helped Democrats regain the initiative and, in the process, exposed the GOP’s real agenda - partisanship, not results.

After all, up until now, Owens has ignored the issue, stiffing the anti-illegal immigration wing of his party. To this day, despite all the discussion around 55 the last few months, his administration has no clue what services or how much of them are actually being provided to illegal immigrants - the very problem 55 purported to solve! Democrats plan to get that important information during the special session.

Republicans in Washington are having about as much success with this issue as their counterparts in Colorado. Unfortunately, the GOP in the House and Senate are going out of their way not to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform. What’s worse, the Bush administration is not even enforcing the laws already on the books, according to a new report from Third Way.

Both the number of apprehensions at the border and the number of illegal immigrants apprehended within the interior of the country (including Colorado) have decreased by more than 30% since the Clinton administration. The number of employers prosecuted for employing illegal immigrants dropped from 182 in 1999 to only four in 2003. Audits of employers suspected of utilizing illegal labor dropped to less than 2,200 in 2003 with the number of cases resulting in actual fines declining to a mere four in the same year.

In Colorado, between 1993 and 1995, 54 businesses were cited for hiring illegal immigrants. Since 2000, the number is exactly zero.

A congressional report indicates that the federal government’s “enforcement mission is torn between criminal investigations and enforcing administrative violations, leaving a culture that will do neither activity well and is set up for failure.” The Border Patrol may well be suffering from a similar fate experienced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Both agencies were gobbled up into the massive bureaucracy of the Department of Homeland Security. Both have had their missions and priorities altered (In the Border Patrol’s case, stemming the flow of illegal immigrants seeking labor is no longer its top concern). The bottom line - neither agency has its priorities straight.

Colorado’s recent progress and immediate prospects for more solutions have been encouraging. One can only hope that someday soon the place that can really solve the problem - Washington - will follow its lead.

ROMANOFF NEW COLORADO DLC CO-CHAIR

State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff has been elected the new co-chair of the Colorado DLC by the organization’s Executive Committee. U.S. Senator Ken Salazar is the other co-chair.

“For over ten years, the Colorado DLC has been the most important source of intellectual energy for progressives,” said Romanoff. “New Democrats have always understood that good policy results in good politics. The single most important factor for our party’s future political success is how well we continue to solve the state’s problems. I could not be happier that the DLC has chosen me to be co-chair for Colorado.”

Having Romanoff on board is a real boost to the New Democrat movement in the state. The Speaker embraces a new third way in politics that emphasizes opportunity, security, responsibility and community, rooted in mainstream values. His leadership in the House, as an elected official, and as a leader in our party will be a big help in achieving the DLC’s goals.

The first Democratic Speaker since 1975, Romanoff was the key architect of Referendum C, the Colorado Economic Recovery Plan which has changed the state’s policy and political landscape for the better. After the voters approved C, he helped make sure that those revenues were invested in the key ingredients of economic opportunity - a skilled workforce, health care and transportation - and in a fiscally disciplined manner.

Elected to the House in 2000 and reelected in 2002 and 2004, he represents House District 6, covering east Denver and Glendale. The Denver Post described Romanoff as one of Colorado's most effective legislators. In May, he became the youngest recipient ever of the William M. Bulger Excellence in State Legislative Leadership Award for his work “to preserve and build public trust in the institution of the state legislature and whose career embodies the highest principles of leadership - integrity, compassion, vision and courage.”

Romanoff is replacing former co-chair Sen. Dan Grossman, who decided not to seek re-election this year, and is now the Rocky Mountain regional director of Environmental Defense (ED). Since 1967, ED has been on the cutting-edge in the use of science and economics to create innovative, market-oriented and cost-effective solutions to the nation’s and Colorado’s most urgent environmental problems.

Welcome and much thanks to Speaker Romanoff for taking on this important challenge. The Colorado DLC appreciates Sen. Grossman for his great leadership for the past five years and looks forward to working with him in his new role.