MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL

October 17, 2006

GOP keeps immigration on agenda

Ads portray Democrats as soft on the issue

By STEVE SCHULTZE and STACY FORSTER

The grainy twilight footage, presumably of Mexican men scaling a border wall, shows up in hard-edged television ads by Republicans Mark Green and John Gard in their high-profile Wisconsin races for governor and the U.S. House.

The ads warn of steep public costs of illegal immigration and seek to portray their Democratic opponents, Gov. Jim Doyle and Steve Kagen, as soft on the issue.

Doyle "wants to give illegal aliens handouts," a somber announcer says in a new ad by Green, a four-term congressman from Green Bay who is challenging Doyle.

Kagen, an Appleton doctor and first-time House candidate, "supports a plan to give illegals amnesty," Gard says in his TV pitch. A 19-year state legislator and current Assembly speaker, Gard hopes to succeed Green in representing the 8th Congressional District.

With the Mexican border well more than 1,000 miles away, the emphasis on illegal immigration as a hot-button issue in Wisconsin might seem odd to some. But it follows a national Republican strategy in this fall's elections aimed at prodding the party's conservative base and perhaps winning over conservative-leaning independent voters concerned about illegal immigration, according to political experts and campaign strategists.

Immigration ads have cropped up in races around the U.S. this fall, sometimes with similar images or phrases recycled and tweaked to a particular candidate.

With widespread public dissatisfaction about the war in Iraq, as well as the congressional page and lobbying scandals, Republicans have seized on illegal immigration as a way to change the subject and fire up voters, analysts said.

"It's an attempt to get Republicans back to terrain where they are most comfortable and where they can get some traction," said Amy Walter, senior editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

"Republicans know they are running into a gale-force wind" of political setbacks this fall, Walter said. "They can't do anything about that. What they can hope to do is change the terms of the debate."

Dissent in the ranks

With Republicans divided among themselves on some aspects of the national immigration debate, the emphasis on the issue "is a dangerous move for Republicans," said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.

President Bush, for example, has often spoken of his support for creating a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal immigrants already in this country. That has put him at odds with key Republican leaders on the subject, such as Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the House Judiciary Committee chairman who has pushed for comprehensive immigration legislation that would make it a crime to have come into the U.S. illegally.

Bush's support for a citizenship "pathway" - through work, learning English and paying back taxes - really is "amnesty," Sensenbrenner argued in May. Amnesty, Sensenbrenner acknowledged then, is an issue that packs a deadly punch.

Now the Republican Party and candidates such as Gard in northeast Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District are using amnesty to jab their Democratic opponents.

The GOP's willingness to do so suggests to Franklin that the tough line on immigration "is a plan that's more aimed at energizing the base of support they need to turn out on election day, rather than to convince independents to come over to their position."

The strategy risks alienating Republican-leaning Hispanics, Franklin said.

Ivan Gamboa of Milwaukee, who worked to organize Hispanic voters for the state Republican Party in the 2004 election, said recent ads have put him off so much that he's having a tough time coming up with a candidate to vote for in the governor's race.

"It's disappointing we haven't gotten more people in the party to support Hispanic issues," Gamboa said.

Poll numbers suggest framing the debate around amnesty might appeal to many voters. A Strategic Vision poll done earlier this month in Wisconsin found 55% opposed to granting amnesty to illegal immigrants, 23% in favor and 22% undecided.

Gard seizes issue

Immigration was a major theme for Gard during a day of campaigning last week in Green Bay that started with a joint news conference with Sensenbrenner. Their focus was "border security" legislation passed just before Congress recessed for the fall campaigns.

That's a necessary first step in immigration reform, Gard and Sensenbrenner said. Dealing with the 12 million or so illegal immigrants already in the U.S. can come later, said Sensenbrenner.

"Amnesty is wrong" and rewards immigrants who come to the U.S. illegally, Sensenbrenner said.

Ads and mailings by Gard and the Republican Party say Kagen supports amnesty, though they acknowledge he hasn't used the term. Kagen has said he backs a "pathway" to citizenship - the justification Gard and party officials use for labeling Kagen as pro-amnesty.

Kagen said that's not his position. But when asked how he would have illegal immigrants earn citizenship, Kagen said only that "if you broke our laws there should be consequences." Illegal immigrants should not get any head start on citizenship on migrants who come to the U.S. legally - "no cutting in line," he said.

Kagen emphasized cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The issue in the governor's race has focused on charges by Green that Doyle favors special treatment for illegal immigrants. Green said he didn't know how the issue was being used by other Republicans nationally.

According to Green, Doyle was the one who made it an issue here by proposing such programs as in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, something Doyle backed under certain circumstances. Republicans stripped the idea from Doyle's proposed budget.

Green supports the idea of a guest worker program that would make it easier for businesses to recruit legal workers.

He said illegal immigration is a frequent topic among voters he encounters on the campaign trail. Green said he's not concerned that his focus on illegal immigration will cost him support among Latino voters.

"When they see policy that creates specific incentives for people to break the rules and come here illegally, we're dishonoring those who are playing by the rules," Green said.

Doyle said Green's and the Republican Party's push on illegal immigration was "a divisive strategy. It is designed to just inflame people's prejudices."

In an address to a Latino audience in Milwaukee last week, Doyle said he was concerned about reports of anti-immigrant remarks aimed at Hispanics - many of whom are in the U.S. legally.

"We all know you can't go on with a large number of people entering the country illegally," Doyle said. He called for an end to "finger-pointing" and a search for unspecified "real solutions."