Bluestem's last post, Not excited: at GOP forum, MNCD6 hopeful Sivarajah calls shutdown “failed strategy” noted how the Anoka County commissioner took a different position on the recent Republican war on Obamacare.
Sivarajah also parted company with Krinkie and Pederson slightly on immigration, calling for more visas for skilled workers, while opposing current proposals for reform, Sommerhauser reports in 3 hopefuls have their say at CSB-hosted 6th District debate:
All three candidates said they would have opposed an immigration bill that passed the Democratic Senate earlier this year, then stalled in the GOP House.But Sivarajah struck a somewhat different tone on that issue, saying more visas should be given to skilled workers. Noting that her husband is a legal immigrant to the U.S. from Malaysia, Sivarajah said many immigrants have a special regard for the freedoms they find in the U.S.
“We need to, as Republicans, stop looking at immigration as a bad word,” Sivarajah said.
Business lobbying for immigration reform
Sivarajah's position is in line with part of the agenda described by MinnPost columnist Cyndy Brucato in David Gaither, former Pawlenty aide, lobbying for immigration reform:
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s chief of staff, David Gaither, took part in a major Capitol Hill lobbying effort in Washington last week to push for immigration-reform legislation.
Gaither is executive director of the International Education Center in Minneapolis, which last year helped 1,000 immigrants from 89 countries develop language and work skills. Recruited by FWD.US — the Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates pro-immigration reform group — Gaither joined representatives from Cargill, Ecolab, Hormel and several religious organizations and met with Reps. Tim Walz, Erik Paulsen and Collin Peterson.
He said that Republican Paulsen and Walz, a Democrat, in particular seemed eager to see a bill pass the U.S. House. The GOP-controlled House plan most likely to pass would not provide a “special” path to citizenship for the country’s estimated 11 million illegal residents. “That’s the one thing that gives them the most heartburn,” Gaither said.
But Gaither said that Walz, Paulsen and Peterson, a Democrat, appreciated the needs outlined by Minnesota business: modifying the system to allow more highly skilled workers to enter the country and fixing glitches in the “e-verify” system that can misidentify immigrants and countries of origin.
Walz is also a Democrat, as Republicans in his districts constantly remind voters. Democrats in Peterson's district sometimes are reminded of Peterson's party label, so Brucato's being helpful there.
It's an interesting strategy for both Sivarajah and Paulsen (if indeed his position is as the lobbyist describes it). However, while at first FWD.US's agenda seemed to be focused just on visas for skilled workers, more recent activity by the PAC suggests a broader commitment to comprehensive immigration reform.
Where's FWD.US on immigration reform?
In May, Huffington Post's Anne Flaherty reported in FWD.us Fights For More Foreign Visas, Causes Controversy In Government, Tech Industry:
To the U.S. technology industry, there's a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it's more sinister: The push by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor.The answer is somewhere in between, depending as much on new technologies and the U.S. education system's ability to keep up as on the immigration law itself. But the sliver of computer-related jobs inside the U.S. that might be designated for foreigners — fewer than 200,000 out of 6 million — has been enough to strain a bipartisan deal in the Senate on immigration reform, showcase the power of big labor and splinter a once-chummy group of elite tech leaders hoping to make inroads in Washington. . . .
. . . According to a recent report by the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute, the number of skilled guest workers has increased sharply in recent years while only 1 in 2 U.S. college graduates with high-tech degrees can find a job in their field.
"You have to question why we would want to import an increasing number of foreign workers," said Lowell, who co-wrote the report.
PBS looked at the report in The Bogus High-Tech Worker Shortage: How Guest Workers Lower US Wages. It's a variation on the related discussion mentioned MPR's Meetings next week on subsidized training for new manufacturing workers:
Manufacturers say there's a shortage of skilled workers. But some economists say companies aren't finding workers because of low wages and other factors.
More recently, the group has broadened its focus. By August, SFGate reported in Zuckerberg speaks out for immigration reform:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took his first step on the national political stage Monday night when he joined publicly with tech leaders, civil rights activists and undocumented immigrants to call for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration policies - an issue he said touches not just Silicon Valley but "the whole country."
"This is something that we believe is really important for the future of our country - and for us to do what's right," the social media innovator told a crowd of several hundred at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
The Hill reported on October 30 in Zuckerberg group dials up pressure on immigration:
The political advocacy group co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill Tuesday to push House Republicans to act on immigration reform.
Zuckerberg’s group, FWD.us, joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bibles Badges and Business and other pro-immigration groups to sponsor a day-long trip aimed at pressuring House Republicans to bring immigration legislation to the floor for a vote. More than 80 representatives from the tech community across the country met with House Republican members from their home states on Tuesday to make the case for immigration reform. . . .Overall, the joint lobbying push sponsored by FWD.us, the Chamber and other pro-immigration groups brought roughly 600 representatives to Washington for meetings with 150 member offices.
FWD.us plans to keep up its push for House action on immigration legislation in the coming days.
Next month the group will host a “DREAMer Hackathon” event at LinkedIn’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. Young immigrants who came to the United States illegally with their families, often called “Dreamers” in relation to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, will build digital tools and applications at the “hackathon” event that help promote FWD.us’ advocacy efforts for immigration reform.
The San Franciso Chronicle had more about the membership of the coalition in Silicon Valley advocacy group fwd.us teams up with evangelicals, business to push immigration reform.
Some observers, like PolicyMic's Alex Collazo in Immigration Reform 2013: Fwd.us and Mark Zuckerberg Are Not Progressive Allies, wonder if the high tech lobby will revert to its default position:
When the negotiating gets tough, will the Silicon Valley immigration lobby bail on those undocumented workers most desperately in need?
While Sivarajah might be comfortable with a "yes" answer to that question, the Dreamers and others, who wish to secure their parents' status as well as their own, may be very unhappily vocal about such a change.
Anti-environmentalism as a cover for immigration reform votes
Earlier this year, FWD.US ran a controversial ad that praised conservative lawmakers for supporting the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Los Angeles Times reported in Mark Zuckerberg's Fwd.us in heated controversy over political ads:
Mark Zuckerberg is being unfriended by progressives angered by television ads from his political advocacy group Fwd.us that praise lawmakers for supporting the expansion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. . . .
Fwd.us is spending seven figures in seven states to frame immigration reform as a conservative issue. The first round of ad buys makes no mention of immigration. Instead the ads tout lawmakers' support of causes embraced by conservatives.
Fwd.us chief Joe Green was not available for comment, spokeswoman Kate Hansen said.
"Fwd.us is committed to showing support for elected officials who promote the policy changes needed to build the knowledge economy," Hansen said. "Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum –- separately –- means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents."
Is there a connection between this advertising and the attempts by some conservatives to pretend that environmental groups and progressives are really the ones blocking immigration reform?
Bluestem can only say good luck with that, folks. It's not Minnesota's environmental groups hosting anti-immigration reform CAPS senior writing fellow Michael Cutler. This week, Cutler is the guest of the anti-environment Agenda21phobes at the tea parties in Central Minnesota and the SW Metro. All of the Republican candidates in MNCD6 have made the pilgrimage to St. Cloud to speak to the former, and state representative Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen) holds court at the latter.
Meanwhile in Paulsen and Kline's districts, pilgrimage and protest
Meanwhile, faith-based group ISAIAH and Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice are in the midst of its Minnesota Pilgrimage for Citizenship, going from church to church in Representative Paulsen's district. They'll conduct a prayer vigil at Paulsen's office in Eden Prairie at 4 p.m.
Down in John Kline's MNCD2,La Asamblea de Derechos Civiles (Assembly of Civil Rights), a statewide, faith-based non-profit organization is pressuring the conservative Republican. Corresponding for The Uptake, Sheila Regan reports in Ten Arrested As Immigration Reform Activists Protest at GOP Rep. John Kline’s Office:
Ten protesters were arrested Monday as they blocked Burnsville Parkway in front of U.S. Representative John Kline’s office while about 100 supporters watched their act of civil disobedience. Organized by La Asamblea de Derechos Civiles (Assembly of Civil Rights), a statewide, faith-based non-profit organization, the action was planned in an effort to pressure the Republican Congressman to support immigration reform, as well as to call on House Speaker John Boehner to bring HR-15, the bill that has already passed in the Senate and includes a path to citizenship, to the House Floor.
“He needs to listen to the community,” said Asamblea co-founder Antonia Alvarez, who brought her young children to the action, including eight-year old Melina, who delivered a personal message to the congressman. “Will you please ask Congressman Kline to pass immigration reform with a path to citizenship,” the young girl asked Kline’s receptionist.
Between business and the bible, will Republicans be swayed to vote for reform?
Photos: Rhonda Sivarajah (above); Facebook zillionaire Mark Zuckerberg promoting CIR in August via SFGate (middle); Protesters outside Kline's office in Burnsville yesterday, photo by Sheila Regan (below).
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