Posts on Maryland

While the debate over federal immigration reform has been on hold, anti-immigrant activists continue to push for legislation on the state and local levels. At a recent hearing of the Maryland state House Judiciary Committee regarding several bills seeking to crack down on undocumented immigrants, one activist found her testimony that day cut short after she tried to distribute fliers to the committee depicting the chairman in a gaudy sombrero under the phrase “Wanted for Aiding & Abetting.”

The activist, Susan Payne, announced herself as the executive director of the new Maryland Coalition for Immigration Reform, but we remember her as the co-founder of Citizens Above Party, which had at least one other member. Last year, Payne was testifying to the state legislature over REAL ID, warning that her hometown of Gaithersburg—a wealthy suburb of D.C. best known for its New Urbanist planned villages—was “becoming the first authentic barrio in the county.” Payne is one of a few anti-immigrant activists in the state who seem to be quoted in the media again and again.

But Payne doesn’t seem to have trouble finding allies among legislators: Del. Warren Miller is calling on his colleague Joe Vallario, the committee chairman depicted in the sombrero, to resign for interrupting Payne. “I would suggest he move to another country and run for office there,” said Miller.

(Susan Payne with flier. Photo from Maryland Thursday Meeting.)

This week, the Club for Growth declared victory as incumbent Rep. Wayne Gilchrest lost the Republican primary to the Club’s handpicked candidate. The Club’s PAC, which has carved out a niche for itself with right-wing primary challenges, spent more than $600,000 on the race, mostly with TV ads calling Gilchrest a “liberal.”

But the Club for Growth, known for its hard-line supply-side economics, wasn’t the only outside group giving a boost to challenger Andy Harris. “It is imperative that Dr. Harris win this contest!” declared Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who trumpeted right-wing complaints about Gilchrist.

“He voted against the constitutional amendment (on) marriage; he voted to allow homosexuals to adopt children; he had been pro-abortion," Maryland state Sen. Alex Mooney told Family News in Focus.

This isn’t the first time the Club for Growth and Dobson have joined forces: the duo also backed a right-wing primary challenge in 2006 that ousted incumbent Rep. Joe Schwarz—who, like Gilchrest, had the backing of President Bush. Dobson crowed that the upset would “send a mighty signal that the days of anti-family, liberal Republicans are finally over.” Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, another Club for Growth target, accused the economic group of having a hidden social agenda in its choice of candidates and targets.

If so, it would only mirror the Religious Right, whose definition of “values voter” expands as needed to fit the GOP’s platform. In a recent appearance on MSNBC together, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and Club for Growth President Pat Toomey were in full agreement on the importance of the “three-legged stool.” “For [the] Republican Party to win they must have a conservative candidate who brings together the conservative coalition: fiscal conservatives, defense conservatives, and social conservatives,” said Perkins.

Indeed, while Dobson recently endorsed Mike Huckabee—the Club for Growth’s enemy number one—Perkins has maintained his ambivalence, always making note of the stool.

So says Tavis Smiley because John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney have declined to participate in the debate he is moderating: "No one should be elected president of this country in 2008 if they think that along the way they can ignore people of color. If you want to be president of all America, you need to speak to all Americans."

After a lengthy legal battle, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools’ “policy for distributing fliers by community groups [via a "backpack mail" program] is unconstitutional because it gives school officials unlimited power to approve or reject materials.” 

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maryland, with the backing of the Alliance Defense Fund and the Christian Legal Society, after its request to distribute fliers regarding its Good News Club - which is designed to “evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living” – was rejected. 

The Circuit Court sided with Child Evangelism Fellowship, ruling [PDF] that the school district’s policy granted it “unbridled discretion to deny access to the oft-used forum — for any reason at all, including antipathy to a particular viewpoint — [and] does not ensure the requisite viewpoint neutrality.”

Around the same time, the Liberty Counsel, which is directly tied to the late Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University, sent a letter to Albemarle County School Board in Virginia, warning it that its refusal to distribute fliers about a church-sponsored vacation bible school via its own "backpack mail" program was unconstitutional.

The school district quickly changed its policy and the Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver was quite pleased:

"We're pleased the school changed its policy so quickly and correctly," says Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel founder and chairman. "The law is clear-- when schools allow the distribution of secular material, they must accommodate religious material."

Staver refers to a recent 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a Good News Club's right to distribute fliers in Montgomery County schools in Maryland.

…

"They're not required to accept everything," he says, citing exemptions for libelous, obscene or pornographic material. Nor does he object if Muslim or Jewish groups want to distribute information about their events in schools. "The First Amendment is not just for the Liberty Counsel," he says. "You can't just pick and choose."

But one year later, it seems as if some on the Right are not so happy about Albemarle’s new policy now that students are bringing home fliers for a summer camp for atheists and freethinkers.

“This sends a message loud and clear that illegal aliens are not welcome in Farmers Branch, Texas,” declared Tim O’Hare, city councilman in the Dallas suburb, after voters approved a ban on undocumented immigrants renting housing there. “We are fed up with the federal government's inaction on immigration," he said. "We are not going to wait. We are going to take care of it." O’Hare began his crusade last summer against the “less desirable people” who he said “get to come over here and live like kings and queens,” and who were driving down property values and causing shopkeepers to speak Spanish, leaving "no place for people with a good income to shop."

Farmers Branch’s ordinance is modeled on measures passed last year in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which is waiting for a court ruling on their constitutionality.

Compared to last year’s heated immigration debate and its steady supply of headlines – ranging from the touring congressional hearings put on by Republican House members to the effects of anti-immigrant crackdowns like the one just passed in Farmers Branch – this year has been relatively calm. Supporters of comprehensive reform now control Congress, and political news has revolved around presidential candidates, with only one anti-immigrant hardliner among the many second-tier candidates. Meanwhile, both Chris Simcox’s Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and Jim Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project are facing charges of financial mismanagement.

But as the vote in Farmers Branch shows, anti-immigrant politics remain a live wire in various parts of the country.

Meanwhile, in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Gaithersburg, Maryland, a day-laborer center was the target of a recent arson attempt. In response, local anti-immigrant group Citizens Above Party – which, we noted previously, is hardly the simple concerned-citizens operation it portrays itself as – reopened their complaints against the facility:

‘‘Why is the county executive allowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to a facility that does not check the backgrounds of who is coming through the back door?” said Susan Payne, founder of Citizens Above Party, a vocal opponent of the county’s policy to pay for the day-laborer centers. ‘‘We have no idea who these people are.”

“Marriage Protection Caucus (TM)” formed to ratify federal anti-gay marriage amendment.

In suburban DC.

Since Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005, which (among other things) mandates that all states require drivers prove their legal immigration status in order to get a license, several states have balked at the cost and myriad civil liberties issues stemming from the bill. Maine and Idaho have passed laws rejecting the new guidelines, and a number of other state legislatures are considering joining them, including Maryland. This week, however, the Maryland Senate debated a competing bill that would implement at least one part of the REAL ID rules – the proof of immigration status requirement. And although REAL ID was passed as part of emergency funding for the War on Terror, some are trying to refocus the debate away from civil liberties and on to anti-immigrant “quality of life” complaints. From The Washington Times:

Bill supporters told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee they were concerned about public safety and potential terrorist attacks because one of the September 11 hijackers obtained a Maryland driver's license.

"I live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which has been in [newspapers] quite recently, and is really on its way to becoming the first authentic barrio in the county," said Susan Payne of Citizens Above Party. "The poison that's coming out of this state, known as the Maryland driver's license, has to be stopped because it's infecting the entire country."

Payne was also quoted in the Annapolis Capital, warning “You are driving people like me out of our home state.” She co-founded Citizens Above Party in response to the building of a day-laborer center in Gaithersburg, a prosperous D.C. suburb known for its New Urbanist planned communities.

The other founder of the anti-day-laborer group was Demos Chrissos, a veteran producer of Republican political ads who, like Susan Payne, is frequently quoted in the local media. Chrissos is also a professional anti-immigration activist on a national scale: He produced a TV ad for WeNeedAFence.com that included a shot of the World Trade Center being hit, and more recently produced ads around a campaign to pardon border agents convicted in a shooting. According to the online bio from his video marketing firm, Chrissos co-founded Citizens Above Party to “investigat[e] the suspected link between illegal immigration and widespread voter fraud across the nation.”

Of course, there’s no sign of “widespread voter fraud” by illegal immigrants anywhere except in the press releases of anti-immigrant groups and the politicians who court them, or of a link between suburban day laborers and anti-American terrorists. But press coverage of Payne’s rhetoric does demonstrate how easily the anti-immigrant movement can “infect” the REAL ID debate in Maryland and elsewhere. And while Payne comes off in the media as a typical concerned citizen, her partner’s work as a professional media consultant suggests that this confusion is part of their strategy.

That includes “respect” for gays.

Over “pro-homosexual” sex ed.

Last week, in criticizing evangelical Jim Wallis for giving the Democrats’ radio address, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins claimed that activists on the Religious Right were the nonpartisan ones, and he cited Maryland’s Bishop Harry Jackson as one who “typifies” the style of “boldly address[ing] both parties.” Despite this claim, as we noted, Jackson’s partisan credentials are still secure.

Today, Jackson himself makes that point in a column bemoaning the Republicans’ “political bloodbath” in the recent midterm elections. Chalking it up to “the Liberal Media” and Democratic pandering to minorities, Jackson offers some “out of the box thinking” to help the Right in 2008. Dismissing as “unimaginative” the Democratic platform of raising the minimum wage, he writes:

A new breed of entrepreneurial, religious blacks will be to glad accept heart felt invitations to join the conservative movement. People like Herman Cain and a host of other successful black business people are showing that there is no glass ceiling in many companies or industries. Growing numbers of black mid level managers, doctors, lawyers, and professions are looking for positive ways to contribute to their community. Men like Michael Steele Lt. Governor of Maryland proved that large numbers of Blacks are willing to entertain the conservative message.

Steele, who is black, won just one-fourth of the black vote. So confident were Republicans of Steele’s appeal to African Americans that they bused in homeless men from Philadelphia on Election Day to distribute fliers in black precincts presenting Steele as a Democratic candidate.

And if the name Herman Cain sounds familiar, you might recognize him as the public face of an organization called America’s PAC that ran thousands of radio ads on black radio stations encouraging African Americans to vote Republican by claiming that the “Democrat Party” was “decimating our people” through abortion, linking Democrats to Klan leader and Louisiana Republican politician David Duke, blaming Democrats for Hurricane Katrina and Florida voting problems, and this classic script:

Michael: And if you make a little mistake with one of your ho’s, you’ll want to dispose of that problem toot sweet, no questions asked, right?

Dennis: Naw, that’s too cold. I don’t snuff my own seed …

Michael: Huh. Really? (pause) Well, maybe you do have a reason to vote Republican!

 Perhaps Cain and Steele were not the best examples of “positive ways to contribute” to the community.

A frequent complaint from opponents of same-sex marriage is that courts shouldn’t meddle in the issue – even though courts are charged with enforcing the equal protection of rights under the law. But anti-gay activists were pleased enough when courts in New York and other states rejected the claims of gay couples. How serious are anti-gay activists about letting the elected legislature decide?

Perhaps that logic only applies when the legislature comes down on their side. Last week, the California-based Campaign for Children and Families decried as “undemocratic” a bill to establish same-sex marriage going through the legislature. (It passed last year, but the governor vetoed it.)

And yesterday, the Family Research Council managed to juxtapose, in the same paragraph, their opposition to Washington, D.C.’s elected representatives getting to decide the issue and their claim that marriage in Maryland is “the province of the legislature”:

Hoping to avoid any "congressional meddling," the D.C. City Council is testing the waters for a same-sex marriage bill in the District. After passing a string of pro-homosexual legislation, the Council believes this to be the next logical step. While federal lawmakers have been all too receptive to the city's recent actions on "gay rights," Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who will soon chair the committee overseeing D.C. affairs, said the issue is not expected to surface. Congress has 30 days to challenge any law passed by the District government, and with the country's near sweep of marriage protection amendments many believe the move would be frowned on. In neighboring Maryland, the state Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in the case to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage. Plaintiffs will continue to argue that a social issue of this magnitude is the province of the legislature--not the courts.

Alliance Defense Fund lawyer claims “momentum” against gay couples. Meanwhile: Right decries California legislature effort for gay marriage as “undemocratic.”

With House out, Washington Times looks to more Hazletons. Meanwhile: Taneytown, MD (pop. 5,000), with 37 residents identified lacking English skills, goes English-only. Also: Farmers Branch, TX passes Hazleton-style crackdown.

For 43 states.