Are OC Congressmen Blasting the Same Janet Napolitano?


U.S. Reps. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) blasted incoming President Barack Obama's selection of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as secretary of Homeland Security.

To hear Royce and Rohrabacher tell it, Napolitano will position herself at the Mexican border, handing out iced horchata, a clean change of clothes and a gentle pat on the culo to illegal border crossers.

That means the congressmen actually have something in common with Michael Lacey, the Supreme Editorial Commander of the Village Voice Media chain that tucks OC Weekly into its vastly more impressive portfolio. Like Royce and Rohrabacher, Lacey think Obama's pick stinks.

But reading Lacey's reasons for his dim view of Da Gov, you've got to wonder if Royce and Rohrabacher are talking about the same Janet Napolitano.

]

PolitickerCA.com blogger James B. Gerber piggybacked off an Orange County Register report that quotes Royce saying of the Napolitano pick: “I think that it sends a clear signal that we're in for a long fight on this amnesty issue because she's clearly an open borders advocate.”

“Napolitano is someone who is not committed to stopping the most important security problem that we've got in America today and that's illegal immigration,” declared the Mouth That Rohrabachered.

That's not exactly the picture painted in Lacey's web exclusive story posted the day before Thanksgiving, “Janet Napolitano's Sorry Service in Arizona Makes Her a Terrible Choice for Homeland Security Secretary.” Obama made the selection of Arizona's governor official on Monday.

Some choice excerpts from Lacey's story:

Janet Napolitano has considerable experience failing at administrative oversight.

But it is her role in securing Arizona's frontiers that bears scrutiny. Confronted with a border state's unavoidable immigration challenges, Napolitano defended the citizenry with a devil's pitchfork. Her multipronged strategy: embrace the nation's most regressive legislation, empower a notorious sheriff using cynical political calculations, and employ boots on the ground.

*  *  *

In Arizona, Governor Napolitano fed–and fed upon–the anti-immigrant fever that rages in that state. Though Napolitano's reputation is that of a modest progressive, her true profile is that of a pragmatist who is willing–in fact, is adept–at riding political currents.

She has signed several pieces of legislation that have criminalized that most human desire: the need to work and feed one's family.

This remarkable definition of lawbreaking behavior has created an era in Arizona that is the equivalent of a new Prohibition. Once, teetotalers, the temperance movement and the anti-saloon league drove the state into the Noble Experiment and the hands of mobsters. Today, those who migrate there seeking work, like those who once sought drink, are increasingly in the grip of organized crime.

 

Lacey, whose media rise began in Phoenix, goes on to show how Napolitano's stance has made Arizona less, not more, safe. But when a staunch–and popular–anti-immigration congressman was considering a run against Napolitano, she deployed the Arizona National Guard to the state's border with Mexico. “She won accolades from every anti-immigrant group in the country,” Alfredo Gutierrez, a former Arizona state Senate majority leader and immigrant-rights advocate, tells Lacey. “Using troops was stunning, shocking.”

 

An open borders advocate? What the hell were Royce and Rohrabacher smoking?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *