Sparks fly in House Judiciary Committee
Del. Joseph F. Vallario, Jr., who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, barred a flyer disparaging him from being passed out to his committee yesterday in a hearing that dealt with a number of bills seeking to crack down on illegal immigration. Some immigrant advocates who have held up Vallario as a champion said other literature distributed was "racist."
The flyer, pictured below, accuses him of "aiding and abetting" illegal immigration, largely based on praise directed at him at a rally for CASA of Maryland, a Latino and immigrant rights advocacy group. It was made by the Maryland Coalition for Immigration Reform, a newly formed organization whose leader has spoken on behalf of many of the bills proposed by Republicans dealing with illegal immigration. The flyer has a link to this YouTube video. The Sun also has a video here.
Before the committee began hearing bills -- which sought to allow illegal immigrants to be released early from prison to be deported, ban "sanctuary" municipalities, require DNA sample collection when illegal immigrants are arrested and allow citizens to file complaints against government officials for violating federal immigration laws -- Vallario said such flyers "will only hurt your cause."
Later, the room erupted in some chaos when Susan Payne, the leader of the Maryland Coalition for Immigration Reform, began to testify and was barred by Vallario after he said he found what was going on to be "offensive." When some lawmakers asked her to come back, she said, she refused, declaring: "The Great Vallario has spoken." At some point, the room erupted in applause, although it wasn't clear if this was on Payne's behalf or about the fact that she had stopped testifying.
Stay tuned for more on what happened.
Comments
Brad,
Your story is nearly correct, except the reason for the applause was without question in support for me. I encourage you to speak to any of the other witnesses to confirm. I was not the only witness treated in such a fashion by Vallario, and those who waited 6 hours for 3 minutes before the Judicary committee were treated to members of the committee openly laughing at their testimony, as well as Delegate Jill P. Carter, who began a cell phone conversation during testimony, so loud we could hear the details of the call in the back row of the room. However, Vallario didn't find any of that to be offensive. When asked, Vallario didn't find it offensive that he suported the CASA comic book instructing illegals how NOT to cooperate with law enforcement. What Vallario objected to was my attempt to read his own words to those present in the room. His efforts to censor my testimony can lead to one of only 2 conclusions, either he doesn't understand the first ammendment, or he is ashamed of his pandering to the illegal aliens while he ignores actual citizens. There was NO DOUBT the applause, of which there were more than one outburst of support for me, was sparked by someone having the guts to confront Vallario on his disrespect toward Maryland citizens and taxpayers. I didn't refuse to answer Delegate Barnes and Ramirez's questions. In fact, I would have welcomed the opportunity to expose their pro-illegal agendas at the expense of citizens. It was Vallario who wouldn't allow any further speaking in "his hearing room". Obviously, Vallario doesn't understand that room belongs to the people of Maryland, not him. Also, he doesn't understand it is the taxpayers who pay his sallary, as well as the citizens who can, and should vote him out of office next election. Until then, Vallario should be immediately removed from his chairmanship by the speaker as he is not only an embarassment to himself, but to the entire state of Maryland.
Sincerely,
S.C. Payne
Executive Director
Maryland Coalition for Immigration Reform
Posted by: susan payne | March 12, 2008 2:58 PM
Brad Olson: you might consider brushing up on your reporting skills, and starting by providing more information to your readers on CASA. They're quite a bit more than just "a Latino and immigrant rights advocacy group".
They're a publicly-funded group that operates one or more day laborer sites (even advertising on craigslist); a UCLA study showed that 75% of day laborers are illegal aliens.
A while back the head of the group threatened to picket the schools of members of the Minutemen. He also attended a panel in VZ called "United States: A possible revolution".
They've distributed a bit of a training manual for illegal aliens.
And, much, much more. Start here (tinyurl.com/37x7dh) for the details on all the things you forgot to tell your readers about the group.
Posted by: TLB | March 24, 2008 6:07 PM
Any elected official who advocates for illegal aliens is unfit for office. No elected official should be wasting taxpayer paid time to pursue any legislative measures to aid/abet/harbor/assist/hire foreign nationals illegally present in Maryland and the United States. Vallario doesn't seem to get that....his job is to make/sponsor laws that provide for the safety, health and welfare of legal citizens in the state of Maryland...not for foreign nationals living illegally in the State.
Posted by: legalatina | March 25, 2008 11:48 AM