« MATT ENTENZA THE COLLEGE YEARS: ENTENZA AND THE DRAFT #2 | Home | MN GOP: RYBAK CONTINUES TO REFUSE TO ENFORCE LAWS AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION »
MDE EXCLUSIVE: HATCH TELLS POLICE OFFICERS GROUP HE ADMIRES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS #2
By Michael B. Brodkorb | June 20, 2006
On Thursday, I was the first to report comments by DFL gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch that he "admires" illegal immigrants. Since then I've received a number of interesting posts and comments from people who were there or who heard about Hatch's remarks.
Here are some more details I've learned about what Hatch said at the MPPOA Convention on Monday, June 12.
- Hatch believes that our state is a "mess" (seems to go against the 5-year low unemployment rate of 3.7% recently announced and the strong fiscal shape of our state budget evidenced by revenues exceeding projections by $265 million since the February budget forecast)
- Hatch promises a bunch of new spending, then claims that the state could spend $2-3 million to bring in $1 billion in uncollected taxes (I don't know about you, but it's my sense that the people at the Department of Revenue aggressively going after every dollar they can - have you ever known government to give people a pass on paying taxes? - and Hatch is way oversimplifying things - let's face reality, Hatch would raise taxes big-time)
- Hatch said that he supports the ballot question to dedicate 100% of the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax to transportation, but then in typical Hatch double-speak, he said that he thinks the MVST dedication is "really bad policy"
- Similarly, Hatch said he supports a constitutional amendment to dedicate funding to conservation and the outdoors, but said it's "really bad policy"
- Most shocking, Hatch indeed said he "admires" people who come across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and said he probably would do the same thing, too.
Hatch apparently told the assembled law enforcement officers, "Looking out over the crowd here, there's probably a few relatives of yours who broke a few laws to get here."
That may or may not be the case, as I don't know all of the people who were in attendance. Either way, it does not excuse the state's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Hatch, from saying he supports people who illegally enter our country. And remember, Hatch was speaking to a roomful of cops!
I wonder if all of the unions who are lock-stop with Hatch know that he is in favor of illegal immigrants coming here to take away their blue-collar jobs.
I wonder if the few fiscal conservatives who still vote DFL know that Hatch is OK with illegal immigrants flooding our welfare and health care systems.
I wonder if it bothers Hatch that some of these illegal immigrants are bringing deadly drugs like meth into Minnesota (there has been an 80% drop in meth labs in the state under a new law proposed and signed by Governor Pawlenty, but imported meth is still a serious problem).
Hatch needs to publicly address his admiration for illegal immigrants now and tell the rest of us, who weren't at the MPPOA Convention, exactly what his position is on this important issue.
Topics: Uncategorized |
June 20th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Wow those were some major reaches. A good Republican would know it was worth spending 2 to 3 million to uncover even 20 million in uncollected taxes.
Whats the differece between an illigal immigrant and someone who doesn’t pay there taxes? Maybe you could ask Mark Kennedy for help on that one.
Mike Hatch is an easy target, but you don’t seem to know why.
As for those dedicated tax increases care to put his “really bad quality” quotes in context. Michael you shouldn’t be this see through. Maybe the job with Mark Kennedy is dragging you down.