Open-borders debacle at the California state GOP
Michael Kamburowski, an Australian immigrant who served as the California Republican Party’s chief operating officer, abruptly resigned Sunday — less than 24 hours after The Chronicle reported he had been ordered deported in 2001, jailed in connection with the order, and now has a $5 million wrongful arrest lawsuit pending against U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials.
The move was reported in a terse statement late Sunday by state party chair Ron Nehring, who said the state GOP’s Operations Committee accepted Kamburowski’s resignation during a teleconference with him.
“We thank him for his service,” Nehring said in his e-mail statement.
The news came as GOP officials and leaders expressed shock and fury at the troubled — and apparently unknown — immigration history of the person who handled the multimillion-dollar budget of the nation’s largest state Republican Party.
Former White House adviser Steve Schmidt, who ran the re-election campaign for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, angrily described the appointment of Kamburowski as “almost a parody of incompetence and malfeasance.”
“Somebody who has been imprisoned, faced deportation, has never worked on a state political campaign … and who is suing the government for harm inflicted by his deportation order defies description,” Schmidt said. “The bylaws of the Republican Party invest enormous authority in the position of chief operating officer — and it’s clear that this person brings no experience and qualifications to run a state party of the size of California, not to mention the assorted legal issues involved.”
The harsh words from Schmidt — who ran the Bush 2004 presidential campaign war room, advised Vice President Dick Cheney and was a member of White House adviser Karl Rove’s inner circle — underscored the concern in the California GOP following The Chronicle’s story on Sunday that detailed Kamburowski’s immigration history and multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the government.
Kamburowski was a surprise pick who was largely unknown to top state GOP leaders when he was named in March to be the chief operating officer of the party…News of Kamburowski’s immigration past comes on the heels of revelations in The Chronicle earlier this month that the state GOP used a highly sought-after H1B visa to hire another immigrant as a top consultant. Christopher Matthews, a Canadian citizen with no experience in statewide politics, was hired recently after the California Republican Party applied for, and received, an H1B visa specifically to fill the role of political director, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.
It is interesting, of course, that the open-borders SFChronicle is suddenly concerned about deportation failures and immigration abuses. Nevertheless, the story is a legitimate story–and the California GOP should be mortified.
Question: Who was behind Kamburowski’s appointment? Did he have White House connections?
***
Background here. Buzz at The Flash Report.
Josh Gerstein at the NYSun is also tracking the story:
The flap comes as the Republican Party is riven by a fractious debate over immigration legislation championed by President Bush.
The international hiring has also led to the mocking of California Republicans on national television. “The Republican Party here in California has obtained a special visa to hire a Canadian to be the state deputy political director, because they say they can’t find a qualified American to do the job,” Jay Leno joked on NBC’s “Tonight Show” last week. “Apparently, working for Republicans is one of those icky jobs Americans just don’t want to do.”
A former spokeswoman for the California GOP, Karen Hanretty, called the hiring decisions unfathomable. “It’s insulting but also embarrassing … to bring people from the outside who don’t know the difference between Lodi and Lancaster … and who can’t even vote,” she told the Chronicle.
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When will our ‘elected’ leaders get it right. We should not be going outside of this State let alone this Nation to look for help in positions such as this. The GOP blew it no doubt. Will the Chronicle chronicle anyone else? Only if they are Republicans I am sure.
In a way this is good, it makes the ‘doing the jobs that American’s wont do’ line even more laughable, on both sides of the aisle. I don’t see how anyone can say that with a straight face anymore.
I liked the part at the end about can’t even Vote. I can Vote, in fact I do Vote. I am guessing Trent Lott and a whole lot of other Republicans are missing that point! Last election alot of Blue Dog Democrats got elected…now neither party mentions this very much but these are the people who I believe are going to keep us from going off the Amenesty Cliff…the Blue Dog Dems and the Elected Officials who get reminded they are VOTED into Office not Appointed by the Mexican Govt. This Issue really burns me…How many times do we have to YELL, put up the Fence close the Sieve and NO Amenesty.
California is the joke and Schwarzenegger is the punchline. California has failed its citizens on so many levels it’s almost laughable – except for what it’s costing the rest of the country.
Failing schools, hospitals closing, manufacturing industry leaving, prisons overcrowded, upended judicial system. What could be the major cause of this turmoil?
Classic one hand not knowing — in this case though I think it is a bunch of elitists who think one wound notice….
California, GOP today, funny, funny, funny, funny, hilariously funny. Only the Dem’s could get it worse and I am having trouble figuring out how.
well, this is pathetic, but at least now the Republican part in California has been exposed as fumbling, feeble idiots. Could this be why the republican party can’t get a leg up in California? It is run by idiots? hmmmm
As a native californian, who is sick and tired of the lack of enforcement of our laws and the vile treatment that legal citizens receive from their elected officials where can I go to find a party that stands for the same principles?……?
White House pressure behind the hiring of an Aussie and a Canadian? Michelle, surely you jest. If the White House was behind it they’d be Hispanic. I added a link to my 2006.06.25 “No Illegal Left Behind” Roundup.
Since everyone stopped donating, they didn’t need someone qualified!
He’s obviously a crony, but of whom? Should be interesting to find out…
Meanwhile, LA has abrogated First Amendment rights of permitted anti-illegal marchers, while pro marchers adopt an AQ tactic–using children as human shields.
Arrests in LA Park
Whoa!
If this fiasco is any indication of the value the GOP places on American citizenship, it’s time to fold up that “big tent” and replace it with something more substantial.
Has anyone checked out Mel Martinez’ immigration status?
My wife recieved her RNC donation request the other day. Tim Morgan ,Treasurer wrote, “I promised Mike Duncan, the RNC’s new chairman………”
That story just says it all about GOP screw ups.
The only shock will be if after a quick housecheck of the rest of the party’s state offices, we do NOT find EVEN MORE of that kind of muck, to help explain the unfathomable Left-handed directions the GOP has been taking the last 4 years or more.
Maybe this guy can hang on until he receives Amnesty?
Register independent! to hell with the GOP, (Goverment Opposed to the People.
The Chronical article alludes to the highly sought after H1-B visas. Part of a workable immigration policy will be to make sure that the U.S. high-tech companies have enough visas to continue as a growth engine for the U.S. economy. The competition from India, China and Russia for moving software development work offshore is already very powerful and growing quickly. Our high-tech edge is ultimately a national security issue.
What is obvious is that to gain trust in the Republican Party all that is needed is to proclaim yourself as anti-abortion and a tax cutter. I myself am strongly anti-abortion but realize that other conservative values should be reflected in the person I will support. Bush has demonstrated his non-conservative policies in spending, immigration, foreign aid and numerous other areas. It is time we not only rid the party of the sell-outs: Lott, Graham, Craig, McConnell, etc., but the Democrats – Spectre, Martinez, McCain, Snowe and Collins. I’m sure I could come up with a complete list but don’t have the time. The appointments in California are reflective of the attempt to destroy the party. Bush couldn’t have done a better job to bring the party to demise if he had intended to (hmm?). Will someone explain to me how the current “front runners” for the primary, Guiliani, (flip-flop) Romney, Fred (Lynne Cheney)Thompson and lastly (and leastly) McCain could be considered conservative. It is time to stop listening to the polls and “electability” and vote for the candidate whose record reflects conservative ideals. I am tired of the Bush (& croonies)/Clinton oligarchy. Give me Huckabee, Hunter or Tancredo, Fair Tax and no amnesty!
“Conservatives are from mars; liberals are from San Francisco.”
-Burt Prelutsky
I’m actually glad that Austrians are doing the RINOing that Americans won’t do.
As a California Republican I am not surprised.
The Republican Party went from having true leadership (think Ronald Reagan) to flushing it all down the toilet during the Gov Wilson era.
Our party is in shambles in the state. We have no effective voice and can’t even get sensible reform bills passed via ballot measure. When the Governator sent union reform and redistricting measures (all popular ideas) to the people, he spent no recognizable time promoting the benefits. Even on conservative talk radio the only advertisements you heard were against the measures. The labor unions and Democratic Party spent enormous resources to defeat the bills all the while the Republicans just sat back and watched them without putting up a serious fight.
The GOP in California got branded as the Pro-Life Party. And that’s not a good thing in this state, no matter what your position on the issue.
Schwarzenegger was just another self-funded candidate, but one with name recognition. He’s barely a Republican, and he’s shed even fiscal conservatism from his policies – if he’s got a picture of Reagan on the wall, it’s only because it’s hiding a portrait of Nelson Rockefeller.
He came into office riding a wave of goodwill, and could have defeated the bad guys (notably the public employees’ unions) in detail, picked off an issue or two at a time until they were neutered. Instead he was all bluster and bombast, tried to blast everyone at once like the finale of one of his flicks. But the cornered rats fought back and he lost.
So now he’s taken the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” mantra to heart, and we’ve got a big-government global-warming zealot in Sacramento and a state GOP that still can’t get the right shoe on the right foot in the mornings.
Oh, yes, California’s future is bright, indeed. Between the dimwitted R’s and the equally dimwitted D’s, the veneer that holds the state together is perilously thin. Bartender…another round!
Malkin asks: “Question: Who was behind Kamburowski’s appointment? Did he have White House connections?” The answer is in the MSM media accounts. Like many of the Justice Department political appointees (Sampson, Goodling, …), he was knew somebody who knew somebody.
As long as Republicans value personal connections over competence, this kind of thing will keep happening.
“Former White House adviser Steve Schmidt, who ran the re-election campaign for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, angrily described the appointment of Kamburowski as “almost a parody of incompetence and malfeasance.”
Almost?!
Ah yes, the GOP. Home of the illegals…..