Hate group’s ‘research’ pushes impossible agenda
To the editor:
Your Wednesday article, "Poll: Most see harm to budget," failed to point out the clear flaws with this new poll from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-immigrant organization that has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. FAIR's agenda is about the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, not workable solutions to an important public policy issue, and it is important to note this bias when presenting their "research."
Scores of independent polls over the past several years have shown broad public support for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who undergo background checks, pay back taxes and learn English. These findings were confirmed in multiple polls conducted by my organization and others in the fall of 2008.
By a 2-to-1 ratio, voters support an immigration bill that would require the undocumented population to register, pay back taxes and get on a path to citizenship as opposed to FAIR's mass-deportation approach.
It is clear from reading the questions that FAIR crafted this poll to get the numbers it wanted, presenting voters with false choices like "Do you support amnesty or do you support enforcement?" Their research contributes nothing to the debate over how to reform illegal immigration and is really about targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada a year before he seeks re-election.
But what Sen. Reid and the American people know -- and FAIR refuses to acknowledge -- is that a policy of mass deportation is not tethered to reality, and voters want smart solutions. We need common-sense reform that brings undocumented workers out of the shadows to pay fines and become legal; penalizes unscrupulous employers who exploit workers; and restores the rule of law.
This approach is not just sensible and humane, but also makes the most economic sense. It would level the playing field for law-abiding workers and employers, reduce worker exploitation and abuse, lift wages for all lower-wage workers and generate billions in tax revenues from both employers and workers who have been operating off the books.
This is an important side of the story that needs to be told.
Lynn Tramont
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER IS DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE NONPROFIT AMERICA'S VOICE.
Government glory
To the editor:
The Review-Journal's Tuesday editorial, "What's old is new again," quoted the late economist Milton Friedman as saying, "The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus." That is blatantly inaccurate.
This is an odd statement to be included in a newspaper right next to one of the great government-sponsored achievements in Nevada history: Hoover Dam.
The very roots of Western civilization, in Greece and Rome, come from those governments. And many brilliant individual achievements would not have been accomplished without the financial sponsorship of some government bureau.
However, some American Indians might consider that a good thing if Spain had not financially backed Columbus.
Harold Shrader
RENO
Selective outrage
To the editor:
Republican lawmakers strike me as a very strange lot. They had no problem sending $10 billion to $12 billion a month to Iraq for the past six years, yet when it comes to spending money on their own country and their own people, they screech like a cat that just had its tail stepped on.
I suppose if Halliburton was in charge of the economic recovery, everything would be OK. Strange folks, indeed.
James Hicks
LAS VEGAS
Sales tax holiday
To the editor:
California just ratified its 2009 budget with several new tax hikes. One of them is an increase of the state sales tax rate to 8.25 percent (with municipal and county rates sending the total higher). Now is the time for Nevada to win some California tourists back and help local Nevadans in the process.
Generally, August is one of the slower months for the Nevada economy. If we suspend our sales tax for a specific weekend, Friday through Sunday, this would create interest and an incentive to come visit the state and its retail outlets. Many Californians would make a mini-vacation to Reno or Las Vegas to get some great deals and enjoy the hotel/gaming/nightlife, making up some of the lost tax revenue.
Not only would Nevada be getting tourists in the state for the sole purpose of shopping, but it would also be helping its own citizens with getting their children ready for back-to-school by allowing them to save some money on needed supplies.
The act of good will would show the state is looking out for its citizens and at the same time entice much-needed visitors to our state.
William Zeeveld
LAS VEGAS
Right to know
To the editor:
Dallas Haun, the chief executive officer of Nevada State Bank, wouldn't discuss bonuses for company executives ("Nevada banks say they took aid but will pay bonuses," Tuesday Review-Journal). I'm sorry, Mr. Haun, but as soon as Nevada State Bank/Zions Corp. accepted money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, your right to privacy, when it comes to your pay and bonuses, no longer exists.
We, the people have a right to know.
James Schwartz
HENDERSON
With power like this ...
To the editor:
Thank you, Sen. Harry Reid. First, he allows the president to bad mouth Las Vegas without a whimper, which accounted for several conventions being cancelled.
That stimulus bill? Nevada ranks at the bottom of funds acquired per capita.
It is a good thing he is majority leader of the Senate, or we might not have done so well. Why was he re-elected? I forget -- but I will remember in 2010.
Mary Konopka
LAS VEGAS
Political decision
To the editor:
In her Wednesday letter to the Review-Journal, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto says that she cannot investigate Bob Loux because she has had an attorney-client relationship with the former state nuclear projects chief.
I agree with her. Her reason is sound, and her steps to ensure that she doesn't conflict that relationship are admirable.
However, why then is she prosecuting another one-time client of the attorney general's office, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki?
Why, on one hand, does she do the ethical and proper thing in the Bob Loux case, and then press for an indictment against a man who followed her office's instructions?
This reeks of politics and definitely not of justice or fairness.
Ted Sell
LAS VEGAS
End of an affair?
To the editor:
It's ironic. Trial lawyers love the Democrats, and vice versa. The problem? President Obama and the Democrats' coming nationalization of health care is going to disrupt this love-fest.
The reason? The feds cannot allow for tort actions related to their own health care system, otherwise there could be no federal sovereignty, nor associated mandatory cost control.
Lawyers, think -- no more doctors to sue. No more hospitals to sue. No more companies to sue. The value of a law degree would sink to the level of a non-scientific college degree: Worthless.
You lawyers don't think so? Name me a socialist country (especially from the European Union) that allows its lawyers to run rampant, as they do in the United States.
So, I suggest you lawyers take your billions in medical malpractice awards and bribe, er, donate to your pet Democrats to kill the nationalized health care that is being set up in the "porkulus" bill.
Dave Fair
LAS VEGAS
