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St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)

September 11, 2007 Tuesday

THIRD EDITION

Hispanics want Blunt aide fired for remark

BYLINE: By Virginia Young POST-DISPATCH JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU CHIEF Jo Mannies of the Post-Dispatch
contributed to this report.

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1159 words

DATELINE: JEFFERSON CITY

'BUNCH OF MEXICANS' Chief of staff stirs anger with comment at meeting about illegal immigration.

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Hispanic-American leaders called Monday on Gov. Matt Blunt to fire his chief of staff for a remark that they said was racist and
demeaning to immigrants.

Chief of staff Ed Martin made the comment Aug. 17 at a meeting of the Missouri Housing Development Commission, saying
that if "there's a bunch of Mexicans" on a work site, some are probably illegal immigrant laborers.

Blunt stood firmly behind Martin, saying his aide did not mean to offend anyone and was showing the administration's tough
stance on hiring illegal workers.

"Mr. Martin was responding to a developer he thought was making excuses," Blunt said Monday at a news conference in St.
Louis.

Hispanic leaders, representing community and labor groups in Kansas City, said Martin's comment showed a "xenophobic
mentality" that results in racial profiling.

Their criticism followed the resignation last week of a state housing

official, who said Martin's remark had degraded his Mexican heritage. Jim Torres, the commission's legislative liaison, quit
Friday after sending a terse letter to Blunt criticizing Martin's "table-thumping tirade."

The governor said it should be noted that the firestorm over Martin's comments is coming while the administration has "a very
aggressive enforcement under way" against illegal immigrants.

On Aug. 28, Blunt ordered random state inspections of construction sites to look for illegal immigrant workers and routine
checks of the residency status of people arrested by the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The governor's directive has turned up 33 cases involving illegal immigrants in the past two weeks, said a Highway Patrol
spokesman. The detainees either face mandatory deportation or are being picked up by federal immigration officials, said patrol
Capt. Tim Hull.
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The legality of that policy drew questions Monday from a St. Louis-based coalition of immigrant advocates, which held a
conference call with the media. The coalition, called the Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, said it has asked for data
on the immigration checks.

The goal is to see whether everyone who is stopped by the patrol is being asked for proof of citizenship "or if it's just
happening to some people" based on their looks or their names, said Joan Suarez, the coalition's chairwoman.

The uproar over Martin's comments began surfacing on the Internet late last week in Kansas City blogs.

A lawyer known for his combative and outspoken style, Martin joined Blunt's team in August 2006 after a stint as chairman of
the St. Louis Election Board.

The incident in question happened at a meeting in Jefferson City, when the Missouri Housing Development Commission grilled
the lawyer for a St. Charles County housing project.

Pete Hennessey, of Hennessey Development of Clayton, has come under fire for allegedly hiring a subcontractor with illegal
immigrant workers. Hennessey has insisted he is free of any wrongdoing.

His lawyer, David Lang, was addressing the commission. Lang said Hennessey had been "proactive" in checking employees'
immigration status. Lang then mentioned that one federal database that employers use "is only a couple weeks old. So this isn't
something he would have been able to ..."

That's when Martin interrupted, telling Lang not to talk about the database's availability.

"I'll tell you what's available, is every frigging developer can figure out who is illegal, and when he says - like he told them -
there's a bunch of Mexicans out there, I guess some of them are probably not legal," Martin said.

Pete Ramsel, executive director of the Housing Development Commission, said he didn't hear Martin make the remark. Later,
when he reviewed the transcript, Ramsel said he found nothing offensive because Martin was simply quoting a statement a
developer had made at a previous meeting.

That was not the way Torres saw it.

Torres was sitting directly across the table from Martin. In a letter to Blunt dated Sept. 5, Torres said he was deeply offended
by Martin's remark.

"I am the proud grandson of Mexican immigrants who came to this country to provide a better life for their family and unlimited
opportunities for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren," Torres wrote to Blunt. He said his family served the country
during World War II and the Korean War. He asked that Martin issue a public apology.

Torres resigned Friday, effective Sept. 20. He is on leave and could not be reached on Monday.

His boss, Ramsel, said he could not comment on why Torres left because it was a personnel matter. Ramsel said he had
apologized to the governor's office for Torres' criticism of Martin.

Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for Blunt, said the governor did not ask for Torres' resignation. Martin could not be reached
Monday.

Rep. Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, participated in Monday's news conference of Hispanic leaders in Kansas City. He said in an
interview afterward that when he heard of Martin's comments, he "felt offended for my grandfather, who came over when he
was 33 from Bogotá, Colombia, and tried to make a better life for himself."

Blunt announced his crackdown on illegal immigrants late last month.

"Illegal immigrants are openly breaking our laws," Blunt said at a news conference Aug. 28 at O'Fallon City Hall. "Because
Washington has failed to deal with this issue, states must do even more."
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Talboy said Blunt is using the immigration issue for political gain to rev up his conservative base. Top Republicans around the
country also are calling for tougher policies against illegal immigrants. Blunt has been on national television to promote his
directives.

Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, called the governor's directives "a mean-
spirited attempt to sow additional fear in the immigrant community and appease the anti-immigrant sentiment. ..."

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Martin's remark

Here's what Martin said, according to a transcript of the Missouri Housing Development Commission's Aug. 17 meeting. Martin
was responding to an attorney's statement that a federal database had only recently become available to check workers'
immigration status.

"You are welcome to come in and speak to us because this is a public body, but you are not welcome to come in and start
telling us about the availability. Make your point for your client, don't start in with what's available and what's not available. I'll
tell you what's available, is every frigging developer can figure out who is illegal, and when he says - like he told them - there's a
bunch of Mexicans out there, I guess some of them are probably not legal. Address your question, not start in on what's
available and what's not and what should be talked about and not. If you want to do that, we can do that, too. But it's going to
be a lot longer and not very pleasant."

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Talk

STLtoday.com/current Should Martin be fired for his remarks? Talk about it in Current Affairs.

LOAD-DATE: September 11, 2007

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: PHOTO
PHOTO - Martin Gets backing of governor

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

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