Lame Duck Debate Rages on Taxes, Deficit, Arms - CBS News

(CBS)  This year's lame duck session of Congress is turning into more of an excited goose, as both political parties have engaged in recent days in lively public negotiations over federal spending, unemployment benefits and nuclear weapons disarmament.

But foremost on the agenda is the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts and Republican leaders appear to be successfully wielding leverage to have the cuts extended across the board, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

"It looks like the president has come around to the idea, with encouragement from other Democrats, that we can't raise taxes in a recession," said Republican South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint on the CBS' "Early Show" on Thursday. "I would prefer a permanent extension of the current tax rate. I suspect the president is going push for something more temporary."

After meetings Wednesday between GOP leaders that many called civil and positive, Mr. Obama also voiced confidence that a compromise would be reached.

"There are gonna be ups and downs to this process but I'm confident that we're gonna be able to get it done," Mr. Obama said.

Democrats had been hoping to let the tax cuts for wealthy Americans - those making more than $200,000 individually and couples making more than $250,000 - to expire at the end of the year.

"We are going to extend tax breaks to all; it's just a matter of how long those extensions will be," said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Republicans issued an ultimatum in a letter stating they would not let any legislation move forward before funding the federal government and extending the tax cuts, providing leverage over the Democrats whose lame-duck agenda also includes extending long-term unemployment benefits which lapsed for 800,000 jobless Americans this week.

Republicans are insisting that the $65 billion benefits extension be paid for by cutting the budget elsewhere. Democrats say it's an emergency, exempt for the usual rules.

"This is not a big new welfare program," said Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. "This is extending employment benefits. I just don't get it. They'd rather do tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires."

Amid the wrangling over tax cuts and spending, President Barack Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform began seeking votes for plan to rein in the massive federal deficit.

The commission made recommendations to add an average of 1,700 to the average American's tax bill, slash 200,000 federal jobs and raise the retirement age from 67 to 69 years old, Cordes reports. It remains doubtful the 18-member commission will get the necessary 14 votes to even bring their recommendations up for debate in the full Congress. Only seven panel members have indicated their support so far.

The White House is also pushing the Senate to ratify the U.S.-Russia nuclear disarmament treaty, or START. Republicans have been repeating rumors that the State Department made a side deal with Russia to limit a proposed missile defense shield in Europe in exchange for signing START, a nuclear disarmament treaty. Even though the State Department came out yesterday to vigorously deny the claims, DeMint repeated them on "The Early Show" this morning.

"Reports in the last couple of days suggest there have been side deals that would limit our missile defense capabilities," Sen. DeMint said. "My biggest concern about the START treaty is that it accepts parity with Russia and I think explicitly or implicitly limits our ability to develop missile defense which may be the most important of our defense system in the next ten years."

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California 'mystery missile' ignites debate: Friend, foe, or faux? - Christian Science Monitor

A mysterious missile launch from California or an optical illusion?

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That's a question the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) is trying to resolve – and the blogosphere is hotly debating – after CBS News in Los Angeles aired what appeared to be a rocket launch from the Pacific Ocean just north of Santa Catalina Island, taken at sunset Nov. 8.

The "mystery missile" video, shot from a helicopter operated by local CBS affiliate KCBS, shows what appears to be an arcing plume of engine exhaust rising into the sky west of Los Angeles. Speculation about its source ranges from an airliner, whose contrail is giving the illusion of rocketry, or a missile itself.

About the only thing unambiguous about the event is that the go-to agencies either with jurisdiction over launches or with fingers poised over launch buttons – the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Defense Department – said, in effect, "It wasn't us."

Despite the official uncertainty behind the vapor trail, NORAD and the US Northern Command, which oversees the defense of the continental US, Alaska, and Hawaii, issued a statement aimed at reassuring the country that the event represents no threat.

"We can confirm that there is no threat to our nation, and from all indications this was not a launch by a foreign military," they said. "We will provide more information as it becomes available."

Coastal southern California is no stranger to rocket launches. The US Air Force launches military and commercial rockets from Vandenberg Air Force base north of Santa Barbara; NASA occasionally launches sounding rockets from San Nicholas Island, some 80 miles west of Los Angeles. Nor is it stranger to spectacular sunsets and odd aircraft contrails.

At contrailscience.com, a Santa Monica-based private pilot who operates the cite has posted several sunset contrails that look similar to the vapor trail the CBS news crew recorded.

David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., notes that his initial speculation about what happened leaned toward the rocket-launch explanation, given NASA's launches from San Nicholas Island.

The CBS report suggested the plume was rising from some 35 miles offshore, but Dr. Wright adds that evening lighting and atmospheric moisture could have conspired to make a launch contrail look larger and closer than it actually is.

But after reviewing photos on contrailscience.com, he adds, he's reconsidering a jet contrail as an explanation – one he tended to dismiss early on.

Page: 1 | 2

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California 'mystery missile' ignites debate: Friend, foe, or faux? - Christian Science Monitor

A mysterious missile launch from California or an optical illusion?

Skip to next paragraph

That's a question the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) is trying to resolve – and the blogosphere is hotly debating – after CBS News in Los Angeles aired what appeared to be a rocket launch from the Pacific Ocean just north of Santa Catalina Island, taken at sunset Nov. 8.

The "mystery missile" video, shot from a helicopter operated by local CBS affiliate KCBS, shows what appears to be an arcing plume of engine exhaust rising into the sky west of Los Angeles. Speculation about its source ranges from an airliner, whose contrail is giving the illusion of rocketry, or a missile itself.

About the only thing unambiguous about the event is that the go-to agencies either with jurisdiction over launches or with fingers poised over launch buttons – the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Defense Department – said, in effect, "It wasn't us."

Despite the official uncertainty behind the vapor trail, NORAD and the US Northern Command, which oversees the defense of the continental US, Alaska, and Hawaii, issued a statement aimed at reassuring the country that the event represents no threat.

"We can confirm that there is no threat to our nation, and from all indications this was not a launch by a foreign military," they said. "We will provide more information as it becomes available."

Coastal southern California is no stranger to rocket launches. The US Air Force launches military and commercial rockets from Vandenberg Air Force base north of Santa Barbara; NASA occasionally launches sounding rockets from San Nicholas Island, some 80 miles west of Los Angeles. Nor is it stranger to spectacular sunsets and odd aircraft contrails.

At contrailscience.com, a Santa Monica-based private pilot who operates the cite has posted several sunset contrails that look similar to the vapor trail the CBS news crew recorded.

David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., notes that his initial speculation about what happened leaned toward the rocket-launch explanation, given NASA's launches from San Nicholas Island.

The CBS report suggested the plume was rising from some 35 miles offshore, but Dr. Wright adds that evening lighting and atmospheric moisture could have conspired to make a launch contrail look larger and closer than it actually is.

But after reviewing photos on contrailscience.com, he adds, he's reconsidering a jet contrail as an explanation – one he tended to dismiss early on.

Page: 1 | 2

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Coons, O'Donnell debate First Amendment - NECN

(NECN/CNN) - Delaware Senate candidates Christine O'Donnell (R) and Chris Coons (D) clash over the Constitution.

At one point during their debate Tuesday, O'Donnell appeared to question Coon's assertion that the First Amendment calls for the separation of church and state. They'd been discussing whether creationism should be taught in public schools

Coons: The 1st amendment establishes the separation, the fact that the federal government shall not establish any religion, in decisional law by the Supreme Court over many, many decades.

O'Donnell: The 1st amendment does?

Source: WDEL-AM Wilmington

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NY Governor Candidates Meet In Debate - NPR

The long-awaited debate on Monday in New York governor's race showed Democrat Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor and Democratic icon, as steeped in how New York government works and should be fixed.

Meanwhile, his top rival, Tea Party-backed Republican Carl Paladino, sought to display a passion for the work he says career politicians like Cuomo have failed.

Cuomo repeatedly criticized the government now run by his party, and harkened to a time past when he said New York state government was considered a model for other states. He praised past leadership, though he didn't specifically note his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Cuomo spoke in detail with confidence on every subject, appearing more composed than Paladino and playing to the crowd more than the others at the Hofstra University debate, which included five minor party candidates.

"I know this state like nobody else on this stage," Cuomo said. "I understand the disgust with Albany, and I share it."

But the former federal housing secretary then added: "No state has anything on New York, and we're going to make this the Empire State again, don't make any mistake about that."

Paladino, a Buffalo developer, said state government doesn't need tweaking, but rather a major overhaul that scares career politicians like Cuomo.

"My critics," Paladino said, "want to say I'm crazy."

"No, I'm passionate," he said. He then ticked off his platform: cutting spending by 20 percent, cutting taxes by 10 percent, term limits of eight years for state officials, disclosure of all outside income to identify conflicts of interest and the appointment a special prosecutor to investigate the Legislature.

"My plan scares them to death," Paladino said. "You tell me if I'm crazy."

In the first and only scheduled debate of the nasty campaign, neither Cuomo nor Paladino targeted the other, although some of the minor party candidates took shots at both major party candidates.

Paladino, in his first public debate, stumbled early in his answers. At one point, he referred to the state Board of Regents as the state school board, which doesn't exist. He struggled with some statistics while Cuomo rattled off others.

But Paladino became more confident halfway through the 90-minute debate, striking his fist to his heart at times and leaning into the camera.

"Jobs are the No. 1 concern of our young people today," Paladino said, citing how taxes and over-regulation of businesses are forcing an exodus of young New Yorkers.

"They don't have that grounded feeling anymore," he said. "They want a government of the people, by the people and for the people and that's what we will give them."

Cuomo elicited the first laughs of the night while providing statistics that defined New York's problems and his solutions.

"I think the question in this race is who can actually do it? Who can get it done?" Cuomo asked, a stab at Paladino, a novice politician whose temperament for office has been questioned. "I have gotten a lot of legislation passed."

Also participating in the debate were Charles Barron of the Freedom Party; Kristin Davis, the former "Manhattan madam," of the Anti-Prohibition Party; Howie Hawkins of the Green Party; Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party; and Warren Redlich of the Libertarian Party.

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In all, seven candidates took part in the first and only scheduled debate of the nasty campaign.

Shadowy independent groups are poised to spend more than $500 million on congressional elections.

Both states have high-profile and high-interest contests underway.

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Family's Effort to Clear Name Frames Debate on Executions - New York Times

Members of Mr. Willingham’s family, working with lawyers who oppose the death penalty, had asked for the rare and controversial hearing, held here on Thursday, to investigate whether Mr. Willingham was wrongfully convicted. They argue that the proceeding, known as a court of inquiry, could restore Mr. Willingham’s reputation, a right guaranteed under Texas law, even to the dead.

But they also say that the hearing is more than symbolic — it could cast in a new light the Lone Star State’s record on executions. And more broadly, they argue, it is a cautionary tale about the power of flawed science to sway a courtroom, and a glaring injustice that could affect debates over the fairness of the death penalty.

That debate has been framed, in part, by a 2006 opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court, in which he said that the dissent in a case had not cited “a single case — not one — in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit.”

Many who oppose the death penalty have taken Justice Scalia’s statement as a challenge, and argue that the Willingham case is their proof.

To those favoring the death penalty, Mr. Willingham is guilty, and the efforts to posthumously exonerate him are an abolitionist farce.

Critics of the hearing have said the proceeding is illegal, and have tried to derail it. The district attorney of Navarro County, R. Lowell Thompson, whose office originally convicted Mr. Willingham, filed a motion last week demanding that Judge Charlie Baird recuse himself, arguing a judge cannot appoint himself to lead a court of inquiry, and must instead refer the matter to a higher court for an appointment. At the beginning of the hearing on Thursday, Judge Baird ruled that he would allow the hearing to go forward.

At the end of the day, however, as testimony was closing down, the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin issued a stay at Mr. Thompson’s request, ordering Judge Baird not to hold further proceedings or to issue rulings until next Friday, and asked the Willingham team to explain why the case should be allowed to go forward.

The focus of lawyers for Mr. Willingham’s family was on evidence presented by fire marshals at Mr. Willingham’s original trial — evidence that nine experts have said included “many critical errors,” as one report put it. Several of the experts were working at the request of the Innocence Project, an organization that seeks the acquittal of wrongfully convicted people.

The expert who wrote that critical report, Gerald Hurst, argued that evidence suggested the fire was accidental, not arson. His report was sent to Gov. Rick Perry shortly before the execution, but Mr. Perry declined to halt or delay the procedure.

The evidence presented at trial that Mr. Willingham committed arson “amounts to junk science,” Gerald H. Goldstein, a San Antonio lawyer arguing on behalf of the Willingham family, said in the courtroom.

Judge Baird asked Dr. Hurst at the hearing whether his review of the case could rule out arson “within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty.”

Dr. Hurst demurred. “I never had a case where I could exclude arson,” he said. “It’s not possible to do that.”

The judge then asked if “there’s nothing in the evidence you’ve seen here that suggests arson.”

“That’s correct,” Dr. Hurst said.

John Lentini, a fire expert who has studied flawed arson investigations, hammered at the evidence and analysis from fire marshals at the Willingham trial.

Under questioning by Barry Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project, Mr. Lentini ridiculed critical testimony at the trial that 20 factors, including burn patterns on the floor and cracks in the windows, proved that Mr. Willingham spread accelerants to fuel the fire.

No such chemicals were found in the house, Mr. Lentini said. Much of the analysis of Manuel Vasquez, the state fire marshal in the Willingham trial, “didn’t even meet the standards of 1991,” a time that Mr. Lentini characterized as having “a wretched state of the art.”

The current fire marshal, Paul Maldonado, stands by the work of the original marshals in the Willingham case, which Mr. Lentini said he found mystifying.

Mr. Lentini said that the flaws in the science required the state to go back and take a new look at other arson convictions. “I can understand why the fire marshal doesn’t want to go back and review hundreds of cases,” he said. “But that’s probably his duty.”

Governor Perry has fought the review of the case, and declined to participate in the hearing. Katherine Cesinger, his spokeswoman, said, “Nothing the Austin court does can change the fact that Todd Willingham was convicted in a trial court with the appropriate jurisdiction, and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers for murdering his three young daughters.”

The case, she noted, had worked its way through the appeals process and even reached the Supreme Court over the course of more than a decade. The governor has described Mr. Willingham as “an absolute monster who killed his own kids.”

Closing the hearing, former Gov. Mark White said that “the frailty of the system has been demonstrated clearly and overwhelmingly by the testimony brought forth in this court today.”

In an interview, Mr. Scheck said, “What we’ve proven is there was no crime” in the Willingham case.

“I would expect that at the end of the day, what we’ll get is an opinion that an innocent man was executed in Texas,” he added.

Even if that should happen, its impact will be minimal, said Kent Scheidegger, the legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a group that supports the death penalty.

“It’ll be trumpeted on the Death Penalty Information Center site,” he said, referring to a group that opposes capital punishment. “Nobody on the other side of the aisle is going to give it any credence.”

To one person attending the hearing, however, it was anything but meaningless. Eugenia Willingham, Mr. Willingham’s stepmother, said during a break in the proceedings that it was an important day.

“This is what he wanted us to do,” she said of her stepson. “He wanted us to stand up for him.”

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Ill. governor debate yields bickering, few details - Washington Post

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The major-party candidates for Illinois governor bickered over the state budget and jobs Thursday without providing specifics in an hour-long debate, leading Green Party candidate Rich Whitney to accuse them both of offering "fantasy economics."

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn repeatedly called his GOP opponent "heartless" for proposing budget cuts that would almost certainly require deep cuts to schools. He also said state Sen. Bill Brady lacks courage and integrity.

Quinn boasted that he has persuaded companies to expand in Illinois and has cut state spending by $3 billion. But he had little to say about what further steps he would take to close a $13 billion deficit.

Brady, meanwhile, insisted Quinn is driving jobs away from Illinois with his proposal to raise income taxes.

"Gov. Quinn's the job governor all right, but it just happens to be for Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and other states," said Brady, of Bloomington.

He said Illinois must balance its budget without raising taxes, although he didn't outline how he would accomplish that.

Whitney said neither candidate was being honest with voters.

"We can't rely on fantasy economics," said the Carbondale attorney.

The three candidates faced off in a televised debate at Southern Illinois University. Two other candidates, independent Scott Lee Cohen and Libertarian Lex Green, were not invited because they failed to get 5 percent in the most recent polls.

One of the most pointed exchanges involve an agreement Quinn reached with a key union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The deal says that if the union comes up with at least $50 million in budget cuts, the state won't lay off any union members or close facilities through mid-2012.

Whitney said the deal harms both taxpayers and government employees because it delays real action on the state's problems. Brady accused Quinn of signing the agreement to win AFSCME's endorsement and compared it to something that ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, now a convicted felon, would support.

"This is a deal Gov. Blagojevich would be proud of Gov. Quinn for," Brady said.

Quinn maintained the agreement is a boon for the state because it will cut costs. He said he's the only governor who has been able to negotiate givebacks with AFSCME.

"I have a record of saving taxpayers money by getting union concessions," Quinn said.

---

Associated Press Writer Deanna Bellandi contributed to this report from Chicago.

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Senate debate is three-way duel for Crist, Meek and Rubio - Tampabay.com

By Adam C. Smith and Beth Reinhard, Times/Herald Staff Writers
In Print: Thursday, October 7, 2010

Republican Marco Rubio, independent Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek had a friendly greeting before the start of their debate. Things got less jovial from there.

ORLANDO — Marco Rubio got the frontrunner treatment in a combative U.S. Senate debate Wednesday night, with both his rivals attacking him as a right-wing extremist out of step with Florida voters.

"It's abundantly clear that there's an extreme right faction in the Republican Party," said independent candidate Charlie Crist, who defected from the GOP five months ago. "I'm the only candidate that can both win in November and crash that tea party in Washington."

"You want to take us back to Dick Cheney days," added the Democratic nominee, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, describing Rubio as a "radical'' who won't stand up for middle-class Floridians.

Rubio, the former state House speaker from Miami, held his own and cast the race as a choice between two status quo candidates or a Republican who will stand up to President Barack Obama's agenda.

"If you like Obamacare, if you like the stimulus plan, you can vote for Charlie Crist or Kendrick Meek. I'm probably not your candidate," Rubio said.

Rubio is comfortably leading Crist in recent polls, and his basic goal over the next four weeks is to run out the clock and avoid significant mistakes. He didn't make any in the first prime-time televised debate in the race, but he also took some sharp jabs over his own record as a fiscal conservative and on divisive issues such as abortion and Social Security.

Crist charged at Rubio throughout the debate, but didn't come across as angry. Meek cast himself as the scrappy defender of working people.

The candidates sat side-by-side around a triangular table, but their close proximity did nothing to deter them from taking tough shots at each other throughout the lively hourlong debate.

Gov. Crist wants voters to see the race as a two-man contest between him and Rubio, and he was particularly aggressive. He said Rubio wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade and stood by an ad by his campaign warning seniors that Rubio wants to raise the retirement age for Social Security.

"You haven't been drinking the Kool-Aid, my friend, you've been drinking too much tea," Crist said, referring to Rubio's support from the conservative tea party movement.

Rubio noted that his proposal would not apply to anyone over 55 and that his 80-year-old mother relies on Social Security.

"For you to suggest that I would somehow advocate ideas that would harm her is outrageous and a blatant lie," Rubio snapped.

"The facts are the facts and facts are stubborn things," Crist retorted.

Meek, who trails well behind both Rubio and Crist in recent polls, noted that both candidates had advocated for private savings accounts in the past.

Rubio scoffed that neither of his opponents had a real proposal for keeping Social Security solvent.

"How about standing up for the middle class," Meek retorted.

"That's not a plan," Rubio said.

It was the second debate between the Senate candidates, and it was moderated by Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos, Brendan McLaughlin from WFTS-Ch. 28 in Tampa and Craig Patrick of WFTV. The debate was televised on ABC affiliates.

Just hours before the debate, Rubio announced he had set a new fundraising record in Florida by collecting more than $5 million in the past three months. That leaves him with $5.5 million for the homestretch. Rubio's jaw-dropping haul will go a long way toward eroding the fundraising advantage that Crist has long enjoyed.

He and Meek have not yet released their latest contribution totals. But in a sign that the Rubio camp may see the race tightening, Rubio began airing his first ad of the race attacking Crist. The spot follows three consecutive negative commercials by Crist. In the ad, Rubio speaks directly to the camera about his rival, calling him a fraud and a flip-flopper.

Crist is relying heavily on winning significant Democratic support, but every televised debate raises the profile of Meek. The governor dropped out of the Republican Party after falling well behind Rubio in the primary and is now walking a tricky line to win support from both parties.

''If you want someone on the far right you've got Marco Rubio, someone on the far left there's Kendrick Meek," Crist said.

Crist accused Rubio, the former House speaker, of putting "pork'' in the budget and steering money to Florida International University, which gave Rubio a no-bid job after he left office, and Jackson Memorial Hospital, which gave him a consulting contract.

"I had to cut 500 million out of the pork you sent me," Crist said.

Rubio countered that he proposed smaller budgets than the governor did and repeatedly accused Crist of distortions and lies.

"Unbelievable," Crist scoffed at one point.

Meek, trying to fend off Crist's courtship of Democrats, is one of the few major Democratic candidates in the country eagerly touting his support for President Obama's agenda, and actually looked pleased when Rubio accused him of being a Nancy Pelosi liberal.

Rubio declined to say he would support more funding for high speed rail in Florida: "Nothing is more important then dealing with this long-term debt issue. That's a priority over virtually everything our country faces.''

That prompted Meek to accuse Rubio of being willing to let Floridians "sit in traffic for the next 20 years."

As for Crist, Meek said he "stands on a wet paper box … because you don't know where he is."

The candidates are slated to face off four more times before the Nov. 2 election, though absentee ballots are already available. Early voting begins Oct. 18.

Beth Reinhard can be reached at breinhard@herald.com. Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com.

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Brown, Whitman tangle over illegal immigration in debate - Los Angeles Times

Brown, Whitman debate: Brown, Whitman heatedly debate illegal immigration - latimes.com div.thumbnail span.credit { font-weight: normal !important;}div.article div.articlerail ul li.relatedTitle, div.storygallery div.storyGalleryRail ul li.relatedTitle { font-size: 12px !important;} Mobile Site Subscribe/Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds   Local HOME Breaking iPhone Apps Weather Traffic Obituaries Join Now Community Crosswords Wine Club Local L.A. Now Politics Crime Education O.C. Westside Neighborhoods Environment Obituaries Hot List U.S. Politics Now Top of the Ticket Science & Environment Obituaries Religion World Afghanistan & Pakistan Africa Asia Europe Iran Iraq Latin America Mexico Under Siege Middle East Business Money & Co. Technology Personal Finance Small Business Company Town Jobs Real Estate Cars Sports Lakers Clippers Dodgers Angels Kings/Ducks NFL USC UCLA Soccer High Schools Scores/Stats Entertainment Movies Television Music Celebrity Arts & Culture Company Town Calendar Envelope Books Hot List Health Booster Shots Fitness & Nutrition Medicine Mental Health Healthcare Reform Breast Cancer Hospitals Living Home Food Image Books Parenting Hot List Brand X Magazine Your Scene Cars Travel California Hawaii Mexico Las Vegas Europe Asia Australia Travel & Deal Blog Destinations Opinion Editorials Op-Ed Letters Endorsements Opinion L.A. More Corrections Readers' Rep Photos Video Blogs Data Desk Weather Traffic Puzzles & Games Mobile Mobile Site Subscribe/Manage Account Print Ads Place an Ad LAT Store Jobs Cars Real Estate Rentals More Classifieds In the News: One Nation Rally ucla-washington state usc-washington Weather Rick Sanchez Meg Whitman Brown, Whitman tangle over illegal immigration in debate Sparks fly at a Spanish-language debate between the candidates for California governor. Whitman says Brown was behind ex-housekeeper's emergence. Brown accuses Whitman of failing to take responsibility. Share Related A jumbled view of illegal immigrants Meg Whitman says she'd submit to polygraph Steve Lopez: Meg, let's get together for that lie-detector test Stories Whitman admits using undocumented immigrant as housekeeper Brown and Whitman go head to head Brown leads Whitman 49%-44% in poll See more stories » X Whitman sets U.S. record for candidate's donation to campaign By Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times October 2, 2010|2:21 p.m.

E-mail Print Text Size la-me-1003-brown-whitman-debate-20101003 Reporting from Fresno — Gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown tangled in a blistering dispute Saturday over Whitman's employment of an illegal immigrant housekeeper as they met for the campaign's first and only Spanish-language debate.

The most intense exchange of the debate, held at Cal State Fresno, came when the moderator asked Whitman about the revelations earlier this week that she had employed Nicandra Diaz Santillan for nine years before firing her in 2009. Whitman has denied knowing that Diaz Santillan was undocumented until just before the dismissal.

Whitman turned to face Brown and accused Brown of being behind Santillan's emergence.

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your mobile phone. Text BREAKING to 52669.
"Jerry, you should be ashamed," she said, turning to Brown and shaking her finger. "You and your surrogates put her deportation at risk. You put her out there. You should be ashamed for sacrificing Nicky Diaz on the altar of your political ambitions."

Brown fired back, denying any involvement and accusing Whitman of failing to take responsibility.

"Let's be sympathetic and let's really empathize with the millions of people who are in the shadows and you want to keep them in the shadows and now you're trying to evade responsibility," he said. "Don't run for governor if you can't stand up on your own two feet and say, 'Hey I made a mistake, I'm sorry, let's go on from here.' You have blamed her, blamed me, blamed the left, blamed the unions but you don't take accountability."

Whitman said she fulfilled her obligations as an employer and fired the housekeeper when the woman disclosed her undocumented status last year.

The 60-minute debate was much more confrontational, and their accusations much more personal than their first meeting, which took place Tuesday night in Davis. Saturday's debate was sponsored by Univision, the Fresno Bee, the Fresno Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Cal State Fresno and the city of Fresno.

It was filmed at midday Saturday, with questions posed in Spanish and simultaneously translated for the candidates. It was to be aired later, after Spanish voiceovers were added to the candidates' responses.

The meeting was plagued by technical difficulties. Immediately after the exchange about the housekeeper, the translation system stopped working, and both candidates were taken off stage for several minutes and placed in separate holding areas.

Unemployment, home foreclosures, education and the water shortage in the Central Valley also played prominent roles in the clash, but illegal immigration provided the sharpest contrast between the candidates, with Brown supporting a path to citizenship for undocumented workers and Whitman opposing one. Brown repeatedly accused Whitman of "talking out of both sides of her mouth" as she appeals to Latinos. Whitman stood by her proposals, including a guest-worker program, and emphasized instead her plans to create jobs and improve education, two areas of considerable interest to Latinos since the economy has disproportionately affected them.

Latinos are an emerging political force in California, representing 21% of the electorate, compared with 10% two decades ago. In 2008, they made up 18% of general-election voters. Republicans have long seen an opportunity to regain ground because many Latinos share some of the core values of the party, such as social conservatism, and are small-business owners. But until now GOP candidates have lacked the resources to make an all-out push for their votes.

Whitman, who has put $119 million of her own money into her campaign, has launched an aggressive outreach effort, flooding Spanish-language radio and TV and opening neighborhood offices in cities with large Latino populations. Brown, on the other hand, ran a bare-bones campaign through the summer, relying on labor unions to carry his message until last month when he began airing his own ads.

michael.mishak@latimes.com Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

E-mail Print Digg Twitter Facebook Read This Later   Comments (62)Add / View comments | Discussion FAQ PauvrePapillon at 4:35 PM October 02, 2010

You really want an amnesty program? You really want to shake things up? You really want to live in a multi-cultural America? You really want social justice? You really want to show compassion for those less fortunate?

Here is my proposal.

If by age 30, you have not been able to figure out a way to make a living, if you are still drawing general welfare or AFDC or food stamps or Section 8 housing or any other means-tested taxpayer provided benefit, we trade you, your passport and citizenship to the highest-bidding foreigner who wants to move to America and make a go of it.

You get one-half of the funds paid by the highest bidder for your citizenship to help you get started in your new country. The taxpayers get the other half to help offset the monies you have drained out of the treasury.

vconcerned at 4:30 PM October 02, 2010

The Whitman family hired the illegal alien through an employment agency.  The illegal alien approached the Whitman family and confessed that she was in this country illegally.  The Whitman family fires the employment of illegal alien per California law.  I commend law abiding citizen's and can not blame the family for hiring an illegal alien they acquired through an employment agency that should have verified that the ss number matched the person.  The illegal alien stole an innocent US citizen's ss number, along as took a position that could have gone to a US citizen, is in this country illegally, and has not yet been deported, and some slum bag lawyer who happens to contribute to Jerry Brown's campaign for governorship not once, but twice in his career is representing the illegal alien.  There is enough evidence there for me to see that this is a smear campaign and Jerry Brown is the man behind the smear.  

FredLarsen at 4:29 PM October 02, 2010

These debates are a waste of time. Did anyone learn when the water will be turned back on in the CV ? No. Did we get any input on what they think, and will inherit, as result of the new budget ? No. The Dems just signed off on $7.5B in cuts to schools ? More cuts to "other". Your thoughts Jerry ? How can we afford any taxcuts? Meg ??? My wife's union, the AFL-CIO, just filled our mailbox with they're typical BS! Don't touch our pensions, blah, blah, blah. The sad part of it is that there are 8 illegals working in her store with Union cards. Safeway is a fine company!

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Housekeeper fracas mars California governor debate - Reuters

* Whitman says needs Latino vote to win California

* Debate gets personal over illegal ex-housekeeper

* Ex-CEO Whitman pro-business, AG Brown pro-government (Adds candidates' immigration policies, paragraph 11)

By Peter Henderson

FRESNO, Calif., Oct 2 (Reuters) - California's first Spanish-language debate in the race for governor turned into an angry exchange on Saturday when Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown traded charges of lies and deception over the case of an illegal immigrant who used to work for Whitman.

Both candidates spoke in English and their answers were simultaneously translated into Spanish for the audience in Fresno in the agricultural Central Valley, where unemployment is even higher than the state average of more than 12 percent.

Polls consistently show jobs and state finances to be the top issue for voters, but Whitman's former Latina housekeeper has become front page material in the last week.

Latinos make up roughly a third of California's population and a fifth of the electorate, and so could decide the race.

Whitman, 54, a billionaire and former chief executive of online auctioneer eBay Inc, said she fired housekeeper Nicky Diaz when Diaz said she was in the country illegally.

Diaz and her lawyer have said that Whitman and her husband knew the true state of affairs for years before the confession. Whitman denied that and the issue flared up during the debate when she called the affair dirty politics by Brown.

"You should be ashamed for sacrificing Nicky Diaz on the altar of your political ambitions," burst out Whitman, who usually is calm and reserved.

"You want to evade responsibility," shot back Brown, 72, the state attorney general and two-term former governor. He denied any involvement in the matter. "Don't run for governor if you can't stand up on your own two feet and say 'Hey, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, let's go on from here,'" he said.

"I did hold myself accountable. It's just a lie to say I didn't," Whitman later returned, turning to look at Brown.

Whitman has argued that one way to address illegal immigration is to hold employers accountable for hiring workers who are not in the country legally. Whitman says that Diaz originally showed her paperwork that later turned out to be false.

On the larger issue of what to do about illegal immigrants, Brown wants to offer the millions in the United States a path to citizenship, while Whitman supports a guest worker program but no citizenship for those in the country illegally.

IS IT THE ECONOMY?

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