Sam Abed

Abed calls Daniels soft on illegal immigration

By DAVID GARRICK – dgarrick@nctimes.com

Mayoral candidate Sam Abed recently sent thousands of city voters a provocative mailer portraying rival Dick Daniels as soft on illegal immigration, but Daniels contends that the mailer is deceptive and shows that Abed has the wrong vision for Escondido’s future.

Abed’s attack is based on Daniels voting against a January 2007 council resolution prohibiting the “aiding and abetting” of illegal immigrants and declaring that Escondido is not a “sanctuary” city.

The council approved the resolution 3-2, with Abed, Marie Waldron and Ed Gallo in favor, and with Daniels and Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler opposed.

The mailer shows about a dozen apparently illegal immigrants running across a freeway and states, “There is only one candidate we can trust to uphold the rule of law in Escondido.”

It also states that illegal immigration will cost city taxpayers $118 million during 2011.

Daniels said Monday that he has a long record of being aggressively opposed to illegal immigration, and that it’s misleading to use one vote from nearly four years ago to cast doubt on his overall record.

He also said his opposition was based on the resolution’s poor wording.

“Just because I didn’t like the tone of the resolution doesn’t mean I support Escondido becoming a sanctuary city,” said Daniels, noting that the vote came shortly after the council’s unsuccessful attempt to prohibit landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.

“That resolution wasn’t going to solve anything, and we needed to move on,” he said.

In response to the mailer, the city’s police officers labor union, which has endorsed Daniels for mayor, defended Daniels this weekend by calling thousands of city voters with a prerecorded message saying the mailer was a “false attack.”

The message also noted that Daniels has been a strong supporter of the city’s traffic safety checkpoints, which affect illegal immigrants more than legal residents because illegal immigrants can’t obtain driver’s licenses.

Daniels said the mailer shows that Abed is focused on the wrong issues.

“His vision for Escondido is a horde of people running across a freeway,” Daniels said. “My vision for the city is the new hospital in the hill, lots of new jobs and more economic development. The mailer is more a hit piece against the city than me.”

Tony Masten, president of the police officers union, agreed.

“If someone’s going to take a stance on illegal immigration, there are ways to do it without being so negative and without throwing around allegations that are untrue,” he said.

Voters focused on immigration?

Abed has said many times in recent years that the city should focus less on illegal immigration, but he said Monday that campaigning door to door this year and a poll he conducted in September convinced him that voters still care deeply about the issue.

“I’m responding to the overwhelming demand of our residents,” Abed said. “I needed to let the voters know where the mayoral candidates stand on the issue.”

Abed also defended the mailer’s reliance on one vote by Daniels, contending that the vote in question shows that Daniels doesn’t have any desire to deal with illegal immigration.

He also scoffed at the notion that someone could be neutral on the issue of being a sanctuary city, where city leaders have declared that illegal immigrants are welcome.

“You’re not neutral if you vote against a resolution making us a rule-of-law city,” Abed said.

Abed said the $118 million figure was an estimate by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a national group that advocates stricter immigration laws.

He said the estimate was based on how much of the city, state and federal taxes paid by Escondido residents were devoted each year to cope with illegal immigration.

Patricia Bennett, president of Citizens of Escondido for Road Safety, praised Abed’s mailer Monday.

“The voters need to know where candidates stand on crucial issues facing America right now,” she said.

Former Councilman Tom D’Agosta, who’s running for mayor against Abed, Daniels and casino dealer Joe Bologna, condemned the mailer as dirty politics.

D’Agosta also said voters have not expressed much interest in illegal immigration to him.

He said voters are much more focused on the economy, a proposed minor league ballpark, potholes and the salaries of city employees.

Abed said Monday that the mailer did not refer to D’Agosta because he was not on the council when the sanctuary city resolution was discussed.

Danny Perez, a community activist and frequent critic of Abed, called the mailer a cheap shot at Daniels, and said Abed was a hypocrite in 2006 when he allowed illegal immigrants to renovate a building he owns downtown.

Abed reiterated Monday his 2006 defense against those claims. He said the work was performed by a licensed contractor, and that there was no proof that he had done anything wrong.

Olga Diaz, the council’s only Latino member, said Abed’s mailer was embarrassing and shows that Daniels “outclasses him in every way” on immigration issues.

Diaz, who has endorsed D’Agosta for mayor, speculated that Abed was trying to use hatred toward Latinos and illegal immigrants to get elected.

“I’ve worked with Sam on some issues, but I could never vote for him because he’s willing to stoop like this,” she said. “He doesn’t seem to realize that fanning the flames prevents us from recovering from old wounds connected to immigration.”

Call staff writer David Garrick at 760-740-5468.

Article source: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_585b78f1-6bc4-519f-ae81-e0a8efbe9d05.html

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