European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse I saturday. November 13, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 Naftal debaters lash out but claim no laurels they staged a Good show snap accusations and comebacks displaying charts and was a review a summation of arguments on the North american free Trade agreement. But neither vice president Al Gore Morross Perot managed a breakthrough for or against Perot is deemed the master of the one line putdown Gore gave often better lines than he got tuesday night in 90 min utes of argument on can s Tarry King goaded the Texas billionaire on lobbying and on his business in Walter r. Mears Teress irked him into angry retorts. Would you eve know the truth if you saw it Pero snapped after the vice president questioned his interest in a free Trade Airport Deal in fort Worth Texas. Gore countered if a free Trad zone was Good for Perot Why not for the rest of the country then when Perot said foreign lobbyists were behind Naftal Gore said he knew of no one who had used lobbyists More than the texan did during the1970s, on tax and other business issues. You re lying. You re Hying now Perot said. But when Gore persisted in asking whether he d had people lobbying on his business behalf Perot said the question was too general to the end Perot still politically Formi Dable from his. 19 percent showing As the third entry in the 1992 presidential elec Tion said that should Naftal pass the House on wednesday the lawmakers who vote for it will be punished at the polls in 1994. We be got a Little song we remember in. November " he said. Gore called that a direct political threat based on the politics of fear. There Are probably More democrats worried about punishment by organized labor than by Perot. The debate threats of not hardly seemed Likely to alter the balance As president Clinton tries to gain the 25-plus commitments he needs to push the agreement to House approval. For As Perot said Early in the debate this is not an athletic contest. This is not a question of who wins whether the Vic president wins or i in pure debate terms Gore probably did. But converting that into House votes is another matter. Undecided democrats Clinton s problem on the Issue Are More Likely to be swayed by what they Bearback Home this weekend than by what they heard on television. The debate gave visibility to the Issue and that probably is a plus for the administration. But Campaign debates usually do Moreto confirm choices than to change them. And what is True of candidates almost surely applies to Trade deals As Well. By prearrangement the administration had an undecided House Democrat primed to declare his support for Naftal on the air right after the de Bate. That was As spontaneous As the declaration of debate Victory for Gore is sued in Advance by Secretary of the trea sur Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier Clinton said he expects to win in the House. It s a very very tight vote said House speaker Thomas s. Foley of Washington state calling the Odds 50-50now but predicting Naftal will Harry in the end. Naftal opponents claimed they had the votes to Block it Bentsen said they were trying to gain momentum by claim ing it was a goner. There la be no pause in the arguments the Odd making and the struggle to swing House votes. C tit Tasma to dorm to arms the mexican ar6 c0mim illegal immigration is California s hot the make believe kingdom of Disneyland in Anaheim calif., families of All varieties still line up to go through it s a Small world the sentimental Celebration of International brotherhood. But outside the Gates California is suffering fro serious symptoms of a rampant nativism that has made immigration one of the hottest issues in this trend setting state. Ever since Gold Rush Days the Promise of a Bette life has drawn millions Westward to the shores of the Pacific. But now California is exporting More of it residents to the other 49 states than it is attracting from them. And it has worked itself into a first class fuss Over the newcomers arriving in its cities from Asia and latin America. Estimates Are that More than 2 million illegal immigrants now live in California twice the number believed to have been Here a decade ago. Right now Assembly speaker Willie Brown Democrat told the California journal the immigration Issue is equal to proposition 13 in terms of it volatility among the voting just As proposition 13, the 1978 property tax Rollback referendum in California triggered a nation wide anti tax movement so the backlash on immigration Here is teeing Felt across the country in washing � the House of representatives was tied into knot son extending emergency benefits to Long term unemployed workers by a proviso requiring that some of the costs be financed by making poor Blind and disabled aliens Wail five years instead of two before receiving supplemental income payments. Latino legislators and others were so angry at the provision that the House democratic leadership tried a provoked such a bitter debate that the Basic measure was pulled off the floor. Finally last week it went Forward with the curtailment of immigrants benefits in it amid promises that the sen ate would revisit the Issue. As the House fight indicates the Force that is fuel ing the reaction against both Legal and illegal Immi Grants is economic same thing is True in California where illegal immigration was winked at for decades As a necessary or convenient source of Low wage labor in agriculture apparel manufacturing and other that was before defense cutbacks a world wide aerospace Industry slump and the near collapse of the residential and commercial construction Busi Ness Here drove unemployment up past 9 percent and made the fear of jobless Ness the recession began California has become a net exporter of residents to other states. An analysis of Driver s License records released last month indicated that in the 12months ending june 30, perhaps 580,000 people left the state,150,000 More than moved in from the other 49 states. That was by far the largest net Emi station since records began in170. The los Angeles time reported recently that More than two out of five new Driver s licenses issued this year in Clark county ncv.,which contains Las vegas went to people who previously had been licensed in of them came seeking jobs in the burgeoning gambling entertainment Complex of that City. This kind of mobility is a natural and perhaps even healthy response to the changing economic fortunes of states an regions. What California is experiencing now is what hundreds of Southern midwestern and northeastern communities experienced in the last four decades David s. Broder when they saw jobs and people moving to this Golden state. But the emigration has been More than offset in California s Case by natural growth and by the marked increase in immigration both Legal and Ille Gal especially from latin America and Asia. Experts argue about whether immigration is an eco nomic Benefit or Cost to California. The sunny View is that these immigrants create new businesses and new markets while doing jobs that longer resident Ameri cans might shun. The critics Point to the social costs of providing health care and education for the immigrants and say the taxes immigrants pay do not come close to covering their expenses. Behind the polite discussions about economic gainsaid losses is More than a hint of racism and the fear of joblessness crime and the unknown stranger that i pandemic in times like these. Politically As Willie Brown says it is an explosive mixture. Republican gov. Pete Wilson knew exactly what he was doing when he made immigration the first Issue on which he directly challenged state treasurer Kath Leen Brown a Democrat who Hopes to be his opponent when he runs for re election next year. Wilson has staked out a position on immigration including a Call for a Federal constitutional amendment that would deny citizenship to children born Here of illegal aliens that guarantees no challenger can get to his Brown tried to define her own position and criticized his As extreme Wilson counterattacked immediately the California gubernatorial race will be the Premier contest in next year s midterm elections so the whole country is going to hear a great Deal More about this subject. C the Washington Post
