Daschle wants ad pulled, lawyer says

By Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, April 22, 2004

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A television ad claiming that Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has introduced a bill to offer jobs and amnesty to more than 6 million illegal aliens is false and should be pulled, according to Daschle's lawyer.

Robert Bauer sent a letter to South Dakota television stations asking them to take the ad, sponsored by the Coalition for the Future American Worker , off the air.

"The Coalition's latest ad … contains numerous and obvious falsehoods," Bauer wrote. "These falsehoods, and the Coalition's history of racist and inflammatory advertising, render this ad unfit for your station."

A spokesman for CFAW said the ad is factual and the group is not racist.

"We are the opposite. The work we do disproportionately helps racial and ethnic minorities in this country," Roy Beck, CFAW spokesman, said. "It doesn't matter what race illegal aliens are. It's a numbers and rule of law issue. They may want to make it a racial issue. Our ad certainly didn't."

Daschle is running against Republican challenger John Thune in the Nov. 2 Senate election.

The ad begins with this news-bulletin style announcement: "This is a special legislative alert for South Dakota." It continues with video images of illegal immigrants crossing the border.

The disagreement about the accuracy of the ad centers on three points:

n First, Daschle and Bauer claim that the ad falsely claims Daschle has sponsored a bill to offer amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Daschle's bill,

S. 2010, requires illegal immigrants to work in the United States for three years, live in the country for five years, know English and U.S. civics and pass a security and criminal background check.

Beck calls that amnesty.

"The chief penalty for illegal immigration is to have to go home. (Daschle's) bill allows more than 6 million illegal aliens to stay here permanently, to work here permanently and immediately be put on the path to U.S. citizenship," Beck said. "You've really got to stretch the definition to say that's not amnesty."

A Daschle campaign spokesman said Daschle opposes "blanket amnesty" for illegal immigrants merely because they have lived in the country for a specific amount of time.

n Second, Beck complains that the bill would raise the cap on the number of legal foreign workers who come into the country each year.

"The law we have brings in more than 1 million foreign workers legally. The bill would allow another quarter million," Beck said.

In his letter, Bauer said that any new foreign workers would be allowed in only if an employer asked for them and only after that employer failed to find an American worker for the job.

Beck said those provisions don't satisfy him.

"Our experience is, whatever that level is set at, that's how many will be imported. Immigrants will work for less and in tougher working conditions," he said.

n Third, Bauer said the ad falsely claims that Daschle's bill would allow illegal foreign workers to qualify for Social Security payments.

"This is false," Bauer wrote. "S. 2010 makes no change at all to qualifications for Social Security."

Beck points to a section in the bill that, he says, would allow illegal immigrants granted amnesty to draw Social Security payments based on wages they earned while working illegally.

A Daschle campaign spokesman said the change merely prevents prosecution.

That section of the bill is not written in complete sentences and is difficult to interpret. It changes language in existing federal law by striking and inserting single words and inserting some phrases.

Officials from the four television stations on the air in Rapid City did not return telephone calls seeking comment for this story.

Daschle spokesman Dan Pfeiffer called on Thune to ask CFAW to pull the ad.

Thune campaign manager Dick Wadhams said the Thune campaign has had no communication with CFAW. And Wadhams has maintained that Daschle's claims that he will keep third-party groups from advertising against Thune will unravel in time.

"We've never heard of this group. We don't know anything about them," Wadhams said. "Tom Daschle has not stood up to third party groups, and he is perpetrating fraud on the people of South Dakota when he makes that claim."

Contact Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com