The Courier Press finally corrected their series of "Reid-Kennedy" gaffes last week in an editorial that deried John Hostettler's field hearing on immigration.
Indeed, it was a political show, with a politically contrived name, "The Reid-Kennedy Bill: The affect on American Workers' Wages and Employment Opportunities."
"Reid-Kennedy" is the label House Republicans have attached to the Senate version of an immigration bill. In fact, the bill was sponsored by Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., but they have replaced the popular McCain's name with that of Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
It may be an effective political tactic: Reid-Kennedy doesn't exactly play well here in the red states. But from the standpoint of a meaningful discussion that might lead to a compromise in Washington, the hearing was a waste of time.
It was little more than a campaign tactic to draw the attention of voters in the 8th Congressional District to Rep. John Hostettler, who has taken a strong position on stopping illegal aliens from entering and staying in this country. Hostettler, chair of the House subcommittee on immigration, was a member of the panel on Tuesday.
Other so-called field hearings involving other Republican candidates are being staged around the country in hopes of bolstering homefront support on the immigration issue for those candidates.
But instead of the congressmen and experts coming all this way to discuss immigration among themselves, why not make it a useful exercise and allow first-hand testimony from residents of the Tri-State? Ask them about the impact of illegal aliens taking up residence and taking jobs in the Evansville area.
Ask those area residents who immigrated to this country legally how they feel about reform. Listen and take something back to Washington.
Otherwise, skip the campaign vacation, stay in Washington and get some business done. Stay there and hammer out a compromise on immigration.
The paper, in a separate story, calls Hostettler's dying campaign "curious."
The Vanderburgh County sheriff appeared in a Little Italy Festival parade in Vermillion County Friday and spent Saturday at the Boonville Labor Day Celebration at the Warrick County 4-H Center.
Today he will be back at the Warrick 4-H Center. Monday's schedule has Ellsworth in Terre Haute all day, serving as grand marshal of a Labor Day parade, attending a Bean Dinner at the Vigo County Courthouse and pressing the flesh at an awards banquet that night.
Hostettler has no plans to campaign over Labor Day weekend.
His sister justified his schedule by citing a $15/head fundraiser he held at a VFW post.
