Most in our community will recall at the end of SLC Mayor Deedee Corradini's administration when then Chief of Police Rueben Ortega attempted to develop his police force into INS agents.  The community came together like at no other time in recent history until the big march three years ago.  Both were like spiritual moments, defining who we were as a community.  We fully understood the consequences of allowing Ortega to do accomplish this. 

I was never more happy to see our community come out to fight something that had such a clear, negative impact in our community.  Well, we face another one of those and this time, we didn't even get a hearing.  Commissioner Hayashi who heretofore has been a friend and an ally to our community and other ethnic communities has apparently made a unilateral, "emergency" executive decision.  Admittedly, I haven't confirmed the details on how or why, but outside of profits and falling stocks - barely, if at all - I seriously doubt anyone can adequately articulate an "emergency" that would allow for such an executive decision which would avoid the public process. 

Rather than allowing the police to stop anyone that looks foreign to question among other things, their immigration status in this county, this measure will now allow insurance agents of the Workers Compensation Fund to require injured workers to prove 1) they are here legally and 2) whether they can legally obtain employment after rehabilitation for their on-the-job injury.  If they cannot, as I understand it at this point, they are cut off of medical and rehabilitation benefits, thus, allowing the insurance company to avoid large, costly payments to legitimate claimants, and that means more money in the pocket of the shareholders of WFC of Utah.  It's a sad, sad day.

A meeting will be held this morning at the Labor Commission at 10 am. It should be open to the public but since it was not publicly announced, no agenda has been published for public display, we don't know for sure whether the public will be allowed to attend, and if so, whether anyone will be allowed to speak to this issue.  For that matter, we don't even know whether it will be discussed or just pushed through in one of those quiet, all knowing moments of a packed vote.

Oh, say it ain't so, Sherrie, say it ain't so!  It's a sad, sad day and we got screwed by another ethnic executive who seems to be more intent on holding her high salaried position - ostensibly in the hopes of doing more 'good' in the future - than on doing good for the community now by fighting this where it was most logical.  It's a sad, sad day! 

Please be advised that there appears to be something underway at the Labor Commission that may need some quick, effective mobilization to counter.  This hasn't been confirmed so please stay tuned but people in the know are saying this is going down.   What's "this"?  

During last year's legislative session, there were attempts to pass a law that would give the insurance companies unprecedented powers to determine who is "illegal" and therefore, unworthy of workers' compensation benefits.  The Labor Commission in conjunction with the Workers Compensation Fund of Uah, and their allies - with Labor Commissioner Sherrie Hayashi at the lead - have apparently called for a special "expedited meeting" tomorrow morning at 10 AM at the Labor Commission in the Heber Wells building on 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City.  The reason this is still "uncomfirmed" is that there is not public notice, no information on their web page, no emails, no letters, no agenda. 

This move would allow the insurance companies to question an injured employees' legal status at an expedited hearing.  It would further allow the employer to avoid sanctions for having hired an 'undocumented' employee and allow the insurance company to avoid paying a legitimately injured employee, and further, puts the burden back onto the injured worker to prove he - or she - would have been employable before his injury.  Well, if he couldn't be employable BEFORE the injury, why was he allowed to work?  And where are the vaunted employer sanctions for hiring an undocumented worker?  

I guess employers can turn a blind eye, give a wink and a nod at faulty documents to benefit from their cheap, effective labor, but when it comes to having to pay out for their injuries, well... let's find a way to cut them out of this as they then become an expense to the companies.  We all know the Latinos are the largest and fastest growing sector of injured workers.  We all know that many Latinos are put to work without the necessary or adequate training - preferably in their own language - and are often not provided the requisite security or safety equipment.  And now, the Labor Commission wants to cut them off at the knees quite literally!! 

Please pass this word along as quickly as possible but stay tuned to have this meeting confirmed.  If so, we'll need you there... IN NUMBERS!

A Conversation with Congressional Quarterly's Bob Benenson

Every week, we talk with Congressional Quarterly columnist and online editor Bob Benenson about the 2008 election. This week, he tells KCPW's Jeff Robinson about the reception that both candidates are getting by Hispanic voters and why they would do well to focus their attention on issues other than immigration.

Follow all of KCPW's Election 2008 coverage on the elections page.

Kety Esquivel, blogamiga, Sanctuary Editor and Crossleft.org Founder, was recently interviewed on CNN and here is the video clip of her interview where she addresses the political pandering and the poor outreach efforts to the Latina/o community by both presidential candidates.

Good job, Kety. YOU ROCK!!!!

CNN transcript below the fold (more…)

The Latino organization "Somos America" of Arizona filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio today, alleging the sheriff  utilizes racial profiling in police sweeps designed to ethnically cleanse the county of Mexicans and other Latinos. Arpaio began the sweeps in predominantly  Latino neighborhoods  in the Phoenix valley last year. His deputies stop brown people and arrest anyone who cannot prove legal U.S. residency.  Many US citizens  of Mexican descent have been stopped and harrased simply because of skin coloration.

Sheriff  Arpaio has earned the reputation of being "The Most Bigoted Sheriff in America."  The sheriff has also raised eyebrows because of his bizzare  fetish for "pink panties." Among his odd public behavior is forcing the county prisoners to wear "pink colored underwear." Arpaio is a Republican and a former campaign manager for the Mormon former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.  Dolores Huerta was right when she said in Tucson that Republicans are generally anti-Mexican. 

There's more . . .

I found the news that Utah has the lowest voter turnout in the nation - only 36-percent of registered voters in Utah showed up at the polls in 2006- interesting on various levels.   See Utah Has Lowest Voter Turnout in Nation.  It seems that, nationally at last and I haven't seen any Utah figures to confirm the local picture, the Latino population is turning out in unprecedented numbers to vote.  The "sleeping giant" has awoken.  So what's happening to the gringos?

Then, I consider all the ways that some people (don't want to say who, but they're well represented within the Republican ranks) seem to want to make it more difficult for people to vote.  Something about it being a privilege that people will cherish more if it's more difficult, or that by making it more difficult, only the 'informed' will vote and not all the uninformed riff raff (or however the hell you spell that).  

Then I also consider all the ways that Sherrie Swensen has worked so hard to make it easier for folks to register and to vote, and am so thankful for vote by mail option.  I used to hate to go into the polls and hear all of the 'ward talk' or be greeted by 'Brother Martinez' when my mother doesn't look anything like their mothers - I'm pretty sure of that.  Still, the polling booths and voting process has also changed so much more for the good also so this kind of stuff doesn't happen as much either.. at least here on the west side of SLC.

There's more . . .