Yesterday's organizational meeting of the Coalition on Illegal Aliens turned out to be anything but organized.
Two jurisdictions tried to push legislative agendas, representatives had a hard time deciding who could or could not vote at future meetings and at times the meeting turned into a gripe session for private citizens.
At one point during the meeting in Culpeper, Spotsylvania County Administrator Randy Wheeler leaned back in his chair and admitted, "I am so confused."
Somehow, amid the confusion and the griping, the coalition managed to elect Herndon Mayor Stephen DeBenedittis as its chairman and Shenandoah County Supervisor Dick Neese as its vice chairman.
The group decided to organize three committees to deal with safety, health and documentation issues. Wheeler, Culpeper Supervisor Larry Aylor and Culpeper town police Chief Scott Barlow were chosen to chair them.
The coalition also voted to allow each jurisdiction a maximum of three representatives--two elected officials and one appointee.
No one was certain, however, what "appointed" meant.
"I'm talking about appointed members of [each jurisdiction's] staff," said Wheeler.
Culpeper Mayor Pranas Rimeikis, who was representing the Virginia Commission on Immigration, agreed.
But Rappahannock County Commonwealth's Attorney Peter Luke said his county had a small staff and that several private citizens had volunteered to serve on the coalition.
Bath County Administrator Bonnie Johnson echoed those sentiments, saying her supervisors had appointed her and a private citizen (who was injured in a horse accident and couldn't attend) to represent them.
Several of those present--both coalition members and private citizens--suggested that private citizens be allowed to represent their jurisdictions and, when necessary, cast the one vote each jurisdiction will have.
Private citizen Jerry Beckett was against allowing leaving all the decisions up to elected officials.
"The elected officials haven't been listening to us," Beckett said. "They're not doing their job. Where is the citizen?"
And Alicia Payne, a private citizen representing Orange County, said, "So many of our [Orange County] elected officials prefer to have their heads stuck in the sand."
But both Luke and Loudoun County Supervisor Bruce Tulloch informed the group that, by Virginia law, supervisors cannot cast their vote by proxy.
Tulloch added, "Private citizens don't have the same impact [as local officials] in Richmond." And getting illegal immigration legislation passed should be one of the primary goals of the group, he said.
Henry County representative Lee Clark, director of planning in his county, said that it was unlikely that any Henry supervisors would travel all the way to Culpeper to cast a vote.
Luke suggested that local governing bodies could pass resolutions and send representatives to the coalition meetings saying that such action had been taken.
Rimeikis said, however, that, "All action of this coalition must be approved by local jurisdictions."
In the end, it was decided that a nonelected representative could announce that a jurisdiction had passed a resolution on illegal immigration, but only elected officials could vote.
It was not decided what would constitute a quorum or when or where the coalition's next meeting would be. That was left up to the chairman and vice chairman, who will inform members.
Donnie Johnston:Loudoun County Supervisor Bruce Tulloch asked the coalition to endorse a bill on overcrowded housing that he hopes will go before the Virginia General Assembly next year. Herndon Mayor Stephen DeBenedittis said the coalition had no authority at this point to do that, but suggested representatives encourage local jurisdictions to support the measure, which would double or triple fines for second and third offenses. Herndon Vice Mayor Dennis Husch also asked members to support a bill in Congress that would allow all states to enforce laws prohibiting the hiring of illegal aliens. Jerry Beckett told the coalition that local governments should make sure private contractors were prohibited from hiring illegal immigrants. He said he ran into a situation this week where a contractor said he was using illegal immigrants to pour sidewalks on a job in Culpeper. "Our taxpayer dollars shouldn't be going for that," Beckett said. |